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Maybe ADHD Isn’t the Real Problem

Nicholas Regush of ABCNEWS.com reports that "Attention Deficit" may not be the real problem. According to the Drug Enforcement Agency, prescriptions for methylpenidate, know as Ritalin, increased more than 60 percent between 1990 and 1996.

Nicholas Regush of ABCNEWS.com reports that “Attention Deficit” may not be the real problem.

According to the Drug Enforcement Agency, prescriptions for methylpenidate, know as Ritalin, increased more than 60 percent between 1990 and 1996.

Misdirected Attention?
Between 1990 and 1996, prescriptions for methylpenidate, know as Ritalin, increased more than 60 percent, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency. (Joe Raymond/AP File Photo)

Nicholas Regush reports on the extreme popularity of Ritalin these days. The drug is prescribed to schoolchildren who, for example, have trouble sitting still, or difficulty keeping track of what they are being taught.

Is the drug over prescribed?
A Virginia study shows that up to 10 percent of children in second through fifth grades are on medication to fight such problems, after being diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

“Maybe many doctors have ADHD without the benefit of Ritalin and therefore lack the attention span or patience to consider other factors that may contribute to the behavior and demeanor of their young patients, such as how and where the children live, what they eat, whether they are loved, and the consequences of being taught in schools with curricula too underdeveloped to meet modern childhood needs” says Regush.

Regush goes on to report that “What we essentially have here is an epidemic of dumb doctoring and child abuse bordering on the criminal, sitting on a limited view of human behavioral variability. Granted, there are children at the extreme end of the continuum who need a variety of assistance – not necessarily drug-focused help. Meanwhile, there are probably millions of kids unnecessarily on drugs, obtained not from pushers in school yards but from pushers with medical degrees.”

“What if the ‘problem’ is simply that some of these kids have minds, and spirits, of their own?”

planetc1.com-news @ 11:59 am | Article ID: 947192343

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