Most, if not all, parents would perhaps answer yes to these questions, as they are, what many of us believe to be, normal expressions of child behaviour.

Not so, according to Psychiatry. It could be that your child has "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder", a "disease" of the mind that could require medical treatment.

The American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistics Manual (DSM, version IV), the psychiatrist's handbook, lists a number of behavioural traits, such as these, that it considers abnormal in children. Others include: "often has difficulty awaiting turn", "often does not seem to listen when spoken to directly", and "often has difficulty playing or engaging in leisure activities quietly".

'It's total fraud', says Michael Westen, editor of Psychbusters (groups.msn.com/psychbusters), an online activist group that was set up in 2000 to 'decode Psychiatric propaganda'. 'This is not a disease and these are not "diagnostic criteria." These are subjective judgments aimed at coercing a person to follow rules of "proper conduct" made by others with power. The list could just as easily contain: fails to be white, often does not attend a Christian church, tends to be smaller, younger, and unable to do adult tasks.'

'For a disease to exist there must be a tangible, objective physical abnormality that can be determined by a test,' says neurologist Dr. Fred Baughman. 'Such as, but not limited to, a blood or urine test, X-Ray, brain scan or biopsy. All reputable doctors would agree: No physical abnormality, no disease. In psychiatry, no test or brain scan exists to prove that a 'mental disorder' is a physical disease.'

Baughman, from California, and Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology, is one of an ever-growing number of campaigners fighting to expose the lies within the psychiatric industry. An adult & child neurologist of some 35 years, Dr. Baughman is vocal when coming up against misleading research or downright fraud palmed off as "science". 'They made a list of the most common symptoms of emotional discomfiture of children, those which bother teachers and parents most, and in a stroke that could not be more devoid of science or Hippocratic motive--termed them a "disease". Twenty five years of research, not deserving of the term "research", has failed to validate ADD/ADHD as a disease. Tragically--the "epidemic" having grown from 500 thousand in 1985 to between 5 and 7 million today--this remains the state of the "science" of ADHD.'

Despite there being no scientific basis for ADHD, prescriptions of Methylphenidate - most commonly sold as Ritalin - rose to 359,100 last year, a rise of 344,400 since 1995. Figures from the Prescriptions Pricing Authority reveal that there has been a 180-fold increase in prescriptions since 1991 when only 2,000 were issued in England.

Ritalin, which is pharmacologically similar to Cocaine, is a favoured treatment option for those labelled with ADHD, yet critics claim it is a harmful drug that can cause neurological defects and further behavioural difficulties. Earlier this year, researchers in Texas found a link between Ritalin use and chromosome abnormalities - occurrences associated with increased risks of cancer and other adverse health effects.

'The simple fact is that there is absolutely no reliable test that accurately distinguishes between children that are supposed to have "ADHD" and those that are not', says Dr. John Breeding, author of "The Wildest Colts Make The Best Horses". To counter the claim that ADHD is a valid medical condition that requires medical treatment, Breeding encourages parents to demand conclusive scientific evidence. For there simply isn't any.

Elliot S. Valenstien, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Michigan also agrees. 'Contrary to what is often claimed, no biochemical, anatomical, or functional signs have been found that reliably distinguish the brains of mental patients.'

'I am constantly amazed by how many patients who come to see me believe or want to believe that their difficulties are biologic and can be relieved by a pill,' says psychiatrist Dr. David Kaiser. 'This is despite the fact that modern psychiatry has yet to convincingly prove the genetic/biologic cause of any single mental illness. However, this does not stop psychiatry from making essentially unproven claims that depression, bipolar illness, anxiety disorders, alcoholism and a host of other disorders are in fact primarily biologic and probably genetic in origin, and that it is only a matter of time until all this is proven. This kind of faith in science and progress is staggering, not to mention naive and perhaps delusional.'

'There are many reasons why a child can become inattentive or hyperactive," says Michael Westen. 'Nutritional deficiencies or a poor diet are often underlying problems. There can be difficulties in the home, vision problems, even a lack of sleep. There can be many others. Yet instead of looking at all these issues, Psychiatry ignores them, inventing a one-size-fits-all "disease" that requires "medication".'

'Disingenuous comparisons between physical and mental illness and medicine are simply part of psychiatry's orchestrated but fraudulent public relations and marketing campaign,' says Dr. Baughman.

Many seem to share these views including the late Dr. Loren Mosher, a noted psychiatrist and clinical professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, and former Chief of the Center for Studies of Schizophrenia at the National Institute of Mental Health. Mosher famously resigned from the American Psychiatric Association in 1998 due to Psychiatry's growing "unholy alliance" with the multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical industry.

'Psychiatry has become drug dependent (that is, devoted to pill pushing) at all levels - private practitioners, public system psychiatrists, university faculty and organizationally,' Mosher wrote before attacking the field as being mechanistic, reductionistic, tunnel-visioned and dehumanising.

'Modern psychiatry has forgotten the Hippocratic principle,' Mosher once wrote. 'Above all, do no harm.'

--

For more information, visit:

http://groups.msn.com/psychbusters
Decoding Psychiatric Propaganda

This reads like more Thomas Szasz-style reactionary libertarian horse manure. These people want to deny the reality of mental illness so they can deny the insanity defense in murder trials even to obvious psychotics and deny aid to mentally ill homeless people on the grounds that they are lazy malingerers too lazy to work or "compete under the free enterprise system." Their whole argument is based on the premise that because some people were wrongly committed to mental hospitals in the 1950's just because they were eccentrics by society's standards this proves that mental illness does not exist. That is like saying that because left-handedness was once considered abnormal and correctable, diseases of the hand do not exist.
Szasz has the same ideology as Calvin Coolidge and George Bush; he just uses longer words to express it.

as a child was I

easily distracted? - no

talks excessively - no

become impatient? (easily frustated) - no



"Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder", a "disease" of the mind that could require medical treatment.


a disorder not a disease


> often has difficulty awaiting turn", "often does not seem to listen when spoken to directly", and "often has difficulty playing or engaging in leisure activities quietly".


no, no, no


> subjective judgments aimed at coercing a person to follow rules of "proper conduct" made by others with power.


behavior disorders, those are the SIGNS - whether a child acts in those ways is objective reality not subjective opinion however many make the mistake of confusing disease with disorders or dysfunctions
.

> Ritalin, which is pharmacologically similar to Cocaine, / is a harmful drug that can cause neurological defects and further behavioural difficulties


agreed - it causes brain damage and may very well stunt a child's development - I strongly recommend parents DON'T use it on thier children
.

> 'Contrary to what is often claimed, no biochemical, anatomical, or functional signs have been found that reliably distinguish the brains of mental patients.'


not true - NMR and PET scans show differences between normal brains and the brains of *some* mental patients, they also have altered balances of neurotransmitters *which is how psychotropic drugs work*


> 'There are many reasons why a child can become inattentive or hyperactive," says Michael Westen. 'Nutritional deficiencies

or bad parenting

Whether one prefers to call something like obsessive-compulsive disorder an illness, a condition, a problem or something else is less important than the recognition that these things exist and cause an awful lot of suffering for some people. It is not true that there is no observable difference in brain function between the brains of people suffering from serious disorders and those of people who report no such disorders. One big difference is in serotonin uptake. If something can be done to change this so that a person does not have to wash their hands 300 times a day or count the number of letters in every word they read it should be done.

> differences in brain function between the brains of people suffering from serious disorders

schizophrenia and other more severe types of psychosis show clear differences in energy utilization in the brain - whether neurotransmitter balance is the cause or result is unclear.

I believe it's the result but it could be both (mostly altered brain function causes altered chemistry with some unbalance - types or severity - causing further or other types of dysfunction

The brain being so complicated we don't really understand just how it works, this lack of understanding leads to taking stabs in the dark regarding psychotropic therapy.


> One big difference is in serotonin uptake. If something can be done to change this so that a person does not have to wash their hands 300 times a day or count the number of letters in every word they read it should be done.


My main concern with all attempts to manipulate brain chemistry is creative abilities - I believe such thought is the highest form of brain function and is the first to go when impairment sets in. I've found nearly all psychotropics cause damage, even "minor tranquilizers" like benzodiazepines. Even poor diet, lack of protein, or imbalanced amino acid intake does. The brain tends to have imbalances "set in" causing permanent impairment. Like a spinning top or clockwork - once an imbalance is imparted it tends to be cumlative. Growing minds are particularly susceptible as the impairments "grow in" as well.


I don't believe psychotropic therapy is really the answer, that more humanistic qualities much like some Indian cultures do is - that mental disorders are basicly caused by lack of attention, love, caring, contact or conversely by abuse, anger, hostility... Lack of positive human qualities and/or exposure to negative ones. The Indian cultures I'm refering to make the person so afflicted the center of attention with the whole tribe concerned and rooting for them (the seemingly primative "excising evil spirits" ceremony is remarkably effective and doesn't involve the permanent impairment psychotropic therapy often causes.

This may seem unorthodox but personally if I was crazy this is the form of therapy I would want.

Some people are more susceptible to negative events, emotions, reactions, replies and thoughts than others and likewise are more responsive to positive qualities as a cure or shield from them. I related this awhile back as basicly a plea to be kinder, not just in words/action but in thought as well - my religion teaches it's innately negative (evil) to be thought of badly by others even when they are total strangers just exchanging words on a newswire comment area.

Concern for such ill thoughts is not in the context of self preservation but for all involved - for the person(s) thinking them towards oneself as well. My religion teaches that one has a moral duty to remedy such situations - and as is so often the case a person's religion is a reflection of thier own personality so it's no surprise that one's own values and ethics are encompassed/ing with/in said religion. That I picked my religion 25 years ago based on it matching my own values which I hold dear to begin with, that it helps me develop my own value system by practicing it on a daily basis - the wisdom of ages past acts as a guide, as signposts in one's travels on the path of spiritual advancement..

Mental illness is the result of a lack of moral direction combined with negative experiences which accumulate and eventually cause imbalance which leads to cognitive dysfunction..

The solution/prevention is a combination of moral guidance and positive humanistic experiences.
Psychotropic therapy is an artificial non-human (unhuman) method of attempting to force correction which is why it so often fails - it's not really addressing the root or source of the problem but insted applying an external inorganic "quick fix" as a substitute for the intimate humanistic interaction that's really needed. "Primative" cultures had to deal with mental illness long before psychotropics and evolution determined what works - people who they failed to cure simply didn't survive so cultures figured out what works over time by trial & error (the context here is only in positive methods - basicly group therapy - not negative methods like burning at the stake, obviously that didn't work as the patient didn't survive..)

Cultures have had thousands of years to find out what works - without psychotropics - so they have a big advantage over modern psychiatric treaments. In modern times we can afford to keep treatment failures locked away in wards - primative cultures didn't have that luxury - they had to find what works