ADHD drug given to thousands
Thursday 26th July 2007, 11:25AM BST.
Nearly 2,500 prescriptions for drugs to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in children were handed out across Shropshire last year, it was claimed today.
Figures obtained from the NHS Business Services Authority reveal that Shropshire Primary Care Trust gave out 2,487 prescriptions for ADHD drugs to children last year, costing more than £121,000.
The Citizens Commission on Human Rights, an international psychiatric watchdog which obtained the figures, says it highlights that more children are being labelled with ADHD.
The group claims the drugs cost the NHS in Shropshire more than £121,000 last year.
It has branded some ADHD drugs as “kiddie coke” due to similarities with illicit amphetamines. Their use has come under attack for being a form of control, rather than treating a real physical condition.
Warnings highlight how some drugs can cause hallucinations, suicidal thoughts, psychotic behaviour, violence and aggression.
Brian Daniels, CCHR spokesman, said: “While the symptoms of so-called ADHD are listed in psychiatric textbooks, a major failing is a complete lack of scientific evidence to show the cause of boisterous or disruptive behaviour.
“Children do experience problems and upsets in life that may result in mental troubles. But to represent that these troubles are caused by chemical imbalances or incurable brain diseases that can only be alleviated with dangerous drugs is dishonest, harmful and often deadly.
“They mask the real cause of problems and debilitate the individual, so denying him or her the opportunity for real recovery.”
Shropshire Primary Care Trust was considering its response.
By Tom Warren
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The headline is misleading – 2500 prescriptions would be roughly 12 one monthly prescriptions for 200 children.
Even if this figure was for just Shrewsbury and Atcham , population 23,000 under 19year olds , it is less than 1%.ADHD prevalence is estimated at 5-10% , so only a fraction of them are actually taking medication.
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Thank goodness Brian Daniels has said whagt I have been thinking for a long time.
Im yet to be convinced that ADHD does actually exist. There are so many factors that affect the brain especially in children. Its only recently been announced that junk food and a poor diet could actually be attributable to bad behaviour, something most of us have known for a while. Its too easy to label a child with ADHD instead of taking the time to sit down and try and work out what the actual problem is. Meanwhile young children are being medicated unnecessarily which is bound to cause problems later in life.
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ADHD, I truly believe it doesn’t exist! I have a close friend who’s little boy of 5yrs old has been diagnosed with this condition. WHAT RUBBISH! If you have a friend like mine with this diagnosis in their family SIT and watch how parents act too! My friend literally SITS and watches this child run riot without a blink then cannot control him in public blaming it on ADHD. The truth is LAZY parenting! I have 4 children! not a sign of ADHD but plenty of rules,routines,disipline and love. No disipline = no love,routine,rules and NAUGHTY CHILDREN! STOP this nonsense PARENTS WAKE UP!! in 10yrs time all your ADHD suffering children will be mentally ill zombies walking the streets get off the drugs get off your butts and RAISE your children instead of letting them rule you and dragging them up!
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I do believe that ADHD is used for a lot of other problems-However 6 years ago my son was diagnosed with ADHD.He could not cope at school and couldnt do a full day without being sent home-when he was eventually prescribed medication he became a different child and went on to pass all his Gcse’ he is certainly not a ‘mentally ill zombie’I dont think anyone has any right to pass a comment if they do not have a child with ADHD.My other children do not have it.My children have been raised properly with lots of love discipline and boundaries.Dont judge everyone just because you know one person whose child probably does not have ADHD.That is not proof that it doesnt exist!
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ADHD is one of those conditions that I believe does exist – but which far fewer actually suffer from than claim to. Other examples: many of those who claim to have ME are actually suffering with depression, many who claim to have dyslexia are just slow with their reading. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen some fag-smoking mother of an ASBO kid claiming ‘He’s hyperactive’ – yeah, right!
We do our children no favours by labelling them so readily as an excuse for bad behaviour, and we do the minority that really do suffer from these conditions no favours by over-diagnosing.
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ADHD aka LAZY PARENTING, why couldn’t he cope? hes a child in school without a care in the world learning new things by the minute,like wrapping mums and GP’s alike mothers are not coping its nothing to do with the children, what are mothers doing when children are NOT coping with life? our babies learn from US the ADULTS. Regardless of what people think. ADHD is an excuse and the drugs given are shut up drugs because the parents cannot be bothered to rectify troublesome children and GP’s cannot stand the mothers constantly telling them their children have a problem, yes they do! its called BAD PARENTING.
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Idle parents Idle parents Idle parents Idle parents… Say no more!
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It’s amazing just how many people only realised their children had ADHD when the disability benefit rules were changed about – funny that!
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Euphoric if you actually knew anything about ADHD then you would know that a child with ADHD finds it hard in a mainstream school as their brain can only concentrate on one thing for a few minutes until involuntarily it goes onto something else amongst many other things.If people are assuming a parent can say their child has ADHD and within days they are being given medication by a psychiatrist then you are very wrong.It can take up to three years of psychologist,therapy and psychiatrist assessments.Some of these comments left here are actually insulting the fantastic people who work in mental health of not doing their jobs properly.These are well educated people who know how to do their jobs properly not just sat there belieiving anyone and handing out pills to whoever claims to have ADHD.My son also has tourettes syndrome i guess you will be saying that doesnt exist either.As i said im my last post some people are lazy parents who bring their children up wrong and then claim they have ADHD but psychiatrist are not stupid they can see this.Just seems to be lots of posts on here from people who dont even know what ADHD is-sadly.
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Also in many cases you will find that the childs father displayed hyperactivity/lack of concentration and other ADHD symptoms in their life suggesting it could be genetic and also many children who have ADHD have had traumatic births and have in many cases been starved of oxygen at birth,as my son was,contributing to learning difficulties and not bad parenting.
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Oh dear now what have i said about my son having tourettes syndrome! Lets just clarify this due to media coverage of certain celebs swearing and ‘jokingly’saying they have tourettes syndrome people have believed that this is what the syndrome is.My son has motor tics(involutary facial/body movements)and also vocal tics(involuntary shouting) but this DOES NOT include swearing.
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I agree with tourettes Autumnique that is a REAL condition its been a condition for years,ADHD will always in my eyes be an excuse! My eldest child is 14 yrs old starved of oxygen at birth spent 5 days in intensive care,guess what? Bright as a button! NO ADHD excuses there.
Maths tops english tops attention tops no problem no ADHD excuse.NO false claims for disability here might i add :)
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Persona Non Gratis said: Jul 27th, 2007 at 10:32 am It’s amazing just how many people only realised their children had ADHD when the disability benefit rules were changed about – funny that!
EXCUSE ME but my daughter has ADHD and i do not claim a penny for her !!! i agree with everything you have said Autumnique it took 2 years of tests and assessments befor ethey said it was ADHD she also has the mental age of a 6 year old and she is 11 so it is harder to pin point some people are just so ignorant !!
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Oh and Euphoric who do you think you are saying its lazy parenting god people like you really make me made especialy when you are talking about something you know nothing about !!!! live with it and then say its lazy parenting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Hi Louise at last someone has come along who actually has knowledge of ADHD.I have researched it for 7 years,worked in mental health,had first hand expericence of ADHD for 19 years,and my sister is a psychiatric nurse.I think some people have been watching too many daytime talk shows.To make a statement that ‘ADHD’ doesnt exist because you know one person who says their child has it and you dont think they do,is not evidence.Im all for an intelligent discussion/debate with people who know what theyre talking about. Some peoples opinion is much bigger than their knowledge i think either that or they are very intolerant or very ignorant of mental health issues.
Most people i know who have children with ADHD are professionals so what the change in disability benefit systems has to do with it i dont know.
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Euphoric my son is also very bright and was top of most of his subjects,ADHD children are very intelligent-once again you are showing you do not know anything about ADHD
I rest me case:)
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ADHD has also been around for years-research it Euphoric:)
ADHD has been around for a long time–as far back as the 1930’s or 1940’s. Back then, it was called “minimal brain injury,” which entailed poor coordination, learning disabilities, problems with attention span and impulsivity, and hyperactivity in executive function. In the 1960’s, it was renamed “minimal cerebral dysfunction.” All of these things were considered under one rubric at that time. In the 1970’s, people started to break up ADHD into separate entities. Among these were learning disabilities, which were pulled off by the psychiatrists and the behavioral part of it called Attention Deficit Disorder initially, and then Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder eventually, but we’re still talking about the same clusters of kids.
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I have a child diagnosed with adhd and ODD. She doesn’t have learning difficulties and is actually on an IEP for Gifted and Talented.
She is on medication and this has enabled her to concentrate her energies into learning and not disrupting the class or behaving aggressively.
We are a 2 parent family with both parents working. We have attended Parenting Courses and we understand the benefits of a healthy balanced diet.We also have strict boundaries in place at home.
It is unfortunate that some people have “jumped on the bandwagon” and are insisting their badly-behaved children are “adhd”. They, as some of you point out, are not – they are simply badly-behaved children.
Some comments above tar all of us with the same brush. Perhaps some of you might take your blinkers off for a moment and try not to be so judgmental and prejudiced.
This debate will rage on forever I fear but I will say that if you have not lived 24/7 with an adhd child any opinions you have on the Disorder are completely worthless and invalid.
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First, I have to calm down after reading such ignorance from euphoric. Parent, Autumnique, my son also was diagnosed with a learning disability and ADHD. He is 24 now,still has problems focusing, but is doing so much better. I know about the test, the medication, the failed grades. And of course, if you don’t experience it for yourself, then how can someone comment, make judgement on you.
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I am so angry at the ignorance.
Both of my children are diagnosed. Both have very different difficulties and needs. As someone who has NEVER claimed any money for their diagnosis I am extremely offended that people still seem to see this as something parents go and ‘get’ a diagnosis for.
Both of my children eat a varied and healthy diet, one of whom is almost fanatical about healthy eating, is a vegetarian and will not touch take away food at all so that theory is blown out of the water.
Neither of my children go out and act yobbish or rude, they are very well mannered and caring young people, they happen to find certain areas of their lives extremely difficult and these difficulties impact severely on their self esteem and general well being and happiness as well as how they manage to interact with peers socially and their inability to reach their potential educationally, even though they are extremely bright and talented.
One of my children is on medication, the other is not because they were individual young people requiring individual treatment plans. So to imply and state that it is lazy parenting is again extremly offensive.
Actually it is very hard work to bring children up who have ADHD and I think that many of you who have not experienced it would quite hoestly struggle and fall at the first hurdle with your narrow minded view on what parenting is about. I teach my children to be tolerant, loving, kind, and non-judgemental of others which seems to be more than can be said for some of the people who have given views.
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i have 4 boys, one with ADHD. he is my 3rd born and he has this disability. he has had many problems and its not down to bad parenting from myself. my other boys are top grade students and all the boys have had the same disicipline, rules, rewards etc.
please do not judge everyone with the same tarnished brush. these kids need supportto learn about whats going on with them , not the rubbish of whats printed in the paper.
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It’s a little disappointing to see the conversation on this topic stray so far from the good example of simple manners. In all fairness, it is an emotional topic. Parents of children who have been diagnosed with this condition do not need to be preached to about their child rearing abilities.
There is a fundamental question here. And the question is not whether or not the children we are talking about are facing real difficulties. The medical profession in this country, supported in large part by the national insurance contributions of its citizenry, has a responsibility. And a part of that is to the children and families experiencing these hardships.
What we are asking here is, does the help made available to children with psychological problems constitute an honest effort by these institutions to provide the best care available? And like it or not, there is growing evidence suggesting that the treatment being used may pose as yet unforeseen risks of a frightening magnitude.
There are many honest men and women hard at work in peeling back hitherto socially accepted views about the benevolence and legitimacy of the psychiatric profession, it’s practices and methodology. They are doing so out of concern, not malice. And we should spare them our attention, if not our support.
First of all, the growing claim that ADHD does not exists should not be misunderstood to mean that the children so labelled are not unwell. Or that parents are not doing their jobs. It is the validity of the term itself, the thinking behind it and the claims made about its scientific validity that are in question. And ultimately, the methods used to treat those diagnosed.
I think I can say with relative confidence that few parents with a child diagnosed with ADHD has a good grasp of the anatomic structure of the human brain, the composite of neurological activity it consists of or the effect on the brain of the drugs administered as a cure for ADHD. You take it in good faith that you are being reliably informed, and so you should have every right to. After all, they are the experts.
The problem we are dealing with here is the validity of that expertise. And here I urge all parents concerned to set themselves to the task of being as informed as possible. Because we are dealing with a subject of considerably more complexity and potential danger than conventional medicine.
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A cursory read of contemporary studies by the psychiatric profession into this field instantly makes two things obvious by their own admission. The entire theory of the relationship between the chemical activity of the human brain and human behaviour is only a theory. Which is to say, something they suspect may or may not turn out to be fact. And second, whether psychotropic drugs actually do address the mechanics of this theory, is also only suspected.
So you have to ask. With no concrete scientific evidence available to support the theory, and thus no actual biological test to support its existence, how can a diagnosis even be made? And here is the real crux of the problem. A diagnosis is not made. We merely have one suspicion pilled on top of another. Which is to say that it is suspected that a child may be suffering from something we think might actually exist.
And to top it off, the child is then given a dose of strong synthetic chemicals, the true bio-chemical effect of which is also only suspected. What is known about these drugs is that they effect radical changes in brain activity and structure, often resulting in permanent abnormalities where none existed before.
Truth be told, the broad public distribution of these drugs is in its relative infancy. The long term effects could well be disastrous. But what we should be asking here is, how can there even be a broad availability of a solution to a problem that doesn’t even officially exist in the realm of ethical science. Which is to say conclusive science.
And to those experiencing the benefits of these drugs, I’ll be very blunt in kindness. Most psychotropic drugs are little more than refined and controlled versions of chemical compounds that recreational drug users have been ingesting since the dawn of chemistry, such as cocaine. Cocaine is said to tune the senses, focus attention, take the edge of your troubles and imbue the user with a lust for life. A somewhat scary echo of claims made by people on psychiatric drugs. To believe that there is any real difference between these two is to be naively over optimistic.
So to parents considering this path for their children, and to those already on it. I urge you to look at the situation very seriously. I recommend you pick up a copy of Robert Whitaker’s ‘Mad in America’. I got mine for a fiver on Amazon. It is an exhaustive investigation into this matter that will leave you considerably better informed to make the very important decisions at hand. And do not be too eager to believe that any solution is better than none at all, because this is not always true wisdom.
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Thankyou, Jon Ronnquist, for saying everything I wanted to say! You explained everything brilliantly, and I hope everyone else who has been discussing here and is affected by these issues will heed your advice. I too have read Mad in America, among an ever-growing number of other books on the same theme. It’s time the world saw Psychology for what it really is.
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try living with a child who suffers from ADHD then you would realise that YES IT DOES EXIST. My son was diagnosed at the age of three years seven months and was put on ritilan I had no idea about this condition but in the last nine years have learned a lot about it and also run a charity for parents of all additional needs children. try walking a mile in the children with ADHD shoes before saying it doesn’t exist it is a highly confusing world for my son and millions like him.
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