1 in 5 Young Adults Have Personality Disorder, Study Finds

[luchog]

IThat's not to say that people with ADHD should never be medicated, since it's believed there might be chemical and genetic risk factors. I just don't think medication should ever be considered the only option.

Then it's a good thing no ethical and competent doctor ever considers medication to be the only option.

 

[Dancing David]

Hi Ivor,

Your study is from 1999, current estimates of ADHD are 3-7%, so what is the chance of a sample effect in the study you cite.

here is a more recent one, which is listed on the citation in the article you linked to:
http://jad.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/11/2/106

Based on the review of prevalence studies and research on the diagnostic process, there does not appear to be sufficient justification for the conclusion that ADHD is systematically overdiagnosed.

So show where you have more than a sample effect or that there is widespread overdiagnosis and treatment.

It is incorrect to assume that it is the psychiatrist who is sugegsting 'medication only'. If you worked with children who have the diagnosis, you would know that medication only is not the preffered or only treatment. And that in fact there are populations who are not being treated with medication.

So your data is inconclusive and possible effected by sampling of limited populations. what were the SES demographics, rates of parental alocohol abuse, etc? that might have effected the sampling in that study?

 

[Dancing David]

That's not to say that people with ADHD should never be medicated, since it's believed there might be chemical and genetic risk factors. I just don't think medication should ever be considered the only option.

Um, from my limited sample (and totaly anecdotal sample), it would appear that there is a large population of disruptive children whose parents do not seek medication as a first resort. In fact most parents are not interested in medication until they become aware that their student is really having a hard time in school.


I can't say that I personaly have ever met a clinician, social worker, doctor, parent, or adult who lived with ADHD as a child and adult who recomends just medication.

As I have stated many times in the past, there is an overwhelming resistence to mental health treatment in the USA, people rarely get help when things are samll, they wait until their life collapses in many cases.

Most parents I know who have children diagnosed with ADHD (about 15 over time) have tried all sorts of methods and routines to help their children, usually medication is not the first choice. Many parents and one who is a clinical psychologist I know, have their kids on an intermittent schedule too, where they may or may not take the afternoon dose and often no medication over the weeknds.

The bigger issue that I am aware of is adult abuse of the medication.

 

[Ivor the Engineer]

Sami Timimi, a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist and director of postgraduate education in the NHS, has a rather different view about what ADHD is:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/25/children.health

Nice has announced new guidelines on the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, in children.

In my view, though the new advice has taken some steps in the right direction, it suffers from a failure of nerve. Perhaps the guideline development group was unable to accept the challenge the evidence poses to currently accepted practice.

For example, Nice correctly concludes that the evidence does not support using medication (such as Ritalin) as a first-line treatment for mild or moderate ADHD, as medication has not been demonstrated to produce a better outcome than psychological approaches, but has been found to carry extra risks (such as interference with growth). Yet Nice concludes that medication should be used as a first-line treatment in "severe" ADHD, citing only one reference in support of this.

Even this reference is fundamentally flawed, as it refers to data from a large trial comparing medication and behavioural treatments, which concluded that the more severe subgroup showed a larger decrease in symptoms with medication than with therapy after 14 months in treatment.

However, after 36 months, this research project found no superiority in outcome for medication over behaviour therapy, even in those with more severe symptoms. At the same time, it found that children exposed to medication for the longest periods were now significantly lighter and shorter than their peers.

Recommending medication as a first-line treatment for "severe" ADHD is, therefore, not evidence-based, but provides an escape route for practitioners to continue misapplying medication to patients (by simply re-categorising them as severe cases).

He has also written a book about the subject:

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=...=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result#PPA85,M1

Chapter 7 covers the phenomenon of ADHD.

(I bet pharmaceutical companies had to pinch themselves when physicians started prescribing speed to kids.)

 

[Smackety]

ADHD certainly had its run, but there is a new diagnosis that is rapidly gaining popularity. Seems like every kid these days is RAD (Reactive Attachment Disorder).

ETA: With RAD you don't have the questions you get with ADHD (how come he can watch TV or play GTA:IV for 8 hours straight if he only has a 30 second attention span doctor?)

 

[Ivor the Engineer]

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/brain_nervous_system/adhd.htm

What treatment is available for ADHD?

Treatment depends on a child's exact diagnosis. It should take into account any specific difficulties and those strengths that may aid their improvement.

It is not easy to live or cope with a child with ADHD. Both parents and teachers can follow general guidelines to manage a child's problematic behaviour but they may need specialist support and advice, e.g. from a psychologist.

Management techniques for parents and teachers

• Create a daily routine for the child, eg homework schedules, bedtime and mealtime routines.
  
• Be specific in your instructions to the child and make clear and reasonable requests, eg instead of telling the child to 'behave' suggest 'play quietly with your Lego for 10 minutes'.
  
• Set clear and easily understood boundaries, eg how much TV they may watch, and that rudeness is unacceptable.
  
• Be consistent in the handling and managing of the child.
  
• Remove disturbing or disruptive elements from their daily routine. For example, remove siblings from the room when they are doing homework or turn off the TV.
  
• Plan structured programmes aimed at gradually lengthening the child's concentration span and ability to focus on tasks.
  
• Communicate with the child on a one-to-one basis and avoid addressing other children at the same time.
  
• Use rewards (eg stickers, tokens or even money) consistently and frequently to reinforce appropriate behaviour such as listening to adults and concentrating.
  
• Use sanctions (eg loss of privileges, being sent to their room) for unacceptable behaviour or 'overstepping' of boundaries.
  
• Discuss your child with their school or nursery and see if you can work together.

Ivor's recommendations for the management of perfectly normal and healthy children:

• Create a daily routine for the child, eg homework schedules, bedtime and mealtime routines.
  
• Be specific in your instructions to the child and make clear and reasonable requests, eg instead of telling the child to 'behave' suggest 'play quietly with your Lego for 10 minutes'.
  
• Set clear and easily understood boundaries, eg how much TV they may watch, and that rudeness is unacceptable.
  
• Be consistent in the handling and managing of the child.
  
• Remove disturbing or disruptive elements from their daily routine. For example, remove siblings from the room when they are doing homework or turn off the TV.
  
• Plan structured programmes aimed at gradually lengthening the child's concentration span and ability to focus on tasks.
  
• Communicate with the child on a one-to-one basis and avoid addressing other children at the same time.
  
• Use rewards (eg stickers, tokens or even money) consistently and frequently to reinforce appropriate behaviour such as listening to adults and concentrating.
  
• Use sanctions (eg loss of privileges, being sent to their room) for unacceptable behaviour or 'overstepping' of boundaries.
  
• Discuss your child with their school or nursery and see if you can work together.

 

[Dancing David]

Sami Timimi, a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist and director of postgraduate education in the NHS, has a rather different view about what ADHD is:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/25/children.health



He has also written a book about the subject:

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=...=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result#PPA85,M1

Chapter 7 covers the phenomenon of ADHD.

(I bet pharmaceutical companies had to pinch themselves when physicians started prescribing speed to kids.)

So now you are quoting the Guardian (which has some great reporting) what data and evidence are they citing?

Would you point to the research please?

 

[Dancing David]

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/brain_nervous_system/adhd.htm



Ivor's recommendations for the management of perfectly normal and healthy children:

Okay those are all nice. How about some data?

I think the issue is that modern school, which places high expectations on concentration and self control is very difficult for certain student (those with something that looks like ADHD and those who are not socialized for the structured environment).

I still haven't seen data that indicates a huge over treatment issue in regards to ADHD. (One study which is not really conclusive.)

Now if you want to talk about why parents seek treatment, why they switch treatment providers, the fact that they diagnosis shop. That is fine. Especially the ‘medicalization of domestic violence’.

I for example know a child who meets the criteria for bipolar disorder to the last symptom. However they have a parent with affective flattening and another who seems to be manic most of the time. Both parents are opposed to the idea that their child might have an affective disorder (which is their right), so the child is now labeled with an autistic disorder spectrum disorder (because they shopped around).

Now is that the fault of whom, especially since the doctor is treating the child for bipolar disorder?

These issues are real and very plain to those in the field. However a rash of children and adults getting treatment by psychiatrists, who are 'well' and functioning, is just an assertion at this point.

 

[Baby Nemesis]

"Correlation is not causation."
"Contributing doesn't mean sole cause."

and other straw men standing up in outrage.

Feel better now? Why you want to split hairs, misrepresent things I've said and over-state your case, I don't know. *Shruggs* C'est la vie.

Sorry, that's not the latest research. That study has already been disproven. As I said earlier, I posted info a more recent study that conclusively disproves the cannabis-schizophrenia link.

Wow, quick quick work! And so conclusive in such a very short time! That study I linked to was only concluded a few months ago! Care to provide a link to your awesomely conclusive really recent study that knocks all others for six, proves many psychiatric workers mistaken, and has such an authoritative research methodology that it cannot be questioned? Oh good. I'm preparing to be impressed. :-7

Again, SDIP and schizophrenia are similar, but unrelated disorders.

Unrelated, eh? So let me get this straight:

Schizophrenia is not one disease, but a spectrum of diseases, simply with similar manifestations. Yet SDIP can be thought of for practical purposes as being on that spectrum, since it manifests itself in a similar way to all the others, but oddly, it has to be singled out as being unrelated.

Don't you think this, and in fact your whole post, is a heated spiel of indignation over grey areas? Why, I ask myself. But it doesn't really matter.

In any case, they put too much emphasis on unproven treatments, many of which are merely old, disproven treatments with new jargon and a fresh coat of
paint.

Can you actually prove this with hard data? Especially given they're careful on that page to differentiate between treatments that are known to work, treatments with less evidence for efficacy and unproven treatments that are a waste of time?

Nor does it mean that it's necessarily helpful to anyone or anything but the author's bank account. There's a reason why reputable medical journals don't publish "self-help" texts.

Of course there is. One reason is space - imagine publishing a whole self-help text in a journal! And just think of the lawsuits from angry publishers.

Please, if you're going to post again, post substance and data, rather than just disparaging nay-saying. You know, something a bit more substantial and weighty than this unfounded generalisation:

Then it's a good thing no ethical and competent doctor ever considers medication to be the only option.

The article I linked to features the case of despairing parents who keep going to their doctors to ask if anything else can be done for their son than more of the same medication that isn't helping him. They never seem to get anywhere. It's shocking that you should dismiss this doctor as unethical and incompetent without any more analysis than an assumption!

As I said earlier in this thread, I've worked on a help-line for people with anxiety disorders. I don't know what the situation is with ADHD, but certainly, almost every time I asked an anxiety caller if they'd been to their doctor about their symptoms, which I did with almost every call, I would hear a horror story of someone who'd been to their doctor and were very unhappy, because all their doctor offered them was medication. But those weren't as bad as the calls where they'd tell me about all the therapy they'd had that hadn't worked. Thankfully, I'm hoping things are changing, at least gradually. There is a Books on Prescription Scheme which has begun to be introduced, where approved self-help books are prescribed to people instead of drugs. Here's something about it from one council involved:

The self-help books that doctors recommend

The Books on Prescription Scheme is a very effective way of helping people with common mental health problems, such as anxiety, depression, phobias and eating disorders.

There is first class clinical evidence to show that books can be just as effective as other forms of therapy – and with the advantage of having no side effects.

Books can work well either on their own or used in conjunction with other forms of treatment. Your doctor will advise. Of course the more you put into following the guidance given, the better the result is likely to be.

In partnership with Hampshire Library Service, GPs and other health professionals prescribe books from a list of high quality self-help manuals selected by experienced mental health practitioners.

Your doctor will give you a ‘prescription’ which can be exchanged for the recommended book at any Hampshire Library. ...

Progress!

 

[Ivor the Engineer]

Is ADHD a disease of the brain?

Can anyone potentially get ADHD at any time, or does an individual have it from birth?

 

[Dancing David]

Is ADHD a disease of the brain?

Can anyone potentially get ADHD at any time, or does an individual have it from birth?

Great questiobn, not disease in the sense of an infection, but a 'mental illness' in the sense of 'something not working well'.

I will look up the current research and get back to you, in the past adult onset was not considered as a viable theory.

And in a pre-industrial agrarian society , the 'symptoms' of 'ADHD' would probably not matter as much as they do in modern school rooms.

 

[Dancing David]

Baby N, one of the reasons I am avoiding talking with you is that you continue to make sweeping generalizations about doctors and the provision of different treatment modalities.

Medication in the dmoan of the doctor, very few people can afford to pay a doctor for talk therapy.

Cognitive behavioral therapy and other talk therapy treatments are not widely available in all areas, some areas have groups , others do not.

Yet you seem to blame the doctors for thier inability to provide their patients with talk therapy'

I quote: (from you)
"The article I linked to features the case of despairing parents who keep going to their doctors to ask if anything else can be done for their son than more of the same medication that isn't helping him. They never seem to get anywhere."


"almost every time I asked an anxiety caller if they'd been to their doctor about their symptoms, which I did with almost every call, I would hear a horror story of someone who'd been to their doctor and were very unhappy, because all their doctor offered them was medication. "

So what personal responsibility does the caller/patient/parent have in these situations, why are you holding the doctor accountable for provoding the services you think should be provided.

You also do not quote the source directly: so there may NOT be anything that the doctor can do other than provide medication. that is there job, they may be able to refer to other providers, they may not. If the 'child' in this case is a victim of abuse, living with autism, what is the doctor supposed to do?

As someone who was a mental health clinician for ten years, and provided volunteer crisis line services because of the holiday rush (late October through late March): I have to question the validity of your belief that there are huge numbers of people who are 'just given mediaction' by their doctor.

What kind of sample is that?
What kind of 'help line' were you providing services on?
What level of alcohol and substance abuse were the callers engaging in?

I will try to be patient but i may not respond if you keep over generalizing.

 

[Baby Nemesis]

Is ADHD a disease of the brain?

Can anyone potentially get ADHD at any time, or does an individual have it from birth?

Supernanny could calm children with ADHD.

There have been studies into biological factors, such as:

Report says drinking during pregnancy causes ADHD.

The ADHD Genetic Group

... The genes that have already been identified as risk factors for ADHD include the dopamine D4 receptor gene (DRD4), the dopamine transporter gene (DAT1), the dopamine D5 receptor gene (DRD5) and synaptosomal associated protein (SNAP-25). It is important to note that all
of these genes confer only a small additional risk to ADHD on their own (odds ratio range from 1.2 – 2).

Other strategies using genetic linkage designs to screen the entire human genome have been less successful to date but hold the promise of identifying novel gene systems that could lead to major advances in our knowledge of ADHD etiology. ...

 

[Ivor the Engineer]

<snip>

However a rash of children and adults getting treatment by psychiatrists, who are 'well' and functioning, is just an assertion at this point.

I doubt there will ever be any definitive research on the issue because no one with the necessary expertise is going to jeopardise their careers by publishing work which implies many of their professional colleagues are dishonest or foolish. E.g., look what happened to the female researcher I quoted in my previous post.

However, looking at the prevalence of ADHD diagnoses in some regions of the US, it becomes rather implausible that all of the children diagnosed with ADHD do actually have ADHD and/or other mental illnesses.

Ultimately it depends on how wide we are willing to make the definition of mental illness.

This is fairly old news but relevant:

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/interactive/news/theme_news_detail.php?id=18351453&tab_id=202

Research has found that drugs used to treat attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are ineffective over the long term and may even undermine a child's physical growth.

The Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD followed the progress of 600 children with ADHD and found that drugs such as Concerta and Ritalin have no clear benefits for children who take the medication for over three years.

In addition, the study found that children who take ADHD medications are more likely to lose height and weight compared to children who do not take the medication.

 

[Baby Nemesis]

Baby N, one of the reasons I am avoiding talking with you is that you continue to make sweeping generalizations about doctors and the provision of different treatment modalities.

Medication in the dmoan of the doctor, very few people can afford to pay a doctor for talk therapy.

Cognitive behavioral therapy and other talk therapy treatments are not widely available in all areas, some areas have groups , others do not.

Yet you seem to blame the doctors for thier inability to provide their patients with talk therapy'

I quote: (from you)
"The article I linked to features the case of despairing parents who keep going to their doctors to ask if anything else can be done for their son than more of the same medication that isn't helping him. They never seem to get anywhere."


"almost every time I asked an anxiety caller if they'd been to their doctor about their symptoms, which I did with almost every call, I would hear a horror story of someone who'd been to their doctor and were very unhappy, because all their doctor offered them was medication. "

So what personal responsibility does the caller/patient/parent have in these situations, why are you holding the doctor accountable for provoding the services you think should be provided.

You also do not quote the source directly: so there may NOT be anything that the doctor can do other than provide medication. that is there job, they may be able to refer to other providers, they may not. If the 'child' in this case is a victim of abuse, living with autism, what is the doctor supposed to do?

As someone who was a mental health clinician for ten years, and provided volunteer crisis line services because of the holiday rush (late October through late March): I have to question the validity of your belief that there are huge numbers of people who are 'just given mediaction' by their doctor.

What kind of sample is that?
What kind of 'help line' were you providing services on?
What level of alcohol and substance abuse were the callers engaging in?

I will try to be patient but i may not respond if you keep over generalizing.

No, I'm not "blaming" doctors. But apart from the fact that the NHS probably makes better provision than a system where people have to rely on their health insurance companies to fund them, and there do in fact appear to be anxiety support groups all over the UK, although doctors might not know about them, through no real fault of their own, medical schools tend to have a focus on educating about drug treatments, so doctors often just aren't taught psychological techniques of alleviating mental problems, or made aware that there are such things.

I'm saying there's a fault in the system, not pinning the blame on any one part of it. The Books on Prescription scheme should be good when it's utilised more widely. As I said, hopefully things are beginning to change.

The exact details of the help-line I was on and the exact percentages of patients who go to their doctors and are satisfied vs the percentages of those who aren't is irrelevant, and I didn't say there were "huge" numbers of people just being given medication - I didn't give an estimate. The point is there's obviously a fault in the system. You say yourself that provision for talk therapies isn't available everywhere. And I can't imagine you not agreeing with that; so I'm not sure what we have to talk about. Hopefully, things are improving.

 

[Baby Nemesis]

An interesting article about drug companies.

On the surface, America appears to have a strong anti-drug culture. Almost every day, the evening news touts a major drug bust or spotlights professionals working to address the scourge of drugs. And yet, Americans expanding consumption of antidepressants shows an appetite for chemicals that belies a different
agenda: legalized alteration of mind and mood. Since Prozac was introduced in 1988, prescriptions for antidepressants have tripled to more than 120 million. Sales of antidepressants, the most costly and fastest growing of the top four therapeutic drug categories, topped $7 billion in 1998, up from $2 billion
in 1993, the report notes. "I don't think it's bankrupting us, but it is a pretty astounding number that the cost went up by $5 billion," Sandra M. Foote, director of the Health Insurance Reform Project at George Washington University in Washington, DC, and author of a recent study.

Is anyone going to try to convince me that all of those are necessary, that many many of those people wouldn't be better off reading self-help books, doing what they can to improve their life circumstances, or going to good therapists using modern techniques? Or are you going to be compelled to agree with me that there is indeed a fault in the system, And that more therapy provision should be made and utilised? That more encouragement should be given to people to make changes in their lives rather than resorting to something that will only change the chemical imbalance in their body that's usually there to tell them something's wrong in their lives?

 

[Ivor the Engineer]

What is the utility of a diagnosis of ADHD?

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/diseases/facts/adhd.htm

Attention difficulties

A child must have exhibited at least six of the following symptoms for at least six months to an extent that is unusual for their age and level of intelligence.

• Fails to pay close attention to detail or makes careless errors during work or play.
  
• Fails to finish tasks or sustain attention in play activities.
  
• Seems not to listen to what is said to him or her.
  
• Fails to follow through instructions or to finish homework or chores (not because of confrontational behaviour or failure to understand instructions).
  
• Disorganised about tasks and activities.
  
• Avoids tasks like homework that require sustained mental effort.
  
• Loses things necessary for certain tasks or activities, such as pencils, books or toys.
  
• Easily distracted.
  
• Forgetful in the course of daily activities.

Hyperactivity

A child must have exhibited at least three of the following symptoms for at least six months to an extent that is unusual for their age and level of intelligence.

• Runs around or excessively climbs over things. (In adolescents or adults only feelings of restlessness may occur.)
  
• Unduly noisy in playing, or has difficulty in engaging in quiet leisure activities.
  
• Leaves seat in classroom or in other situations where remaining seated is expected.
  
• Fidgets with hands or feet or squirms on seat.

Impulsivity

At least one of the following symptoms must have persisted at least for six months to an extent that is unusual for their age and level of intelligence.

• Blurts out answers before the questions have been completed.
  
• Fails to wait in lines or await turns in games or group situations.
  
• Interrupts or intrudes on others, e.g. butts into others conversations or games.
  
• Talks excessively without appropriate response to social restraint.

Pervasiveness of attention difficulties and hyperactivity

For a diagnosis or description of ADHD a child would be expected to show the above difficulties in more than one setting, eg at school and at home.

Sometimes problems are not shown 'at home' but are very evident when a child goes to a hospital department. This can happen when parents do not realise that their child's behaviour is out of the normal range (perhaps because they have no other children, or they have other children who behave similarly).

It may also be because the problems are mild, or because the family has handled the attention lack at home in such a way that it is not evident there is a major problem, or because the child is very young. In those cases it is quite reasonable for parents not to consider that their child has an attention deficit problem.

For example, when a child is being assessed and displays a number of the behaviours listed above but not enough in each of the categories, what happens? Surely the child still needs help? Is another diagnosis slapped on the child to allow access to treatment?

What I'm trying to get at is all children, to some extent, display what may be considered maladaptive behaviour. The difference between a child diagnosed as having ADHD and one who is not is simply a matter of degree.

If a child has problem behaviours, he or she needs help to correct those behaviours. A diagnosis of ADHD adds nothing to the clinical treatment, but does apply a negative label to the child for the rest of his or her life.

 

[Dancing David]

What is the utility of a diagnosis of ADHD?

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/diseases/facts/adhd.htm



For example, when a child is being assessed and displays a number of the behaviours listed above but not enough in each of the categories, what happens? Surely the child still needs help? Is another diagnosis slapped on the child to allow access to treatment?

No, that would not be ethical, the issue is imapirment in functiong, if you don't meet the criteria, then referal to parenting and homework organizational skills would be appropriate.

Why in a system that is already running at capacity with long waits would you offer services to people who are not having imapired functioning.

The point is, especialy in ADHD, the subject is unable to function in their enviroment.

Does an engineer go fix the broken building next to the bridge they are inspecting?

What I'm trying to get at is all children, to some extent, display what may be considered maladaptive behaviour. The difference between a child diagnosed as having ADHD and one who is not is simply a matter of degree.

Do you think that is a suprise to any one Ivor, that point has been beat to death in prior threads. Impairment in functioning is when someone fails at most tasks.

If a child has problem behaviours, he or she needs help to correct those behaviours. A diagnosis of ADHD adds nothing to the clinical treatment, but does apply a negative label to the child for the rest of his or her life.

And where does that come from? You are not addressing the fact that there are children who do not function with just behavioral interventions. Or that the level of behavior is disruptive to the enviroments they need to function in. tantrums and disruptive behavior are common in children who feel thay are not doing well at school.

Your stigma and prejudice, nay I say bigotry is showing, 'negative label', maybe you need to work on that.

Most of the students who qualify for the label already label themselves as failures.

There are some undocumented strategies that try to address that. Like the Nurthured Heart approach.

 

[Ivor the Engineer]

Let's say a child displays 5 of the 9 attention difficulties, 2 of the 4 hyperactivity behaviours and 2 of the 4 impulsivity behaviours. The child has had these difficulties at home and at school for 12 months.

Using the criteria in my previous post, this child does not have ADHD. But it is plain to the world that this child needs help. Treatment for ADHD would be just as appropriate for this child as it would for one who managed to cross the arbitrary threshold for an official diagnosis of ADHD.

Does an engineer go fix the broken building next to the bridge they are inspecting?

I fail to see how is that an appropriate analogy. A physician is assessing a single child's medical needs. Previous or future children to be evaluated are irrelevant.

And where does that come from? You are not addressing the fact that there are children who do not function with just behavioral interventions.

According to who? The results of the trial which looked into this did not reach that conclusion.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7090011.stm

But now after longer-term analysis, the report's co-author, Professor William Pelham of the University of Buffalo, said: "I think that we exaggerated the beneficial impact of medication in the first study.

"We had thought that children medicated longer would have better outcomes. That didn't happen to be the case.

"There's no indication that medication's better than nothing in the long run."

Prof Pelham said there were "no beneficial effects" of medication and the impact was seemingly negative instead.

"The children had a substantial decrease in their rate of growth so they weren't growing as much as other kids both in terms of their height and in terms of their weight," he said.

Or that the level of behavior is disruptive to the environments they need to function in. tantrums and disruptive behavior are common in children who feel thay are not doing well at school.

I agree.

Your stigma and prejudice, nay I say bigotry is showing, 'negative label', maybe you need to work on that.

So what are the advantages of (being classed as) having a mental or developmental disorder? From my own experience I can't say I've noticed any positives from having a stutter.

Most of the students who qualify for the label already label themselves as failures.

And having a label applied which cannot be removed is going to help them how? By making sure they don't even try certain activities because people with ADHD struggle to perform them satisfactorily?

 

[gumboot]

Does anyone else have suspicion that mental disorders are being manufactured by psychiatrists/counsellors/psychologists, and in the process we're being turned into a society of eternal victims?

The classic example is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

The power of suggestion can be sufficient to create fake realities, and these people have the perfect opportunity and perfect motivation to suggest mental trauma that isn't there.

Okay that's enough woo from me.