-Caveat Lector- .............................................................. Forwarded from the New Paradigms Project [Not Necessarily Endorsed]: From: Ian Goddard <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: RITALIN: Breggin Responds Date: Sunday, November 14, 1999 7:02 PM Last year the American Medical Association conducted a review "to deal with public and professional concern" about the use of psychotropic drugs to control the minds of children. [*] Not surprisingly, their conclusion was that there is no problem -- children who display excessive energy and who don't pay enough attention to adults should be dosed with potentially harmful drugs that are intended to overcome their free wills, bringing them under control. Below is the response of Peter Breggin, M.D., to the AMA, presented in a letter that was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Here are some highlights: "While admitting there are no proven long-term benefits, the AMA report supports the long-term use of the drug [Ritalin]." "The council report specifically denies that methylphenidate [Ritalin] is used for behavioral control but the diagnostic items are entirely limited to behaviors. The drug is almost always given to suppress behaviors that signal unmet needs in the child or conflicts between the child and adults." "Cookie-cutter diagnoses and assembly-line pharmacological treatments do not do justice to the needs of our children. On an individual level, America's children need much more attention to their personal, family, and educational needs. On a social level, they need improved schools and family life and a value system that emphasizes their individuality rather than drug-induced compliance and conformity." ========================================================= Journal of the American Medical Association, April 28, 1999 -- Volume 281, Number 16, pages 1490-1 ========================================================= To the Editor: By promoting the diagnosis of ADHD and the use of methylphenidate [Ritalin] as a treatment, the AMA Council on Scientific Affairs' report [1] does a disservice. The council report fails to cite any of the dozens of critical publications spanning decades. [2-6] It exaggerates the benefits of methylphenidate, claiming short-term use improves academic performance. Reviews instead conclude that methylphenidate has no positive effects on learning but can impair it. [3] While admitting there are no proven long-term benefits, the AMA report supports the long-term use of the drug. The report ignores methylphenidate's many adverse effects. [3] The council report calls ADHD a "neuropsychiatric disorder," but it is a diagnosis of exclusion made only in the absence of any known medical or neurological cause. All the "symptoms" are drawn from normal childhood behaviors, such as squirming in a chair, acting bored, talking out of turn, and being forgetful and inattentive. When these behaviors increase in number or intensity, it really signals that the child requires more individualized attention to unmet basic needs, such as a more engaging and individualized educational environment, more rational or consistent discipline in the home or school, unconditional love, or security and safety. An increase in ADHD-like behaviors almost always indicates that we, as adults, are not giving the child much-needed attention. The council report specifically denies that methylphenidate is used for behavioral control but the diagnostic items are entirely limited to behaviors. The drug is almost always given to suppress behaviors that signal unmet needs in the child or conflicts between the child and adults. The council report minimizes how widely methylphenidate is being used and abused. By contrast, the International Narcotics Control Board [5] and the Drug Enforcement Administration [4] warn that 90% of the worlds methylphenidate is consumed in the United States, that 10% to 12% of boys aged 6 to 14 years are being diagnosed and given methylphenidate, that more high school seniors are abusing the drug than receiving it through physicians, and that methylphenidate is one of the nation's most commonly stolen and diverted substances. Cookie-cutter diagnoses and assembly-line pharmacological treatments do not do justice to the needs of our children. On an individual level, America's children need much more attention to their personal, family, and educational needs. On a social level, they need improved schools and family life and a value system that emphasizes their individuality rather than drug-induced compliance and conformity. Peter R. Breggin, MD Bethesda, Md 1. Goldman LS, Genel M, Bezman RJ, Slanetz PJ, for the Council on Scientific Affairs, American Medical Association, Diagnosis and treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in children and adolescents. JAMA. 1998;279:1100-1107. 2. Armstrong T. The Myth of the ADHD Child. New York, NY: Dutton; 1995. 3. Breggin PR. Talking Back to Ritalin. Monroe, Me: Common Courage Press; 1998. 4. Drug Enforcement Administration. Methylphenidate: A Background Paper. Washington, DC: Drug Enforcement Administration, US Dept of Justice; 1995. 5. International Narcotics Control Board, INCB Sees Continuing Risk in Stimulant Prescribed for Children. Vienna, Austria: International Narcotics Control Board; 1997. INCB Annual Report Background Note 4. 6. McGuinness D. Attention deficit disorder: the emperor's new clothes, animal "pharm," and other fiction. In: Fisher S, Greenberg RP, eds. The Limits of Biological Treatments for Psychological Distress. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates; 1998:151-188. ============================================================ Peter Breggin's web site: http://breggin.com http://www.breggin.com/ritalinbkexcerpt.html ============================================================ [*] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/htbin-post/Entrez/query?uid=9546570&form=6&db=m&; Dopt=b ------------------------------------------------------------ GODDARD'S JOURNAL: http://www.erols.com/igoddard/journal.htm ____________________________________________________________ Forwarded for info and discussion from the New Paradigms Discussion List, not necessarily endorsed by: *********************************** Lloyd Miller, Research Director for A-albionic Research (POB 20273, Ferndale, MI 48220), a ruling class/conspiracy research resource for the entire political-ideological spectrum. 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