Thursday, October 7, 2010

ADHD Theory Does Children No Favours

Researchers at Cardiff University have now jumped on the Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) bandwagon with the theory it is caused by 'genetic faults'.


ADHD is a subject I have followed for some ime, not as a scientist but as a humanitarian. In a world where drugs have been singled out as a major cause of social decline, I couldn't understand why children were being advised to take drugs for a so-called mental illness that had never been scientifically proven.

Both the children's minister, Sarah Teather, and Ofsted have raised concerns that branding children as having special needs, which includes the ADHD label, is being used to excuse poor behaviour. Boisterous, argumentative or disruptive behaviour has been redefined as a mental illness and the latest theory of 'genetic faults' is just another smokescreen that feeds the profit-driven psychiatric industry. From 2000 to 2009, NHS spending in England, Scotland and Wales to chemically subdue ADHD 'patients' was almost 250 million pounds.


Children and adolescents are not experimental animals. They have every right to expect protection, care and the chance to reach their full potential. They will be denied this from within the verbal and chemical straitjackets that are psychiatry's labels and drugs.

Writer: Brian Daniels, Citizens' Commission on Human Rights, United Kingdom


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