I was just having a conversation with a woman in the community that reminded me a lot about psychology. She was saying how she thinks that doctors and parents in America over- diagnose children with ADD and ADHD. For a parent, it is much easier to give your child drugs, such as Rideline, for his/her disability rather than actually finding the root of the problem. Perhaps parents don't want to be embarrassed that their child has a disability or they simply do not want to deal with it. This is very sad because drugs like Rideline can really slow down a child to the point where he/she is truly not himself. This is similar to a Lobotomy (obviously Lobotomy is probably more extreme) that we learned about in class today. A Lobotomy severs the prefrontal cortex to the back of the brain. This makes someone emotionless and totally not himself. However, it does cure the craziness.
The main problem seems to be that no one is actually trying to fix the problems that are triggering the ADHD. Recently, there has been research done to find links between food coloring and ADHD. The government previously ruled that there is no proven relationship between food dyes and hyperactivity in most children. However, a health article in cbsnews.com states that "consumer advocates and a growing body of scientists say evidence is mounting that processed foods - including those with artificial dyes - may play a role in the inattentiveness, hyperactivity and impulsivity that characterize attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder."
Changing the diet of a household is, I'm sure, very difficult for a parent, but giving a child a drug to stop his/her behavior is not necessarily fixing the problem. Isn't it better for the behaviors to be LEARNED than to automatically cause it by giving a pill to a child? As we know there are causes to mostly everything, either biologically, psychologically, or environmentally (or a combination) and those causes should not be ignored. Rather, they should be tested and changed through a learned behavior rather than through drugs. Obviously, in some cases drugs are certainly needed, but not all cases are severe. I am not a parent, so I am not one to judge or act like I know what it is like to have a child with a disability, but I do think this is a problem that should not be ignored. Also, why are doctors over diagnosing and handing out drug prescriptions like it is candy?
Wow. It's so interesting that food coloring is related to ADD/ ADHD. I would have never thought that, but maybe this is a bigger issue than we think. We are all eating so much processed foods and candies that they could be leading to these problems; however, even if this is not a huge cause, the medicine thing bothers me as well. Not only does it seem to be overprescribed, but like you said, it takes so much away from the child. I can think of specific examples where children are just not themselves anymore. It is difficult to handle children with severe cases of ADD and ADHD, so they should be receiving medication, but it is definitely sad to see the lack of personality on these kids after receiving medicine. Hopefully, more research will be conducted to get to the root of specific cases of ADD/ADHD and the use of medicine, or this specific medicine will be lessened.
ReplyDeleteThink alot of these artificial flavors and colors are not good for anyone. Apparently, it is not thought that food dye actually causes ADHD, but that it can increase the symptoms. for more details visit this link.
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