I'm highly suspicious of the efficacy related to these claims of 'rampant' rates of ADHD (as well as similar increasing rates of other Childhood Disorders such, ADD, and ODD for example)..
'Management and control' seem to be more the order of the day than any actual treatment modalities designed for Childhood Disorders...
with 'treatment' coming mostly in the form of new and supposedly better pills, which act as sedatives.
It's important to note that the diagnostic procedure in determining these disorders involves nothing more than a subjective behavioral checklist often supplied by parents, caretakers, teachers, medical practitioners, and a various assortment of other unqualified individuals.
One can almost imagine a parent saying, "Hey, Doc, my kid won't eat her beans so I need some Ritalin.
Know what, Doc, you could call this behavior 'Kid Won't Eat Beans Disorder', or KWEPD.
That sounds no more ludicrous to me than when the medical profession (Psychiatry), perhaps in cooperation with the pharmaceutical industry, came up with 'Oppositional Defiance Disorder', which reflects nothing more than the behavior of a child being subjected to dysfunctional parenting.
It seems that any sedating medication will do and who's going to complain? The dumbed-down kid? And, more importantly, who pays the bill for the medications? After all, especially when it comes to kids, money speaks much louder than a hard to handle kid.
I know I sound a little over the top on this issue because I am.
Just one case in point: In the early sixties, the University of Michigan did a study on elementary school kids in Detroit who had been diagnosed as Hyperactive.
The study made national news when the study found that most of the kids on Ritalin had been squirming around in their seats because they had worms, which of course made their butts itch.
Amazingly, this Hyperactive condition in children virtually disappeared for nearly twenty years before it was renamed 'Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder'.
After all, the public has a short memory.
My God, we suddenly had a new epidemic on our hands.
What caused this to happen? Well, it would appear that little attention is paid to etiology (causality) when the control and management of children is the focus of concern.
And, what a terrible shame it is that the American Psychiatric Association deciding to expand the definition of what can be diagnosed as Autism has coincided with the immunization scare...
a scare initiated as the result of a fraudulent study.
That's another story with potentially dire consequences.
Show me a kid whose emotional needs are not being met in the home, and I'll show you a kid at high risk for being diagnosed with a Childhood Disorder of some kind...
with sedation serving as the treatment of choice.
(I should note that what is known as the 'Paradoxical Effect' involves the fact that Central Nervous System stimulants (such as Ritalin) produce a sedative effect in pre-adolescent children).
Am I being unreasonable? One only need to look at the rates of Childhood Disorders in other developed countries to see that our kids are being exploited for profit.
We all know that Childhood Disorders exist.
But, to what extent? It's my opinion that it should be a criminal act to saddle a child with a subjective, knee-jerk diagnosis of a chronic disorder that can have a long-term negative impact on the child's quality of life.
This occurs much too often.
Furthermore, *anyone* diagnosing a child with the farsical ODD should be prevented from ever doing so again in the future.