Cynthia Peters
"Although
the exact number of people taking Ritalin is not known, this year, experts
estimate, as many as two million Americans – the vast majority of them
children — will take the medication, some as often as five times a day. …
Critics within the medical community itself say the drug is being
overprescribed by doctors whose understanding of ADHD [Attention Deficit and
Hyperactivity Disorder] is woefully inadequate. They charge that the hallmark
symptoms of the disorder – inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity – could
describe just about any child."
—
"The Rise of Ritalin" from The Morning Journal
Although
there is no medical proof that there is such a thing as Attention Deficit and
Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), over 3.5 million children in the United States
are diagnosed as having some form of it. It is considered America’s number 1
childhood psychiatric disorder and in the U.S. we prescribe Ritalin to treat it
at a rate that is five times higher than the rest of the world combined.
Ritalin
and other medications represent the second prong in what appears to be the
medical community’s two-pronged effort to treat or control the
"disorders" suffered by a whopping 10 to 20 percent of U.S. children
[Boston Globe, 6/28/99]. (See my previous July 1999 commentary, "Children:
Their Deficiencies, Disorders, and Developmental Delays" for discussion of
behavior modification – the other prong in the treatment effort, spearheaded by
the new medical specialty Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics.)
Peter
R. Breggin, M.D., of the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and
Psychology writes in Talking Back to Ritalin (published by Common Courage Press)
that:
- A
large percentage of children become robotic, lethargic, depressed, or
withdrawn on [Ritalin].
- Withdrawal
from Ritalin can cause emotional suffering, including depression,
exhaustion, and suicide. This can make children seem psychiatrically
disturbed and lead mistakenly to increased doses of medication.
- Ritalin
is addictive and can become a gateway drug to other addictions. It is a
common drug of abuse among children and adults.
- ADHD
and Ritalin are American and Canadian medical fads. The U.S. uses 90% of the
world’s Ritalin. CibaGeneva Pharmaceuticals (also known as Ciba-Geigy
Corporation), a division of Novartis, is the manufacturer of Ritalin. It is
trying to expand the Ritalin market to Europe and the rest of the world.
- Ritalin
"works" by producing malfunctions in the brain rather than by
improving brain function. This is the only way it works.
- Short-term,
Ritalin suppresses creative, spontaneous and autonomous activity in
children, making them more docile and obedient, and more willing to comply
with rote, boring tasks, such as classroom school work and homework.
- There
is a great deal of research to confirm that environmental problems cause
ADHD-like symptoms.
- A
very small number of children may suffer ADHD-like symptoms because of
physical disorders, such as lead poisoning, drug intoxication, exhaustion,
and head injury. Physical causes may be more common among poor communities
in the United States.
- Ciba
spends millions of dollars to sell parent groups and doctors on the idea of
using Ritalin. Ciba helps to support the parent group, CH.A.D.D., and
organized psychiatry.
- The
U.S. Department of Education and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
push Ritalin as vigorously as the manufacturer of the drug, often in even
more glowing terms than the drug company could get away with legally.
Dr.
Breggin goes on to ask, what if, instead of diagnosing the child, we diagnosed
the situation? He lists several ADHD-inducing life experiences, including (among
others):
- Environments
that don’t meet a child’s basic needs for positive involvement with life,
including unconditional love from attentive adults … ;
- Environments
that don’t meet a child’s basic needs for rational and consistent
discipline, reasonable principles of conduct, and firm but loving limits on
negative behavior;
- Environments
devoid of older children and adults who can provide models for rational,
moral and loving behavior; and
- Environments
created for the convenience of adult managers rather than for the growth and
development of children [Talking Back to Ritalin, pp. 328-329].
While
the medical community should be identifying diseases, conditions, and symptoms,
and administering treatments and cures if possible, it should also concern
itself with the larger context. When considering an inattentive child, for
example, perhaps we should consider the possibility that it is quite reasonable
that a small child would have an attention deficit in an institution like a
school – many of which are so clearly deficient themselves and which offer very
little that anyone would want to focus their attention on. Or perhaps
"acting out" in the home could be seen as sensible given the isolation
that many people experience at home, and the few outlets that children and
parents have to interact productively in the larger society. Furthermore,
doctors should ask: Who defines what is appropriate behavior? What is the range
that is considered acceptable? Is our society structured to accept only a narrow
range of behaviors, relegating the rest to medication, institutionalization,
and/or ostracization?
Meanwhile,
it is the job of progressive activists and commentators to keep questioning the
role of large pharmaceutical companies in determining medical treatments, to
investigate the social/political/economic institutions that mandate certain
behaviors, to analyze the way the health care industry "treats" us and
our perhaps quite orderly responses to the disastrous disorders we face every
day, and to look out for children – our most vulnerable social grouping in our
market-driven, expert-driven society.