Fellow Adders I just read a troubling article about the ADHD ‘scheme’. This article tells of a lawsuit against the pharmaceutical industry, basically saying that they have expanded this disorder (ADHD) to sell their medicine to as many children as possible, even normal children.
Reading this article a couple quotes stand out to me:
“The symptoms are typical of toddlers, which is why I think the simple explanation is this: Postmodern – post 1960s – parenting practices are failing to resolve toddlerhood … it just goes on and on and on.”
“These suits represent the latest class-action battleground in the U.S., but since it involves kids, this is that much more important,” he said to Reuters. “Ninety percent of all Ritalin is sold in the United States. We think it’s a pretty tough case to say that ADHD is a disease that doesn’t exist in Europe, but exits here (U.S.).”
Uhm… *cough*, if they are besieging their case on that second quote, I just have to say this: I have ADD, I was diagnosed with ADD in Europe.
Another thing I would like to say is that I do not take any medication for my ADD. At least not yet and I don’t know that I ever will. I personally talked to a CEO of one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, which develops ADD ADHD medication, a couple months ago and I did not get the impression that they want to sell their medication to just anyone. It was a discussion about my book. I was impressed by his forthrightness and honesty. I do believe that integrity does prevail, even in the pharmaceutical world. That’s my opinion, from my experience.
Anyway, here is the article, give it a read and let us know your thoughts…
~Bryan
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Well, as a mother of a son who is diagnosed with adhd I must say they do pressure lots for medicating children, which I am against. I constantly struggle to help my son complete homework assignments at home. I have an older 10 year old son who is capable of doing his homework himself as well as my 8 yr. old adhd son and a 7 month old son. As you can see my hands are full and it is quite a task. My son at times I feel completes more work at home than he does at school and I am constnantly feeling pressured from the school. Seriously I feel the school is more of my stress than my son is. Sometimes i just tell my son that they will never have the patience nor the love of a mother. Maybe the wrong thing to say to a child maybe part of his aggression is this too. Anger at the teachers feeling they do not care as much as I. I am happy for one thing. That I have read this and you made it through till NOW even without medications. I have chosen counsellors, karate classes and even applied for a big brother and on a waiting list for a one on one tutor for my son but be darned if I am medicating him. I feel he has to learn to do things on his own without all these other side effects I read about so often. Those things just scare me. As long as I keep doing other things for my son I hope that the school will back off some. Even tonight at karate I am watching through the window and he is acting the class clown. I stop and think of two kittens one can grow to be a yr. old cat and lay about the house all relaxed yet another can still be quite playful. I really don’t know but know one thing. He is my son not the schools son.
Dear YourSonsMom,
I am a person with fairly severe “inattentive” type ADD. I was never diagnosed, as such, until I diagnosed myself with one of those online tests at the age of 32. I feel that I would be in a better place in my life right now, if I had access as a teen & in my twenties to the medications I now take (Adderall & Wellbuterin). In high school, I did quite well academically, but did not fit in, except with the artsy kids. My college was an art school and I was thought of as a promising student. After I graduated I looked for more structure - as opposed to just being an “artist”. I interviewed well and applied myself at many office jobs, but in the end, they always found a way to lay me off or get rid of me. It felt so bad, that by my late twenties, I just gave up, and became a “career temp”. My self esteem was very low at that point, and I spent three years in an abusive relationship. It ended when my neighbors, terrified by what they heard through the wall, called police, but then not waiting, broke down my front door to get me out.
Even with my medications, I still struggle now with the organizational demands of life & time management, but I can hold down a job and I’m hopeful about my future again.
Good luck,
Chouetteville
Great blog! And thanks for bringing this to our attention. There’s too much bad press, and too many charlatans making claims that adhd doesn’t even exist.
I wanted to get this out there, so I expanded on the story on my own blog. I provided my link above, but just in case, you can find the story here:
http://a-morsel-of-genius.com/2008/07/22/attention-deficit-disorder-is-bunk/