ADHD Not a Real Disease, Says Leading Neuroscientist

Alex Pietrowski

One of the world’s leading pediatric neuroscientists, Dr. Bruce D. Perry, M.D., Ph.D, recently stated publicly that Attention Deficit/Hyper-Activity Disorder (ADHD) is not ‘a real disease,’ and warned of the dangers of giving psycho-stimulant medications to children.

Speaking to the Observer, Dr. Perry noted that the disorder known as ADHD should be considered a description of a wide range of symptoms that many children and adults exhibit, most of which are factors that everyone of us displays at some point during our lives.

“It is best thought of as a description. If you look at how you end up with that label, it is remarkable because any one of us at any given time would fit at least a couple of those criteria,” he said.

Children’s ADHD Prescriptions Increase Nine-fold, Ages Three and Up

Heather Callaghan

The UK, like the U.S., is concerned by a baffling increase in heavy prescription drugs like Ritalin and psychotropics apparently given to children diagnosed with ADHD* as young as three – although guidelines condemn its use for children under age six. Medical pundits called for a significant decrease and are noticing that parents are pressuring doctors for the meds to increase their children’s performance. The same exact issue happens in the U.S. with doctors groups standing up against the trend. Their fear is that Ritalin is prescribed out of expediency and convenience in lieu of more expensive, time-taking options like counseling (and overall health).

Recently, child psychologists gathered at a summit in Manchester to discuss the rising “medicalization of childhood.” Ritalin – methylphenidate hydrochloride – is considered safe by allopathic standards and time-tested, but is a serious drug with the ability to cause nausea, mood swings, fatigue, insomnia, loss of appetite, heart problems and heart attacks and is linked to suicide. It is considered comparably safe to hardcore self-medicating like alcohol (think: quick dopamine shot), cocaine, and Speed. But for kids?? Three-year-olds??

New Study Proves Mercury Exposure During Pregnancy Causes ADHD in Children

Andrew Puhanic, Contributor

Women who are planning to have a baby or who are already pregnant are now being warned to avoid foods containing mercury and are now being encouraged to eat more fish during pregnancy. 

It is well-known that certain species of fish (shark, Barramundi and swordfish) contain high levels of mercury. Whereas, other species of fish such as snapper and salmon usually have relatively low levels of mercury. For a comprehensive list of fish to avoid, click here.

A new study published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine has concluded that children born from mothers who had been exposed to mercury before and during pregnancy are at risk of developing ADHD-related behaviors in their children. 

ADHD Misdiagnosed In Nearly 1 Million U.S. Kids Say Researchers

PreventDisease

Two studies published recently suggest there could be something wrong with the way ADHD is diagnosed in young children in the US, one found that nearly 1 million kids are potentially misdiagnosed just because they are the youngest in their kindergarten year, with the youngest in class twice as likely to be on stimulant medication, while the other study confirmed that whether children were born just before or just after the kindergarten cutoff date significantly affected their chances of being diagnosed with ADHD.

Papers on both studies by US researchers are in press, to be published in the Journal of Health Economics, the first being a corrected proof that was first available online in June, and the other appeared online on 4 August.

In the first paper, Dr Todd Elder, assistant professor of economics at Michigan State University, looked at a sample of nearly 12,000 children from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Cohort, which is funded by the National Center for Education Statistics. He analysed the difference in ADHD diagnosis and medication rates between the youngest and the oldest children in a kindergarten grade.

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Changing Education Paradigms

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