Quoted message said:Subject: Re: What Is NOT Said About Ritalin
From: Peter Bowditch [email hidden]
Date: 8/17/2003 4:54 PM Pacific Standard Time
Message-id: <[email hidden]>(Jan) said:ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER- A DUBIOUS DIAGNOSIS?
CHADD...
(Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder) Thousands of parents
turnQuoted message said:to A.D.D. "support groups" for information and help. They expect that the
information will be accurate, unbiased and complete. The largest of these
support groups is CHADD, Children and Adults with Attention Deficit
Disorder.Just one question for Jan - why do you hate children so much that you
do not want to see them treated in order to improve their lives?
An absolutely ridiculous question. *I* of all people certainly do NOT hate
children.
The improvement one sees doesn't last.
Now back to the subject.
http://www.pbs.org/merrow/tv/add/chadd.html
ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER- A DUBIOUS DIAGNOSIS?
CHADD...
(Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder) Thousands of parents turn
to A.D.D. "support groups" for information and help. They expect that the
information will be accurate, unbiased and complete. The largest of these
support groups is CHADD, Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder.
As we report in "Attention Deficit Disorder: A Dubious Diagnosis?", many
parents do not know that CHADD has for years been receiving large sums of money
from the maker of Ritalin, Ciba-Geigy.
Here is some of what CHADD's literature tells parents, along with information
it doesn't present.
CHADD SAYS:
"Psychostimulant medications are not addictive."
WHAT'S NOT SAID:
Methylphenidate and Ritalin are nearly identical to amphetamine- otherwise
known as "speed". The federal Drug Enforcement Administration puts
methylphenidate in the same class of drugs as morphine and codeine- drugs with
legitimate medical application, but a high potential for abuse. Withdrawal
effects (agitation, marked anxiety, and tension) from psychostimulants are
common, and many doctors recommend tapering the dosage before discontinuing
medication.
CHADD SAYS:
"The most likely cause of A.D.D. is a chemical imbalance or deficiency in
certain chemicals in the brain that are located in the area responsible for
attention and activity."
WHAT'S NOT SAID:
CHADD bases this claim on a 1990 study by Dr. Alan Zametkin of the National
Institutes of Health (NIH), which found slightly lower levels of glucose
metabolism in the brains of adults diagnosed with hyperactivity. Not mentioned
by CHADD are the succeeding attempts* to replicate those results in children.
Dr. Zametkin's later studies found "no statistically significant differences"
between the brains of normal children and children diagnosed with A.D.H.D. The
root cause of the disorder remains unknown.
*Brain Metabolism in Teenagers With ADHD" ( Arch. Gen. Psychiatry, Vol. 50, May
1993) and "Reduced Brain Metabolism is Hyperactive Girls" ( J. Am. Acad. Child
Adolesc. Psychiatry, 33: 6, July/August 1994)
CHADD SAYS:
"Emotional difficulties, including substance abuse, are more likely to occur
when a child with A.D.D. is not treated."
WHAT'S NOT SAID:
There are no conclusive studies showing that treatment of A.D.D. reduces the
risk of drug abuse. Even Ciba-Geigy's chief physician declined to support
CHADD's assertion.
CHADD SAYS:
"Medication is not used to control behavior-medication is used to improve the
symptoms of A.D.D."
WHAT'S NOT SAID:
The symptoms of A.D.D. outlined by the American Psychiatric Association
(fidgets with hands or feet or squirms in seat, has difficulty remaining seated
when required to do so, is easily distracted by extraneous stimuli, etc.) are
all behavioral. Medication is used to help control these symptoms. Controlling
behavior and improving the symptoms of A.D.D. are one and the same.
CHADD SAYS:
"Between 70-80% of children respond positively to these (psycho-stimulant)
medications."
WHAT'S NOT SAID:
Research suggests that medication may not be so effective a treatment. Dr.
James Swanson, Director of the Child Development Center at the University of
California, has written: "...the short term effects of stimulants on academic
performance are minimal compared to the effects on behavior, and there is no
evidence of beneficial effects on learning or academic achievement."*
*"Treatment of A.D.D.: Beyond Medication" (Beyond Behavior, Fall 1992/Vol. 4
No,1)
CHADD SAYS:
"Hundreds of studies on thousands of children have been conducted regarding the
effects of psycho-stimulant medications. Relatively few long term side effects
have been identified."
WHAT'S NOT SAID:
Hundreds of studies on stimulant medications have been conducted, but few have
looked at long term side effects. Measuring the long term effects of pediatric
medications is prohibitive because of legal and ethical dilemmas surrounding
the use of children as test subjects. The federal Food and Drug Administration
labeling for Ritalin includes the specific warning "Sufficient data on the
safety and efficacy of long term use of Ritalin in children are not yet
available."
==============================
Study: Psychiatric drugs overprescribed for kids
The number of 2- to 4-year-olds taking psychiatric drugs like Ritalin
and Prozac soared 50 percent between 1991 and 1995, according to a new
study that experts said reveals a troubling and growing trend.
Doctors said the effects of such drugs are largely unknown in children
so young and they worry the drugs could affect the development of young
minds.
More than 200,000 preschool-aged children around the country were
studied for the report in today's Journal of the American Medical
Association.
"These are substantial increases with little or no data supporting
their use. I think that's the message that should go out," said Julie
Magno Zito, the lead author and an assistant professor of pharmacy and
medicine at the University of Maryland.
The researchers suggest the increase is due to a growing acceptance of
such drugs and because more and more children are attending day-care
and are being pressured to conform to school standards of good
behavior.
Dr. Joseph Coyle of Harvard Medical School's psychiatry department said
the study reveals a troubling trend.
He said "there is no empirical evidence to support psychotropic drug
treatment in very young children" -- and there are valid concerns that
such treatment could harm brain development.
"These disturbing prescription practices suggest a growing crisis in
mental health services to children and demand more thorough
investigation," Coyle wrote in a JAMA editorial.
The authors reviewed Medicaid prescription records from 1991, 1993 and
1995 for preschoolers from a Midwestern state and a mid-Atlantic state;
and for those in an HMO in the Northwest. The states were not
identified.
Use of stimulants, anti-depressants, anti-psychotics and clonidine -- a
drug used in adults to treat high blood pressure and increasingly for
insomnia in hyperactive children -- were examined.
Substantial increases were seen in every category except anti-
psychotics, though in some cases the actual number of prescriptions was
quite small.
The number of children getting any of the drugs totaled about 100,000
in 1991, and jumped to 150,000 in 1995. That year, 60 percent of the
youngsters on drugs were age 4, 30 percent were 3 and 10 percent were 2-
year-olds.
The use of clonidine skyrocketed in all three groups. Although the
numbers were small, the researchers said the clonidine increases were
particularly remarkable because its use for attention disorders is "new
and largely uncharted."
They noted that slowed heart beat and fainting have been reported in
children who use clonidine with other medications for attention
disorders.
Dr. David Fassler, chairman of the American Psychiatric Association's
council on adolescents and their families, said the medications
studied "can be extremely helpful for some children, even quite young
children."
However, because their effects on younger children and their
development aren't known, Fassler said, the Food and Drug
Administration has recently instructed pharmaceutical companies to
study the connection.
Jan
The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil,
but because of the people who don't do anything about it."
Albert Einstein