Anyone else here with ADD/ADHD?

by proplog2 67 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  SickofLies

  And it doesn't for Bi-Polar either...but yet this is a common concern for ones that have it and is quite known and recognized.

  Indeed. this is why psychiatry is not considered a true science. The latest issue of skeptic magazine has a very good article about this (written by a psychiatrist) and specifically lists ADD as a major problem within the medical community. The problem with the DSM in general is that it is very open to interpretation and it even use to list homosexuality as a mental disorder up until around 1970.

  There are many criticisms of the DSM, but the main ones are:

  • It has been argued that purely symptom-based diagnostic criteria fail to adequately take into account the context in which a person is living, and whether there is real internal disorder of an individual or simply a response to an ongoing situation.It is claimed that the use of distress and disability as additional criteria for many disorders has not solved this false-positives problem, because the level of impairment is often not correlated with symptom counts and can stem from various individual and social factors.
  • The political context of the DSM is a topic of controversy, including its use by drug and insurance companies. The potential for conflict of interest has been raised because roughly 50% of the authors who previously selected and defined the DSM psychiatric disorders have had or have financial relationships with pharmaceutical industries and drug companies. Some argue that the expansion of disorders in the DSM has been influenced by profit motives and represents an increasing medicalization of human nature, while others argue that mental health problems are still under-recognized and under-treated.
• 

  FreedomFrog

  http://www.webmd.com/add-adhd/guide/attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder-adhd-exams-and-tests

  Here is a link as to what they did to my son.

  They did do the complete...physical test (including eyes and ears), medical tests to make sure there was no "lead" and the whole works because I didn't want to admit my son "might" be ADD. They finally did do the "written" test which included the teacher doing a separate test, parents doing a separate test, therapist...and so on...all coming to the same conclusion.

  I can either allow my son to jab pencils into his skin/pull chunks of hair out or put him on a particular medicine to help him deal...I choose the latter since I didn't want to see him self mutilate himself.
• 

  SickofLies

  So according to webmd the process is along these lines:

  1. Test for any real medical conditions (lead poisoning, hearing or vision problems, blood disorders, etc)

  2. Upon failure to find any medical condition a psychiatric test is administered.

  3. Results of the test are compared to the DSM

  4. Diagnosis is made based on doctors interpretation of DSM.

  90% of doctors that prescribe ADD meds are not psychiatrists and according to the DSM not qualifed to make the diagnosis.
• 

  FreedomFrog

  Well, sickoflies...you do bring up a good point that the drug industries push things but I have to also realize that bi-polar patients are much better when they use meds and are not trying to kill themselves. I also seen a result in my son not trying to hurt himself.

  Do I believe that people should result to meds on a whim...no. I think that if you've exhausted all options then a person should look at maybe the meds options.

  Just like if you or I have a stomach ache...we will try to make it better without major changes...but if it's an appendix...it's an appendix. Appendicitis is a life threatening situation; and so can bi-polar/or ADD.

  You "choose your battles"...if ADD/bi-polar/mental becomes a situation that is harming a person then this may be time to change things. If therapy/Dr's/talking/what-have-ya/ doesn't work and meds do, then meds would be better than a physically damage person and then the mental problems can be worked on.
• 

  SickofLies

  DISCLAMER:

  I merely bring up the points in my above posts for academic interest only, I in no way endorse anyone going off their medication or trying to self diagnosis. Everyone should consult a doctor if they are experiencing mental health problems and not some guy off the internetz. If you do have a serious mental disorder that requires medication of any kind I do recommend a psychiatrist as according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) only a mental health professional is qualified to make a proper diagnosis of a mental disorder.
• 

  sammielee24

  I agree with SickofLies.

  As far as I have researched, there is no 'real' test that can conclusively determine if a person is ADD/ADHD. Prior to 1980 there were only about 200,000 people on drugs for the 'disorder'. Now there are about 5 million in the US alone on drugs - the drug companies make BILLIONS of dollars a year on the stuff. It has always been my understanding that the 'disorder' was one that was initially labelled as such by a group of pychiatrists and then in conjunction with the drug companies, they set out to find a cure aka drugs. They did, but now some drug companies are being sued because all these psychiatric drugs consuming our kids are being found as the cause of depression, suicide and yes, even some of the mall shooters are kids known to have taken or been on prescribed drugs. The Omaha shooter is apparently just the latest.

  Adderall (isn't that what Paris Hilton said she takes?) is all the rage for girls trying to remain thin. Halts the appetite. Ritalin is sold by some kids after they fill their prescription. sammieswife.
• 

  sammielee24

  (NewsTarget) America seems shocked that, yet again, a young male would pick up an assault rifle and murder his fellow citizens, then take his own life. This is what happened last night in Omaha, Nebraska, where the 19-year-old Hawkins killed himself and eight other people with an assault rifle. Those lacking keen observation skills are quick to blame guns for this tragedy, but others who are familiar with the history of such violent acts by young males instantly recognize a more sinister connection: A history of treatment with psychiatric drugs for depression and ADHD.
  
  It all started in Columbine, Colorado, when Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold massacred their way into the history books on April 20, 1999 by killing 12 and wounding 23 people. The mainstream media virtually glorified the event, yet utterly failed to report the connection between violence in young men and treatment with psychiatric drugs. (Both Harris and Klebold were taking antidepressant drugs.)
  
  It's a little known fact that antidepressant drugs have never been tested on children nor approved bythe FDA for use on children. It is well established in the scientific literature, however, that such drugs cause young men to think violent thoughts and commit violent acts. This is precisely why the U.K. has outright banned the prescribing of such drugs to children. Yet here in the United States -- the capitol of gun violence by kids on depression drugs -- the FDA and drug companies pretend that mind-altering drugs have no link whatsoever to behavior.
  
  Adams goes on to cite enormous evidence linking mind-altering drugs with violent acts. The truth is coming out.
• 

  sammielee24

  New CCHR Interview with Former Eli Lilly Drug Chemist

  Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) U.S. President Bruce Wiseman interviews chemist Shane Ellison in this new “Take America Back” radio show exposing the corruption within the psychiatric and pharmaceutical industries. (link)

  Ellison abandoned his career in manufacturing drugs for Eli Lilly when he discovered that the drugs he was making were not intended to cure real diseases. Instead, he discovered that “illnesses,” including ADHD and depression, were being invented and marketed to the population so that drugs could be sold to virtually any healthy individual. Ellison explains that the drugs often cause the very symptoms they are supposed to “cure”. After leaving the pharmaceutical industry, Ellison became an authority on therapeutic nutrition, starting a company that offers nutritional supplements and writing a book called Health Myths Exposed.

  Wiseman points out that the black box warnings on antidepressants exemplifies how the drugs can cause serious side effects, including what they allegedly cure—antidepressants allegedly alleviate depression but in fact can cause suicidal thoughts and behavior. Confirming that none of the drugs are curing depression whatsoever, Ellison likens antidepressants to a chemical lobotomy.

  With Pharma money and their lobbyists heavily influencing politicians, the host warns that two bills are currently pending in Congress forwarding the profitable lie that psychiatric diagnoses are real and need “treatment”.
• 

  FreedomFrog

  sammie, could you please give me the links so I can see what site they are coming from? Thanks

  Edit to add...opps, never mind, I see it.

  I got to go to work but I'll check them out when I get back.
• 

  FreedomFrog

  At first glance this site is so anti with the thought so it will make it seem so negative. Again, I don't have time to review it in detail so I will when I get back.

  Have a good day all!