Neuroscientist says children are being 'labelled' as having ADHD when there could be other reasons for their disorder
One of the world's leading neuroscientists, whose work has been acknowledged by work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith, has suggested that attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is not "a real disease".
On the eve of a visit to Britain to meet Duncan Smith and the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, Dr Bruce D Perry told the Observer that the label of ADHD outlined a broad set of symptoms. "It is best thought of as a description. If you look at how you end up with that label, it is remarkable because any one of us at any given time would fit at least a couple of those criteria," he said.
Prescriptions for methylphenidate drugs, such as Ritalin, which are used to treat children diagnosed as suffering from ADHD, have soared by 56% in the UK, from 420,000 in 2007 to 657,000 in 2012. Such "psychostimulants" are thought to stimulate a part of the brain that changes mental and behavioural reactions.
However, Perry, a senior fellow of the ChildTrauma Academy in Houston, Texas, said he was concerned that children were being labelled as having ADHD when that merely described the symptoms of a range of different physiological problems. The symptoms that lead to a diagnosis of ADHD include inattentiveness, hyperactivity and impulsiveness over a sustained period.
Perry added that clinicians were also too readily prescribing psychostimulants to children when the evidence suggested there were no long-term benefits. Animal studies have raised concerns over the potential for damage to be done.
Comments
You hardly ever hear a doctor say, I was wrong about anything.
It is a sad state of affairs. A page out of Native American Shamin Healers way, might lead to insight on how to do this thing called healing. When a person became diseased, the Shamin would be called. He or she would then just watch for days or even weeks, all the activities of that family. This would afford understanding into the root cause of disease. Many times, doing nothing was the real answer. The understanding that not everything should be fixed. Also, doing something such as giving an herbal treatment may cause more harm. It was best to make sure food was good, water drinkable,and the patient be kept calm and comfortable. An abundance of prayer never hurts either. There is very little that could not be taken care of back then as compared to today. Know-it-all whites were the dis ease that swept the land like a plague killing everything in sight. Todays not so modern medicine has no spiritual aspect. It is cold and indifferent to real needs. They primarially sell drugs. Most of which are not needed. As we observe, the walls are tumbling down. It is something to be ashamed of, to have to pay for this thing which is our greatest health risk.
Well said Dreamer
Well said Dreamer; we were just talking about this. I have studied and worked in natural medicine for over 25 years and recently stopped doing it and went back to school to study business, as I just couldn't do it anymore.
People are so believing of Doctors and will take anything the doctor says, yet they are scared to take a little Magnesium or Melatonin, both items that are already in the body and are often deficient. No one is deficient in drugs!
I tried to teach about cancer prevention and finally gave up. People contribute millions of dollars a year to fight a war and find a cure on/for cancer. War is not healing and there are already cures for cancer, but why not just work on preventing cancer in the first place???
I could go on and on, but until people start thinking for themselves and stop giving their power to doctors and drugs, doctors who think they know-it-all, then I will just live my life and be there if anyone would like some natural healing help.
It's time to live in harmony and balance with ourselves, each other and Mother Earth.
There is a ''reason'' for
There is a ''reason'' for ADHD. We call it society.
With these behaviors, our bodies and our brains are telling us that our lives are too stressed and unnatural, and that it is killing us. But rather than heeding these warnings, many have been convinced that they are the ones that is sick instead of society. And that we should take a pill to try and suppress the messenger. To shut the messenger up.
But that messenger is your higher-self. Warning you. Protecting you.
Listen.
The Gift of Depression