In an article from “Common Ground”, Todd Elder, assistant professor of economics at Michigan State University says “almost one million children in the US are possibly misdiagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder simply because they are the youngest in their class. Immaturity is therefore mistaken for ADHD.” Many of the diagnoses begin with a teacher’s observations in class.
Their observations, then get reported to the school counselor and from there passed onto a myriad of personnel, including psychiatrists, community mental health counselors and sometimes court officials.
A child’s future is, then determined, on the basis of one individual’s observation. Imagine if it is simply that the child is the youngest in the class or perhaps comes from a family where only Spanish is spoken in the home and therefore the child is having difficulty learning the English language fast enough to keep up with the class.
ADHD has become the most commonly diagnosed disorder that is placed on children across the United States. A figure of 4.5 million children, under aged 18 are diagnosed with ADHD, as reported from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Elder has stated that there are no neurological markers for ADHD (such as a blood test) and psychiatrists at an American Psychiatric Association Convention, admit that there is, in fact, no blood test, brain scan, chemical imbalance test, or other biological test that can evidence that an individual has ADHD.
“Common Ground” quotes Dr. Mercola, founder of mercola.com, regarding the use of ADHD drugs by, not only the children, but also their parents “Parents of children already taking such medications are almost 10 times more likely to take one themselves. Even worse, some 60 percent were mothers, although ADHD had been thought to be almost three times more common among males.”
As Dr. Mercola mentions, in this article, there is no need to subject yourself and/or your family to the dangers of ADHD medications when medical science does have solutions that do not carry the risks of hallucinations, heart attacks, sudden death and more.
In 2007, the FDA released an advisory on the ADHD meds. The FDA directed the manufacturers of all drug products approved for the treatment of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) to develop patient Medication Guides to alert patients to possible cardiovascular risks and risks of adverse psychiatric symptoms associated with the medicines, and to advise them of precautions that can be taken.
Between 1990 and 2000 there were 186 deaths from methylphenidate reported to the FDA MedWatch program, a voluntary reporting scheme.
Mathew’s story is the story of a young man who died from the ADHD meds. His parents have created a website to help inform the public of the true risks behind these drugs and to help prevent any family from going through the tragedy that they had to experience. Mathew’s family has no financially vested interest in helping to educate the public. The pharmaceutical companies and mental health practitioners cannot say the same.
Get informed about the medical alternatives to psychiatric treatment and medication! Go to the CCHR Florida Recommended Medical List.
More Links:
Common Ground article
FDA Advisory
Story of Mathew
This article is brought to you by our friends at the Citizens Commission on Human Rights in Florida, a
non-profit that is not only dedicated to educating Americans about
their rights in the mental health sector, they are also actively
involved investigating and exposing psychiatric violations against human
rights.
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