Sunday, November 13, 2011

ADD/ADHD: To Drug Or Not To Drug

17 of the Eighth Month 5772

I was recently sent a link to this page on the web. My 10 agaroth is below.
Parents Against Drugging Children

To educate all parents about the danger of drugging our children with ADD, ADHD, and SSRI drugs.

Even when I was in practice in the U. S., I was of the school that only one in 50 children who were on Ritalin (etc.) should have been. It was relatively easy to tell which children benefited from treatment, and which children were drugged up so that the parents did not have to deal with the real issue: their marriage (mostly).

Keeping the focus on their child kept them deep in denial about whatever that really issue was.

I also believe that diet must be addressed in these children, before even thinking about drugs.

I do not believe that it is a coincidence that the vast numbers of sugars and preservatives in the diets of many of these children, combined with the increased amount of toxins in the environment correlate positively with the increased numbers of reported cases.

I can also not even begin to address the conflicts of interest I personally suspected of existing within the physicians doling out Ritalin and other drugs.

Furthermore, the classroom needs to be more flexible. Many of these so called ADD/ADHD kids are actually kinesthetic learners. In other words, they learn most effectively using movement, as those are their most effective pathways to and from the brain.

No, I am not asking teachers who are already overworked to teach the lessons according to 30 different learning styles. I am asking them to be more flexible about kids moving around. I am also asking principals to allow this.

Regarding SSRI's (eg. Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, etc.), I personally do not believe that children need to be on these drugs, except under very unusual situations.

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Note: I am not a psychiatrist/physician; I am a psychologist.

Glossary:
ADD = Attention Deficit Disorder
ADHD = Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity
ADHP = Attention Deficit Disorder with Hair-Pulling

SSRI = Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitor: most commonly used to treat depression. Anxiety and ticks may also be treated with these drugs.

1 comment:

Batya said...

A lot of those who can't sit still or concentrate are just sleep deprived. Children should get 10-12 hours of sleep each night until and sometimes including adolesence. A couple hours more of sleep each night would be better than a couple of pills.

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