Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder

A community portal about Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder with blogs, videos, and photos. According to Wikipedia.org: Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder is thought to be a neurological disorder, always present from childhood, which manifests itself with symptoms such as hyperactivity, forgetfulness, poor impulse control, and distractibility. In neurological pathology, ADHD is currently considered to be a chronic syndrome for which no medical cure is available. ADHD is believed to affect between 3-5% of the United States population, including both children and adults.

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Portrait of ADHD

Written by bluewaterson on

From: www.davidprocsal.net

As a kid, I'd see a thousand different things in every cloud. Teachers told my parents I was too creative. Too creative like who? Picasso? They told my parents I should be on Ritalin. My parents refused.

--Erich Muller (Chicago radio personality)

Debbie Phelps, mother of Olympic champion Michael Phelps, told Bob Costas that her son was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder when he was nine years old. Mrs. Phelps said that Michael never ran out of energy, and so he was treated with drugs and behavioral therapy.

Now, when I was a child, every kid in the neighborhood was full of energy. We were more than a handful for our parents who would simply send us outside to play. In my day, children didn't have video games and techno-gadgets to occupy their time.

School let out at 3 p.m. We would be outside playing until 9 p.m. That's a lot of energy to burn off. Yes, we were often bored at school. Yes, we stared at the clock, and gazed out the window. And, yes, we were sometimes inattentive.

But we were not diagnosed with ADHD. Nor were we given drugs, or subjected to behavioral modification. We were just being kids.

Swimming saved Michael Phelps. He was able to channel all of his energy into a disciplined regimen of competitive swimming. By age 11 he no longer needed the drugs and therapy.

Children need healthy physical outlets. Today's kids have grown obese while sitting at computer consoles, and playing video games. Attention spans have shortened as the pace of life has quickened. Kids are not immune to the anxiety of our techno-driven society.

Up to six million American kids have been diagnosed with ADHD even though there are no medical tests used to make that diagnosis. Brain scans reveal that the right side of the brain of affected children is thinner or smaller than normal kids.

The right side of the brain controls a person's creative and conceptual skills. It is not a coincidence that some of the most creative people in the arts and sciences were diagnosed with, or displayed symptoms of, ADHD.

Albert Einstein, for example. The pathological examination of Einstein's brain revealed that it shared similar characteristics of an ADHD brain.

John F. Kennedy. He was so rambunctious that his mother would often send him to bed without dinner.

Picasso, Van Gogh, Thomas Edison (his teacher said he was too stupid to learn), Alexander Graham Bell, Orville and Wilbur Wright, Isaac Newton, Galileo, Da Vinci, Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Walt Disney, Babe Ruth, Robin Williams, George C. Scott, Jimmy Stewart, Kirk Douglas, John Denver...and the list goes on.

These famous people all displayed symptoms of ADHD. What if, as childen, they had all been prescribed Prozac or Ritalin? Drug therapy significantly diminishes the creativity of ADHD kids.

Consider what that means. Edison would not have invented the light bulb. Bell would not have invented the telephone. There would be no Disneyland. And what would have been the outcome of the Civil War or the second World War without the leadership of men such as Lincoln, Churchill and Eisenhower?

Ritalin destroys creativity. It destroys genius.

In a PBS Frontline interview, child neurologist Fred Baughman said,

Neurobiological propaganda has been so intense that we've got nine million kids on one or more psychotropic drugs, and to me this is a catastrophe. These are all normal children. Psychiatry has never validated ADHD as a biologic entity so this is a fraud and misrepresentation.

In the same PBS program, psychiatrist Peter Breggin said,

We have lost track of what childhood is about, of what parenthood and teaching is about. We now think it's about having good quiet children who make it easy for us to go to work...

There are no miracle drugs. They don't improve human life. They reduce human life. And if you want less of a child, these drugs are very effective. These parents have been flat-out lied to. They've been told that their children have a neurobiological disorder. They've been told their children have biochemical imbalances and genetic defects.

We are supposed to be responsible for our children. If children aren't entrusted to us for the specific purpose of our being good parents, what is life about? It is obscene that my profession has told parents that their kids have a brain disease, and that the problem can be treated by a drug.

Society has failed to recognize and validate the creative potential of millions of kids. We are destroying their lives, and denying ourselves the future benefit of their creativity.

All a child needs is involved parents, a teacher who can focus their creative interests...and maybe a few hours a day in the swimming pool.

Quite possibly, one of those nine million doped-up kids could become the next Michael Phelps.

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