This is an excellent little video from Dr. Mary Anne Block, Medical Director of The Block Center, describing why she wrote her book “No More ADHD” She succinctly describes what the real problems can be that psychiatrists label as ADD and ADHD, and then seek to mask or cover up their symptoms with drugs like Ritalin, that have serious side effects (including heart attack and death), and which can cause suicide when someone tries to withdraw from them.
Take three minutes and watch it.
Kids who fidget, can’t sit still, blurt out answers in class without being asked, or whose attentions wander, usually have an underlying medical condition such as an allergy or other medical problem that can actually be diagnosed using real science, and not the subjective checklist that psychiatrists use to label kids as having ADD or ADHD.
Don’t drug your kids with drugs that psychiatrists prescribe. The “science” behind their theories of brain chemical imbalance is completely bogus. There are no medical tests that can tell a doctor that a kid is suffering from a lack of Ritalin, because it simply isn’t ever the truth. Here’s a great little essay by my friend Dean Blehert about the way psych drugs are created and marketed and the obscene caricature of the scientific method they use as “proof” that their drugs work and should be sold by the billions of dollars-worth, to kids.
As a former elementary school principal, I am quite aware that attention difficulties are just the tip of the iceberg. ADHD children can’t filter out distractions, finish tasks on-time, use their memory optimally, etc. A pill doesn’t teach these skills.
My wife and I opted to use cognitive training for our son, Alex. We used Play Attention (www.playattention.com) and ADHD Nanny (www.adhdnanny.com). We’ve been very successful with these approaches. We also changed our parenting skills with great success.
It’s just important to know that medicine teaches nothing. Parents and teachers must actively participate to help change a child’s life.
As a parent who is strongly opposed to labeling a child for ADHD or Attention Deficit Disorder I’ve found Dr. Blocks Breaking Free From ADHD program to be helpful in the areas of learning and finding nutritional balance.
Interesting article, thank you. It makes a change to read an article that actually means something connected to ADHD. I’m going to bookmark your site and come back to it.
Jerilyn –
Email me here with your physical address and I’ll send you a couple of videos that should help. There’s one video called “Dead Wrong” that you should see first.
Best,
Jere
The first 30 years of my life were lost to ADHD, Bi-polar, O.C.D, mental issues etc. My family was VERY dysfunctional and abusive growing up. The kind of people who need more help and evaluations than those they projected it on. I became the creative black sheep; lost in the mix of a world who couldn’t understand how I think. All I had was my classic rock music and strong passion for electric guitars (very reminiscent, right?) . At almost 30 years old I started taking steps on my own, getting educated and being responsible. It’s 2012 and I have been off medications for two years now. Recently I have been learning things I’ve wanted to since I was 10 years old like most children get the chance to. Instead I was doped up on anti-depressants and anti-psychotics, and sent to doctors who literally played guinea-pig with me. Now I’m in a state of inner-happiness that money can’t buy. It’s a part of me that will remain the same whether I’m broke or successful, hurt or angry or happy. My Psych has told me I’m the only patient who has put her in a bad position because her personal ethics are now conflicting with her professional oath regarding treatment. She can’t go to her boss and say her patient no longer needs meds so in a year from today will write me a clean bill of health. I’m all against kick-back labels these pharmaceuticals are making huge profits off of. Getting over this takes a lot of research, QUESTIONING things people don’t generally question, being pro-dissent, open-minded, brave, knowing your patient bill of rights and most importantly using your brain to act upon right and wrong. People with” ADHD” need to be taught how to follow their strengths. The few who are fortunate enough to do so find out they are brilliant beyond most can comprehend. There are better answers to this decay we’re given. It’s up to you as the individual/victim to accept it, get educated and move forward. If ADHD truly does exist, which it doesn’t in my opinion, then I wouldn’t trade it for the world. People are different. Variety is the spice of life with how we think, how we talk, what we create and even destroy. I was put through the system and I want to tell my story. I have beat the system and slowly getting a life on track that I deserve without medications by authoritative naysayers. If anyone wants to help me write my story with hopes to getting it published, I can be reached at jbonomo82@gmail.com. I’ve never felt more alive as a person.