Daily Mail take on ADHD - 'badly behaved boys need discipline not drugs'

[tortoiseshell]

Article here - I'm posting the link a little tentatively, as it is not a good article - typical DM bile I think!

[tortoiseshell]

A couple of choice lines...

Ritalin, like Valium, has become mother's little helper

The drug isn't known as the 'chemical cosh' for nothing. If I'm honest, though, I don't believe that these children are ill. I think they come from insecure, unstable backgrounds where the concept of a bedtime is as fanciful as the fairy tales they've never been read.
I believe that many of the children labelled with ADHD and drugged into acquiescence are simply youngsters who have been raised without any boundaries.

[SaintRiven]

not too bad for the DM. I think there are kids who don't have ADHD who are being medicated uneccassarily. Its cheaper and easier than dealing with challenging behaviourm poor diet and unstable backgrounds.
In one class in the US at the school we looked at 60% of the kids were on ritalin. I'm sorry, but 60% of kids do not have ADHD. Its still not that common.
And kids with language disorders who are fustrated and unhappy are getting an ADHD diagnosis.
Over doing the diagnosis will lead to a backlash against those with the genuine condition. And I don't think enough GP's/paeds are properly trained sometimes to get the diagnosis right.

[frankbestfriend]

Agree, not the most well balanced piece of journalism.

No mention of those so severely affected by behavioural disorders that without medication their lives, and the lives of their families, would be intolerable.

However I do agree, in principle, that Ritalin is massively over prescribed.

[daftpunk]

it's a made up condition...these parents just want an easy life..so they drug their kids.

[Wisp]

Arrrrrrrgh, its really too early for me to get stressed, but . A teacher with that vile attitude, should not be teaching children.

It's the DM'S usual hateful views on life though....

Tossers

[tortoiseshell]

I do think that Ritalin is over subscribed. Where I think the article is really poor is assuming that because some kids perhaps don't 'need' ritalin, that ADHD is nothing more than 'bad behaviour'. And no recognition that it is a real condition.

It's the old 'dyslexic children are lazy' thing isn't it!

[frankbestfriend]

daftpunk, there was a boy on the lunchtime news yesterday who was quite clearly affected by this condition, his mother was loving and supportive, had attended parenting classes, and yet Ritalin was the only treatment that had worked for them.

That's what Riven is saying about a backlash, the massive over prescription is causing people like you to form the opinion that all cases of ADHD are made up

[coppertop]

It's not all that long ago that people were saying similar things about autism. If a disability or medical condition isn't immediately physically obvious, a lot of people refuse to believe in it.

[TheCrackFox]

I do believe that ADHD is a proper condition but I don't believe it is as common as the amount of Ritalin that is prescribed. Some children have shocking childhoods and it is easier (and cheaper) to drug them into submission than to do anything practical for them.

[Szyslak]

Not a geat article, but about time the deabte about ADHD was raised again and questions asked about ritalin prescription.

The assumption, that has been allowed to ride, that the high rates of ADHD are due to a 'disease' which requires medication, rather than enviromental issues such as parenting, our education system (particuarly in relation to boys), ways of teaching, diet, sleep, family structure, Tv, computer games, expectations and discipline all potentially being part of the cause.

Prescribing ritalin puts the problem firmly within the child and gets the the adults off the hook in as far as considering why so many children/boys have these types of difficulties.

[expatinscotland]

A good point, riven.

I wonder how much of the explosion in diagnoses is also the result of how childhood, and parenthood, as changed over the last 30 years.

Many people in Britain have to work very long hours to survive, and there are more lone parent families, yet there is not the quality, affordable childcare you see in other EU and EEA countries.

Similarly, there is increasing isolation of families from their extended family and the increase in traffic on the roads makes it no not was easy to play out and expend energy.

[expatinscotland]

A good point, riven.

I wonder how much of the explosion in diagnoses is also the result of how childhood, and parenthood, as changed over the last 30 years.

Many people in Britain have to work very long hours to survive, and there are more lone parent families, yet there is not the quality, affordable childcare you see in other EU and EEA countries.

Similarly, there is increasing isolation of families from their extended family and the increase in traffic on the roads makes it no not was easy to play out and expend energy.

[daftpunk]

well i'm sure in 1% of cases there is a problem somewhere and drugs might help...but ih 99% of cases ....i'd say it's a cop out.

i had a very good friend who's son was put on ritalin (he was put on it at 5 years of age?)
and you know what..there was nothing really wrong with him..a bit boisterous maybe..as many young boys are.. after a few months on the drug he was pretty much a zombie.

[Szyslak]

The difficultie are genuine, it's how we traet then that is the issue.

[Peachy]

Wow all these years on MN and I didnt know we had a qualified developmental PAed- Daftpunk- in our midst . Links to your papers on the subject please?

I wish these bloody armchair Paeds would bog off tbh. Do they not understand the people for whom they cause misery and a bias against are kids? Who deserve a chance?

[Peachy]

Oh but with ritalin I think its possible ovr subscribed- though only 1/4 of the kids I know with adhd are on it- 1 was but Mum took him off after horrid side effects

Mine don't have adhd dx's btw. Or medication, just in case anyone thinks I have a vested interest.

[jimjamshaslefttheyurt]

I don't think that ritalin is that over-prescribed in the UK. Most parents I know use it as a last resort and I know many children with ADHD whose parents refuse to give them ritalin etc (often under quite a bit of pressure). The authors recommended parenting help as well- this is just common sense tbh because it is hard to parent a child with ADHD - although god knows where the money to provide these courses will come from.

Listening to the things one of the author was saying yesterday I felt what he was saying was reasonable- the media take on what was said is an entirely different matter.

[jimjamshaslefttheyurt]

ritalin is a stimulant though isn't it? So I don't know why a child who didn't need it would become zombie like.

[Peachy]

Thats the thing- where is all this aprenting help coming from?

My waiting list at homestart was 3 years. Most of the kids had bypassed the age 5 cut off by the time they got anywhere near help

[Peachy]

Jimjams- you'll know this-

I remember being told that you could tell a kid who was wrongoly prescribed ritalin foradhd but it had a stimlant effect, on a child with adhd it was the reverse

Now it was an expert that told me that but long ago- are the thoughts the saem?

had forgotten that

[jimjamshaslefttheyurt]

I thought that as well, but have no idea whether its true.

I sometimes wonder whether life would be easier for ds1 if he was on risperidone but I'm saving it in case things get very difficult.

[TotalChaos]

yurt - I imagine in city areas they will probably send people off on the webster stratton courses run by surestart.

[TheDevilWearsPrimark]

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7630926.stm

This isn't jut in the daily mail.

[SoupDragon]

I thought that too, Peachy.

My friend's ADHD child who is on Ritalin is not a zombie.

[daftpunk]

you know i can't come on here a write a thesis on adhd...all i can say is what iv'e seen .i don't believe it's a real condition...when was it invented?? 15 years ago...i dont know? my brother was a nightmare when he was young..did my parents say..."oh no, he must have adhd..quick lets put him on drugs"" ??

no child of mine would ever be put on.