December 13, 2003
Finally
Someone is challenging the idea that ADHD, and a host of other "emotional disorders," has anything to do with physiology. Dr. Fred A. Baughman, Jr., a neurologist, not a psychiatrist or psychologist, is disputing the canonical position of the APA (American Psychiatric Association) and NIMH (National Institute of Mental Health). His thesis? If ADHD is really a physical disease, as it is claimed to be, it should have detectable, diagnosible, physical symptoms like all other physical diseases. His findings? There are no differences between ADHD and non-ADHD patients that could not be caused by the drugs given the ADHD patients. A summarizing interview can be found here, and here is a letter Dr. Baughman sent to the Surgeon General almost three years ago.
This is something I've been saying for a long time. It's good to know that there are actual neurologists who agree with me.
I've been a camp counselor for a diagnosed and heavily medicated ADHD kid before, and it is my opinion that about 5 minutes of genuine parental attention would solve most of his problems.
On the flip-side, I was a hyperactive child and continue to be drastically prone to short attention spans, yet my parents were especially good to me.
All this to say... I agree drugs are not always the answer, and better discression should be used when medication is employed as an excuse for parents to ignore their children. Yet that does not necessitate the denial of a real problem that really exists and may be helped, as part of a comprehensive rehabilitation, by medicine... even if it is not necessarily a physiological issue.
Posted by: KornSt@r at December 13, 2003 11:13 PMmy brother and i were "diagnosed" with ADHD when we were kids (because we were so bored in school we acted horribly...), so my mom dragged us to a doctor. this was before medication was so fashionable, so he submitted us to a battery of tests, finally deciding that we were victims of artificial preservatives and colors that were in our food...needless to say, we spent several years eating only natural foods free of these additives, and it actually worked. meaning, i guess, that even though we were still bored in class, we no longer felt the urge to tap dance on the teacher's desk to liven things up a bit... however, we changed to a school that had a concession stand, and we horded our allowances to buy yummy things like slime slurps and pixie sticks...and that was all she wrote...this additive free diet was known as the feingold diet, and based on pesonal exp....i believe it has some merit. this diet never made us sluggish, or spacey, or sleepy, and it never stifled our creativity or mental alertness. i have seen too many kids drugged into oblivion simply because their parents/teachers don't want to deal with them...they ask too many questions or speed through work and, being kids, look for something else to do to fill time...it is a sad world out there...i should know...i'm a teacher. *sigh*
Posted by: janeywhatever at December 17, 2003 12:55 AM