Mainstream media, medical journals pushing ADHD drugs for six-year-olds

There is a fresh agenda afoot to begin diagnosing children as young as six years of age with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and drugging them with dangerous medications like Ritalin (methylphenidate), Adderall (dextroamphetamine and amphetamine), and Prozac (fluoxetine). And the mainstream media seems to be working lockstep with medical journals to create the illusion that doing this is vital for childhood health and development.

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This is so true. I know so many people who have kids who are "hyperactive" and they have suggested putting kids on these medications. Some of the parents have actually given in.

My daughter is 5 years old and she's very energetic and active. She also talks a lot. She constantly wants attention. She's an only child. What do you expect? Will they try and convince us to put her on meds that turn her into a zombie all so that she can be "normal"? If I refuse, what will they say? That she can't be in school? That we are bad parents?

You know, a few years ago it occurred to me how many people over the past 10 years or so they've diagnosed as bipolar. It seems like every other person you meet has been diagnosed as such. Are there that many bipolar people out there or is my area just unique?

Seems to me like a way to pacify the masses and make lots of money for the Big Pharma companies.

Everyone's thoughts?

I very likely have ADD, and the same thing for my father. Neither of us will ever bother to be tested, due to not wanting this thing in our medical histories. We function just fine. Most of us don't need drugs. The problem is that it's easier to use drugs. The other option is to wear them out. Dad focused more in school when they put him in football due to being worn out.

It's not all bad news ;

GlaxoSmithKline fined over healthcare fraud

Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline has agreed to pay $US3 billion in fines, in the largest case of healthcare fraud in United States history.

GSK was fined for marketing drugs for unauthorised uses, holding back safety data, and cheating the US government's Medicaid program.

The US Justice Department said the company misbranded its drugs Paxil and Wellbutrin, while making unbacked claims for its diabetes drug Avandia.

The department said GSK targeted the antidepressant Paxil to patients under age 18 when it was approved for adults only, and pushed the drug Wellbutrin for uses it was not approved for, including weight loss and treatment of sexual dysfunction.

The company went to extreme lengths to promote the drugs, such as distributing a misleading medical journal article and providing doctors with meals and spa treatments that amounted to illegal kickbacks, prosecutors said.

www.abc.net.au...

I read this in the local paper and thought About bloody time!

These idiots were/are playing with developing brains, distorting the balance of natural formation with interfering neurotransmitters that affect mood. In adults it's a different matter as the forming has been done, and life can throw a curve ball at you and the body reacts in various ways, so trying to balance the chemicals in the brain can be beneficial, but I know first hand that they will and do throw anything at you; they get paid.

Trial and error.

But with children, 3 mill is not even close to enough, and not penalty for that one thing alone. Saying these things are good for things they have no evidence for, is absolutely crazy, they should be put in prison just like the law does to any person knowingly selling a dangerous product and misleading the consumer.. hell, they throw plant dealers in prison..

Makes me angry that this is how the world works. GSK are drug peddlers of the wrost kind. the kind that tell you that you are in safe hands... and then sell you the devils own stash. as opposed to an adult knowingly doing something of their own volition.

I think ADHD is simply human nature, it is what happens when you coop a child up in a school and expect him or her to look at a black board and keep their mouth shut.

Human nature is not a machine to be built after a model, and set to do exactly the work prescribed for it, but a tree, which requires to grow and develop itself on all sides, according to the tendency of the inward forces which make it a living thing. (J.S. Mill, On liberty)

Humans are meant to be curious and full of energy in their young years, this drive is being erased with heavy drugs (adhd drugs are often very powerful stimulants which are the cause of serious problems in recreational users). What next, will 'falling in love' be considered a disorder because there a chemical changes in the brain?

EDIT:
The solution? Instead of drugs, the education system needs reforming, it is simply an out dated system that can be much improved.

Rousseau wrote a book called 'emile', it was his ideas on the perfect education - it requied that in certain years of a childs life, he not be subjected to academia, but concentrates on learning a trade. The 'point' of a trade is plain the see for the person doing it, but for a child learning Maths the virtues and importance of it will not seems so apparent and thus the child will be easily distracted and become bored.

The child begins his academic study when he gets older and can see the benefit of it, and already possesses a skill which he may fall back on if times become tough. (ie when there's economic downturn its good to know a trade as your 'accounting degree' may not be that useful then.. ).

reply to post by CoolerAbdullah786
the agenda is to have them declared "mentally unstable", just like they did in the 40s & 50s with girls who refused to wear skirts or girls who were interested in engines or boys who liked dolls.

once the "mark" is on their record, they will never live it down and it will forever be used against them. so go ahead, fulfill their agenda, your kids might forget, one day.

I remember when i was in primary school, I was on ritalin. The worst thing IMHO was after i take the pil in the morning I could not interact with my classmates at thier level. I was emotionaly shutdown, I would stare into a corner for minutes at a time with nothing going through my mind. When I was 12 I decided enough is enough, and began flushing my pills in the morning, only I knew it, and everyone around me still thought I was on this stuff. Suddenly I started doing better in stuff(sport, math, science language) the doctor that prescribed the meds decided to up the dosage as he thought I have become resistant to ritalin. When i got to about 20 yo i was told I have anger management problems, bipolar, severe depression, etc. And was put on alprazolam. Now when i look back I see that all this sh*t started with ritalin. ( side note: I could read and write fluently at age 4, was very good at math by age 6, very social and had a massive imagination UNTILL I started the ritalin.) my own kids are very active, my girl too can read at age 4, I will not ever allow THEM to screw up my kids like they did me with Ritalin. Peace

Originally posted by aceshark1234
adhd drugs are often very powerful stimulants which are the cause of serious problems in recreational users).

I'm often interested about issues that don't necessarily concern me like this claimed issue here ("adhd drugs and their serious problems in recreational use"). Where did you actually learned about such connection?

Based on what I've read about adhd drugs and their usage, there are lots of people, who don't really take in consideration that when they are using stimulants, they should adjust their diet as stimulants enhance the nutritional needs. Basically they (not everyone, but many of them) just adjust the dose and think that "it must be related to tolerance" that the drug doesn't seem functional and side effects appear. It seems to be quite hard to actually damage yourself with adhd drugs, if you remember eat even moderately well while using it (word "damage" has been used quite vaguely here). However, I admit that my comment is related to ones, who are either adults or almost-adults and not to children.

About the adhd itself.. from logical point of view, it is not sane to say that adhd IS or IS NOT something, because the criteria allows very broad interpretations. In some sense it understandable that there have been tries to define adhd using multiple subtypes (even 6 different ones) or questionnairies containing tens of questions to answer, but without certain kind of (silly) faith it is not possible to see anybody being "true representative of what adhd is".

When my son was in kindegarten, I was told by the school that I needed to have him screened. Not really knowing any better, as he is my first child, I took their advice, because I wanted to be a good parent. I knew there was no way my son had ADHD. He was a normal five year old kid with no problems in school. So I made the appointment and took him, mainly to appease the school.

The psychiatrist who saw him had him do a few tests to see where he was mentally, and I had to fill out pages and pages of stuff rating his behaviors on a scale from 1 to 5. This took up the majority of the appointment. After that, the doctor talked to him for literally FIVE MINUTES before declaring my son ADHD and wanting to prescribe him Ritalin. I was SPEECHLESS. I told the doctor that I wouldn't be needing the prescription and we left.

Not long after this at a parent teacher conference, I was told by my son's teacher that I was basically a bad parent for disregarding his ADHD and refusing to medicate him. I asked her if he was hyper in class, and she said no. I asked her if he did all his class work, and she said yes. Then I asked her if she would ever consume amphetamines. She became indignant and said, "Of course not!" Why would she expect me to give a child something she wouldn't take? Especially when it is quite obvious to everyone that knows the kid that he doesn't need meds. I don't know what her agenda was, but I didn't like her, the principal, or the doctor THEY sent me to pushing Ritalin on my kid. And I have to wonder how many other kids were referred to that quack through the school, and how many parents bought his BS.

There can no doubt this is a real issue and not only in the US. I live in Denmark and we discussed this issue at work, among 60 colleagues all agree that far to many kids now a day gets the ADHD sign pastet on them.....and they all work with kids, age ranging from 6-15 years, most of them is parents too. Many of the kids is like virtual zombies hours after they got their "medicine"
That said, they also agree on the fact that there has been an increase in hyperactive kids with learning problems of various degree compared to 15-20 years ago.

Im certain theres two reasons for this.
1. The pharmaceutical companies propaganda.
2. It's a lot easyer to hand over some ADHD pills compared to facing the real source of the problem.

Kid's and grown ups is under a constant mind-attack, because we (our governments) allow horrible additives in our suroundings and food such as bisphenol, aspartame, the Tar-colours and a lot of other stuff that all increase the level of hyperactivity we are subjected to.

Originally posted by CoolerAbdullah786

My daughter is 5 years old and she's very energetic and active. She also talks a lot. She constantly wants attention.

Without knowing her or you my guess would be shes exactly what you said. A energetic, sweet young girl without any serious issues - kids who talk all the time and seek attention aint a new thing.