The diagnostic manual created by the American Psychiatric Association is the basis for the diagnosis. Under ADHD it lists 3 basic symptoms: hyperactivity, impulsivity, and inattention. Basically, according to Dr. Peter Breggin, it is a list of behaviors that annoy teachers or disrupt classrooms.
For example, under hyperactivity, the first criteria is "often fidgets with hands or feet or squirms in seat." Under impulsivity, the first criteria is: "often blurts out answers before questions have been completed," about which Dr. Breggin quipped, "it means he would probably do well on 'Jeopardy.'" And the third, inattention, has as its first criteria, "often fails to give close attention to details or makes careless mistakes."
Clearly, according to Dr. Breggin, this list of so-called symptoms is not a biological disorder at all. They are simply behaviors that put children in conflict with adults. Even if the evaluator conducts many different tests lasting many hours, the diagnosis still comes back to these "fake" criteria. Dr. Breggin calls them "fake" because they really reflect conflicts between parents and children, and teachers and children.
Indeed there is no evidence that children routinely diagnosed with ADHD have any neurological disorder at all. Many of them, in fact, seem to be superior in terms of their physical or mental endowment, and that is precisely what gets them into trouble.
Dennis H. Clarke, chairman of the Executive Advisory Board of the Citizens Commission On Human Rights International, concurred, saying, "The use of Ritalin on children has no purpose other than to slow them down, shut them up, and make it more difficult for them to move around." Indeed it has been called the "sit down and shut up" drug. He pointed out that the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Third Revised Edition published by the American Psychiatric Association, originally warned of the dangers of administering Ritalin to children – but that this information mysteriously disappeared from the most recent edition (thus supporting Clarke's suspicions that the industry is engaged in a cover-up).
The Negative Impact On Children
Ritalin and other such stimulants suppress growth of all organs of the body by disrupting growth-hormone cycles – an effect that is likely to have long-lasting detrimental effects to the health of the child. Animal studies show that amphetamines such as Adderall and Dexedrine cause brain-cell death – and that Ritalin causes permanent brain dysfunction if administered at regular clinical doses. Some children develop tics – which in some cases become permanent. Some children develop severe mental disorders such as depression and obsessive-compulsive disorders – as well as manic and schizophrenic-like behavior.
The recent wave of school shootings show a consistent and unmistakable link with these diabolical drugs. Eighteen year old Eric Harris, who with his friend Dylan Klebold, 17, massacred their classmates and a teacher at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado on April 20, 1999 had been taking Luvox. T. J. Solomon, 15, who shot and wounded six fellow students at Heritage High School in Conyers, Georgia on May 20, 1999 was on Ritalin. Fifteen year old Shawn Cooper, who fired two shotgun rounds, narrowly missing classmates at his high school in Notus, Idaho was on Ritalin. Fifteen year old Kip Kinkell who first murdered his parents and later killed two students and wounded 22 more in his Oregon school's cafeteria was on Ritalin and Prozac. Michael Johnson, 13, who, with his friend Andrew Golden, 11, shot several children and a teacher at Westside Middle School in Jonsboro, Arkansas was being treated by a psychiatrist and was presumed to be on these drugs.
As if this weren't bad enough, Ritalin, Adderall, and all such stimulants cause cardiovascular problems by disrupting the rhythm of the heart, and on occasion can (and have) lead to cardiac arrest. Animal studies show they weaken the heart muscle.
In March of this year, 14-year-old Matthew Smith of Clawson, Michigan, collapsed and died of heart failure. After the autopsy, medical examiners concluded that Matthew's heart had been damaged by "long-term use of methylphenedate (Ritalin)". Medical authorities made weak claims that adverse side effects are rare.
Dr. Breggen states: "In my practice of psychiatry, I am frequently consulted about children who are taking three, four, and sometimes five psychiatric drugs, including medications that are FDA-approved only for the treatment of psychotic adults. The drug treatment typically began when the children developed conflicts with adults at home or at school. In retrospect, the conflicts could easily have been resolved by interventions such as family counseling or individualized educational approaches. Usually under pressure from a school, the parents instead acquiesced to put their child on stimulants prescribed by psychiatrists, family physicians, or pediatricians.
"When these children exhibited depression, became delusional, and suffered hallucinations, paranoid fears and other drug-induced reactions while taking stimulants, their physicians concluded that the children suffered from "clinical depression," "schizophrenia" or "bipolar disorder" that have been "unmasked" by the medications. Instead of removing the child from the stimulants, these doctors prescribed additional drugs, such as antidepressants, mood stabilizers, and neuroleptics. Children who were put on stimulants for "inattention" or "hyperactivity" ended up taking multiple adult psychiatric drugs that caused severe adverse effects, including psychoses and tardive dyskinesia.
"For many years Ritalin has been by far the most widely-prescribed drug, sometimes in its generic form, methylphenidate. It is now being replaced by Adderall, which is a form of amphetamine. We have even more animal research showing permanent brain damage from amphetamines than from Ritalin, a drug that is classified as amphetamine-like. Now there's a new product coming out which is basically a one-a-day dose of Ritalin (Concerta). This new compound will be even more dangerous because it encourages the quick-fix mentality. Also, when a drug acts over a longer period of time, it's more dangerous because if it has harmful effects, it can't quickly be cleared out of the body."
Your Children Are Not Your Own
We hear reports of people leaving the US to keep the witch doctors from frying their kid's brains – particularly given the fact that parents are now being arrested and having children taken from them for resisting compulsory drugging.
Michael and Jill Carroll worried about the side effects of Ritalin on 7-year-old Kyle. The Carrolls grew concerned when their son was only sleeping about five hours a night and eating just one meal a day at lunchtime. When the Carrolls said they wanted to take Kyle off the drug, the administrators of Berne-Knox-Westerlo school district responded instantly by calling in the Albany County (NY) Child Protective Service and charging "child abuse." As a result, the Carrolls are now on a statewide list of alleged "child abusers," and they have been thrust into an Orwellian family court battle to clear their name and to ensure their child isn't removed from their home.
The Carroll's dilemma is not unique. The schools are now routinely using child protective services to seize control of children from parents. According to David Lansner, a New York City lawyer who has seen cases similar to the Carrolls'. "The parents' authority is being undermined when people have to do what some public official wants."
"This thing is so scary," remarked Patricia Weathers, of Millbrook, a suburb of Poughkeepsie, New York. Officials at the Millbrook school district called police and child protective services when she took her 9-year-old son, Michael, off medications earlier this year. She said a drug cocktail including Ritalin, the anti-depressant Paxil, and Dexedrine, a stimulant like Ritalin, caused her boy to begin hallucinating. "My son was a guinea pig,'" said an angry Weathers. She now sends the child to a private school.
Breggin concludes: "America is the first society to ever turn to the mass drugging of its children as a solution to the conflicts that inevitably arise between the generations. It is difficult to be a child. Childhood is filled with frustration, disappointment, abuse and trauma. It is difficult to be a parent, especially in this modern age where parents are often raising children on their own or while working. It is difficult to be a teacher in large, overcrowded classrooms that lack teaching assistants and volunteers and that lack the kind of exciting technologies that capture the attention of children.
"But in facing the difficulties of parenting and teaching, we must not in our frustration falsely blame the brains of children in order to exonerate ourselves of responsibility. Instead, we must redouble our efforts to become the kind of parents and teachers that our children need, and we must use our influence to improve family life and school life in America.
"By contrast, when we tell a child that the child has ADHD, a biochemical imbalance, cross-wiring in his/her brain, a genetic defect, or some other fabricated biological dysfunction, we saddle that child with an identity that will burden that individual for the rest of his/her life.
We disempower children by telling them that they can't control themselves or can't learn; we disempower ourselves as adults by saying we can't reach any particular child, and we actually end up in our frustration damaging the brains of our children to make them more docile and more manageable. That is all we can accomplish with these drugs – crushing the spontaneity of our children.
Instead we should take responsibility for empowering our children to live as full lives as possible with an intact brain.
International Society for Individual Liberty
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Ritalin: The Drugging of America's Children
