VLC
February 25th, 2006, 03:01 PM
in another thread (http://vnnforum.com/showthread.php?t=16614) AE wrote :
the business of putting kids on ritalin all the time is awful. kids need to learn to control their behavior with self-discipline not dope. cognitive therapy is better than dope for most serious cases I am sure but people lack the patience to do prolonged cognitive therapy and resort to meds instead.
on SF I wrote:
speaking of ritalin,
one would think black kids would be those more often diagnosed with "hyperactivity disorder" since they have more energy and that they are more interested by sports than the others but it is white kids who are the #1 group diagnosed with ADHD/ADD and given pills
http://www.reutershealth.com/wellconnected/doc30.html
Difficulties in Diagnosing ADHD
At this time no laboratory or imaging tests can indicate reliably whether a child does or does not have ADHD. A diagnosis relies only on behavioral symptoms and ruling out other disorders. Many experts believe that the disorder is both over- and underdiagnosed, depending on a variety of factors. Diagnosis of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder is difficult for some of the following reasons:
Arguments that ADHD is Overdiagnosed in Some Children.
* Ritalin's popularity has encouraged some parents and teachers to pressure physicians into prescribing this standard ADHD drug for children, usually Caucasian boys, who are simply aggressive or who have poor grades. In one study of fifth graders in two different cities, 18% and 20% of Caucasian boys were being treated with medications. In one center, after careful testing, ADHD was the actual diagnosis in only 11% of children referred for ADHD and 18% had no disability. Others were simply poorer learners or had no problems at all.
* In one study, children more likely to receive medication were young for their grade, indicating they may have been socially and intellectually immature, rather than behaviorally impaired.
* Being poor and growing up in a single parent household contribute to emotional and behavioral problems. The significant increase in these problems has also paralleled an increase in the diagnosis of ADHD children, who may simply be responding to social and economic problems.
Arguments that ADHD is Underdiagnosed in Some Children.
* Some evidence suggests that many girls with ADHD may go underdiagnosed. Research indicates that girls with ADHD are often inattentive but not hyperactive or impulsive. In fact, older girls with ADHD tend to have social problems due to withdrawal and internalized emotions, showing symptoms of anxiety and depression. The inattentive subtype, in any case, may first show up in older children and adolescents. However, according to the criteria, ADHD is not diagnosed in people whose symptoms appear after age seven.
* Physicians may fail to diagnose children with ADHD because they often behave normally in the quiet physician's office where there are no distractions to trigger symptoms.
* In spite of the fact that there seems to be no difference in the disorder among population groups, African-American, Hispanic, and Asian children with ADHD are half as likely to be diagnosed and treated as Caucasian children. By high school, the racial disparity increases to the level that the medication rate for blacks is one-fifth of that for whites.
I don't doubt some kids have real behavior problems and need a pill or two but it's just too much right now. Don't trust the public schools system and their battalion of psychologists : since these institutions do their best to mess up the minds of white children with all that politically correct crap it stands to reason that they would do their best to mess up their brains too
the business of putting kids on ritalin all the time is awful. kids need to learn to control their behavior with self-discipline not dope. cognitive therapy is better than dope for most serious cases I am sure but people lack the patience to do prolonged cognitive therapy and resort to meds instead.
on SF I wrote:
speaking of ritalin,
one would think black kids would be those more often diagnosed with "hyperactivity disorder" since they have more energy and that they are more interested by sports than the others but it is white kids who are the #1 group diagnosed with ADHD/ADD and given pills
http://www.reutershealth.com/wellconnected/doc30.html
Difficulties in Diagnosing ADHD
At this time no laboratory or imaging tests can indicate reliably whether a child does or does not have ADHD. A diagnosis relies only on behavioral symptoms and ruling out other disorders. Many experts believe that the disorder is both over- and underdiagnosed, depending on a variety of factors. Diagnosis of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder is difficult for some of the following reasons:
Arguments that ADHD is Overdiagnosed in Some Children.
* Ritalin's popularity has encouraged some parents and teachers to pressure physicians into prescribing this standard ADHD drug for children, usually Caucasian boys, who are simply aggressive or who have poor grades. In one study of fifth graders in two different cities, 18% and 20% of Caucasian boys were being treated with medications. In one center, after careful testing, ADHD was the actual diagnosis in only 11% of children referred for ADHD and 18% had no disability. Others were simply poorer learners or had no problems at all.
* In one study, children more likely to receive medication were young for their grade, indicating they may have been socially and intellectually immature, rather than behaviorally impaired.
* Being poor and growing up in a single parent household contribute to emotional and behavioral problems. The significant increase in these problems has also paralleled an increase in the diagnosis of ADHD children, who may simply be responding to social and economic problems.
Arguments that ADHD is Underdiagnosed in Some Children.
* Some evidence suggests that many girls with ADHD may go underdiagnosed. Research indicates that girls with ADHD are often inattentive but not hyperactive or impulsive. In fact, older girls with ADHD tend to have social problems due to withdrawal and internalized emotions, showing symptoms of anxiety and depression. The inattentive subtype, in any case, may first show up in older children and adolescents. However, according to the criteria, ADHD is not diagnosed in people whose symptoms appear after age seven.
* Physicians may fail to diagnose children with ADHD because they often behave normally in the quiet physician's office where there are no distractions to trigger symptoms.
* In spite of the fact that there seems to be no difference in the disorder among population groups, African-American, Hispanic, and Asian children with ADHD are half as likely to be diagnosed and treated as Caucasian children. By high school, the racial disparity increases to the level that the medication rate for blacks is one-fifth of that for whites.
I don't doubt some kids have real behavior problems and need a pill or two but it's just too much right now. Don't trust the public schools system and their battalion of psychologists : since these institutions do their best to mess up the minds of white children with all that politically correct crap it stands to reason that they would do their best to mess up their brains too