WHENEVER the media writes on the subject of disruptive, inattentive or boisterous children who have been labelled ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), there seems to be an assumption the reader accepts the psychiatric label is real, and that "experts" can treat it.
This could not be further from the truth. While there is no question children and adolescents can be argumentative, impulsive, and that some can be more active than others, psychiatry has packaged up these and other behaviour characteristics and categorised them as the so-called mental illness ADHD.
If you strip away all of the psychiatric rhetoric, the reality of the situation is children and adolescents are being chemically restrained for displaying behaviour that is considered to be an illness because a psychiatrist said so.
As for the idea of a "chemical imbalance of the brain" as the reason given for drugging young minds, forget it. It's hype and slick marketing. Psychiatrists have never found a test or submitted evidence to support the existence of such an imbalance. They can't measure a balance in the brain, so they wouldn't know if an imbalance had been resolved if there was one.
A significant factor, however, in the whole charade is money. Last year in England alone, the cost of ADHD drugs was more than £52 million, while the cost over the last ten years was more than £340 million. Add the cost of ADHD drugs dispensed in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and the figure comes to more than £409 million. It is important that we question ideas, especially those that are based on opinions rather than science. It goes without saying that psychiatric drugs will chemically restrain a person, but they don't cure anything. Psychiatry does not have any science or cures.
While life is full of problems that can sometimes be overwhelming, it is important to know that psychiatry, its diagnoses and its drugs are the wrong way to go. The emphasis must be on workable medical testing that find undiagnosed physical conditions manifesting as so-called mental illness.
Brian Daniels, national spokesperson, Citizens Commission on Human Rights (United Kingdom).
The Telegraph says
Is there too much emphasis on drugs to treat such illness these days? Comment at www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk