Psychiatric Labels

ADHD - Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
ADD - Attention Deficit Disorder

Since 1987 when the National Association of Mental Illness, a private group funded by pharmaceutical corporations – NOT a federal agency despite the “National” in its name – lobbied Congress to add “ADHD/ADD” to the list of disabilities covered in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the increases in children labeled with this disorder has been astronomical.  

Despite the fact that there is no such “disease” (ADHD is a label decided by a list of behaviors) educators and parents have been pressured around the U.S. (and recently this has been spread to Europe including Italy, Sweden and the UK) to accept this label for children.

That in the U.S. the school receives $400 a MONTH in additional federal funds for every child so labeled is not usually told to the parents.  That 100 children so labeled means $40,000 a month or over $360,000 a year in additional funds to schools which are chronically under funded is an important fact that all parents should be aware of.

More importantly, that the long term studies show that the drugs currently prescribed for these problems show long term NO IMPROVEMENT for the children, that they do show evidence of stunted growth, much less the reports of aggressive behaviors, violent mood shifts, and the most tragic of all – death – is something every parent/educator needs to know.

School is a chance for children to start on that marvelous road to discovery through reading that we hope they will travel their entire lives.

How many of us think how differently we would have used our school years if we knew then what we know now?

Certainly it is incumbent on each of us to help the youth of our culture get the most from their school years.

A label and drugs does find and handle the underlying CAUSE.

There are many, many other ways that children having a rough time sitting still, finding school boring, talking out of turn, and being disruptive can be helped.

Here is a small list of other situations that can present with the behaviors that might be labeled ADHD/ADD.

None of these situations would respond to modern stimulants currently prescribed as a quick fix.  In fact, such drugs would simply cover up the real situation and prevent its being discovered and fixed.  Sentencing the child (or adult) to a label, a stigma and no hope.  

1. Hypoglycemia (Low Blood sugar)

2. Allergies – food, pollen, etc.

3. Learning problems – does not know the alphabet, has not been taught how letters go together to make words, has been raised in household where a different language is spoken than that being used in the classroom, needs read-aloud tutoring, needs a good teacher to find out what they don’t understand and help them with a dictionary to clear it up

A report from the President’s Commission on Excellence in Special Education  found that 2.4 million children had been diagnosed with mental “disorders” and placed in Special Education, when in fact these children had simply not been taught to read.

4. An overactive or underactive thyroid (the gland responsible for metabolism  and growth)

5. Hearing or vision problems

6. Mild to high levels of lead

7. Spinal problems

8. Toxin exposures

9. Carbon monoxide poisoning

10. Seizure disorders such as epilepsy.

11.Metabolic disorders (which reduce the brain's fuel supply)

12. Genetic defects (Mild forms of genetic disorders can go unnoticed in children.)  

13. Sleeping disorders (or other problems that cause fatigue and crankiness during the day).

14. High mercury levels

15. High manganese levels

16. Iron deficiency

17. B vitamin deficiencies

18. Tourette's syndrome (an inherited nerve disorder characterized by involuntary body movements).

19. Sensory Integration Dysfunction (the inefficient processing by the nerves of information received through the senses – an actual neurological – not psychiatric – situation)

20. Early stages of diabetes

21. Heart disease or other cardiac condition

22. A history of ear infections can result in

distractibility, inability to follow a set of verbal instructions, "spacing out", etc.

23. Worms of various types

24. Viral or bacterial infections

25. Malnutrition or improper diet

26. Head injuries

27. Diet (i.e.  too much caffeine or sugar)

28. Disorders such as a lack of iron

29. Mental disability created in a fetus from consumption of alcohol by a mother while pregnant

30. Intentionally or unintentionally sniffing materials such as modeling glue or other house hold products.

31. Side effects from prescription and illegal drugs

32. Strep complications

33. Lack of exercise

34. Gifted Children bored in class

35. Emotional problems from difficulties at home, school, bullying, etc.

36. Lack of discipline in the home

37. Excitable or spirited children

38. Lack of understanding and communication skills

39. Early stage brain tumors (rare)

40. Cysts or growths in the brain  (rare)

41. A genetic disorder in which a male has an extra X chromosome (rare)

42. A genetic disorder in which a person has an extra Y chromosome

43. A hereditary enzyme-deficiency disease (rare)

44. Candida Albicans infestation (yeast infection)

45. Intestinal parasites (rare).

ANXIETY  

1. Amino acids are commonly used for controlling depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder.

(Amino acid therapies are also a popular treatment for addiction.  Amino acids are reported to stop the cravings for addictive and psychoactive substances and success rates of 70 - 80% have been reported.|

BIPOLAR

1. Dr. Andrew Stoll of Harvard published a study in the May 1999 issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry that reported that fish oil was as effective as medication in reducing bipolar symptoms but has dramatically fewer side effects.

2. A broad-spectrum nutritional supplement called E.M. Power+ was effective in reducing bipolar symptoms to the point where about 70% of the patients taking it were able to discontinue taking medication.  “…This approach does appear to represent an exciting potential direction for new research in bipolar disorder." (Simmons)

As reported twice in the issue of the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry: - Dec. 2001 by Charles Popper, M.D. and March 2003 by Miles Simmons M.D.,

3. Amino acids are commonly used for controlling depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder.

Amino acid therapies are also a popular treatment for addiction.  Amino acids are reported to stop the cravings for addictive and psychoactive substances and success rates of 70 - 80% have been reported.

An example of what is wrong with the bipolar (and most other psychiatric) “diagnosis” is the story told by Craig Newnes, psychological therapies director of a Community and Mental Health Service in Shropshire, England.  He tells of a grandmother being told by three psychiatrists that her grandson had bipolar disorder caused by a “brain-biochemical imbalance.”  Quietly, but firmly, she asked them what evidence they were using to prove there was something wrong with her grandson’s brain.  Their response was that his “mood” and “behavior” indicated a serious problem.  Again, she wanted to know how they knew this was caused by brain chemistry.  Her grandson was quickly transferred to a unit that offered “talking therapies” instead of drugs.  Newnes suggests, “Imagine the same situation in oncology: you are told that you look like you have cancer, offered no tests, and told you will have two operations, followed by radiotherapy and a course of drugs that makes your hair fall out.  The idea is preposterous…Next time you are told that a psychiatric condition is due to a brain-biochemical imbalance, ask if you can see the test results.”

DEMENTIA 

How many of our parents or grandparents are being given psychotropic drug prescriptions after being diagnosed with dementia (a deterioration of mental faculties).

Here is a list of medical conditions that could result in a diagnosis of “dementia.”  The L.A. County Genesis Program estimates that up to 85% of dementia is induced by medical conditions.)

1. Underperforming or overactive thyroid
2. B12 deficiency
3. General poor nutrition
4. Allergies, such as to gluten
5. Urinary tract infection
6. Blood pooling in the space between the coverings of the brain, usually the result of a blow to the head/fall
7. Mixing the wrong medications/herbs or taking too many different ones or wrong doses
8. Temporary cessations of breathing while sleeping
9. Excess urination resulting in zinc and B6 deficiencies.

The solution is a complete physical screening performed by a qualified medical practitioner, checking:

1.      Vital signs

2.      Hearing and vision

3.      Nutrition and hydration

4.      Nerve function

5.      Physical exam

6.      Drugs and herbs being taken and in what doses

Additional screening with blood and urine samples to determine levels of minerals, vitamins, blood sugar, etc.; an EKG to see if their body has adequate oxygen, chest X-Rays, MRIs etc. must be done if needed.

HISTORY OF DEMENITA/SCHIZOPHRENIA

The “disease” first called dementia praecox by German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin in the late 1800s was later labeled “schizophrenia” by Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler (1908).

Science writer, Robert Whitaker, author of Mad in America, found that the patients Kraepelin had diagnosed with dementia praecox were actually suffering from a medical disease, encephalitis lethargica [brain inflammation causing lethargy] -  unknown to doctors at the time: “These patients walked oddly and suffered from facial tics, muscle spasms, and sudden bouts of sleepiness. Their pupils reacted sluggishly to light. They also drooled, had difficulty swallowing, were chronically constipated, and were unable to complete willed physical acts.”

Kraepelin’s research has apparently never been re-studied.  Such a study would have revealed that “schizophrenia” was really an undiagnosed and untreated physical problem. According to Whitaker, “Schizophrenia was a concept too vital to the profession's claim of medical legitimacy….The physical symptoms of the disease were quietly dropped…What remained, as the foremost distinguishing features, were the mental symptoms: hallucinations, delusions, and bizarre thoughts.” 

DEPRESSION

1. According to a report in European Neuropsychopharmacology (Volume 13, Issue 4 , August 2003, Pages 267-271), eight weeks of treatment with omega-3 fatty acids improved depression scores in a double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

2. Tryptophan:  The August 2001 issue of Neuropsychopharmacology reports that L-tryptophan, tested on 98 volunteers in 12-day trials, was found to have a clear impact on mood, making test subjects more agreeable and less quarrelsome.  It is commonly used for depression and insomnia.

3. People diagnosed with schizophrenia often manifest negative symptoms such as depression and a lack of interest or energy. Research found that DHEA supplementation, which has been shown to be helpful in lifting mood in a number of studies, improves these negative symptoms.  DHEA is a hormone used by the body in making other hormones, thus its use commonly results in an overall "lift."  DHEA is inexpensive and easily found in “health food” stores

Feb. 2003 issue of Archives of General Psychiatry :   

3. Amino acids are commonly used for controlling depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder.

(Amino acid therapies are also a popular treatment for addiction.  Amino acids are reported to stop the cravings for addictive and psychoactive substances and success rates of 70 - 80% have been reported.)

Continuing the fraudulent medical analogy, psychiatrists commonly claim today that depression is also an “illness, just like heart disease or asthma.”

 These are some of the criteria used to decide whether a person has depression:

1. deep sadness
2.  apathy
3.  fatigue
4.  agitation
5.  sleep disturbances
6.  and appetite change. 

This is the problem of making an illness out of being alive.  As Harvard Medical School psychiatrist, Joseph Glenmullen, says, "…the symptoms [of depression] are subjective emotional states, making the diagnosis extremely vague.”[i]   Glenmullen says the superficial checklist rating scales used to screen people for depression are "designed to fit hand-in-glove with the effects of drugs, emphasizing the physical symptoms of depression that most respond to antidepressant medication."   Each item has a numerical score, representing a scale from experiencing these "a little of the time" up to "most of the time."  "While assigning a number to a patient's depression may look scientific, when one examines the questions asked and the scales used, they are utterly subjective measures based on what the patient reports or a rater's impressions. 

SCHIZOPHRENIA

1. fish oil reduced symptoms of schizophrenia is a double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

From a study reported in the Sept. 2002 issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry.

2. People diagnosed with schizophrenia often manifest negative symptoms such as depression and a lack of interest or energy. Research found that DHEA supplementation, which has been shown to be helpful in lifting mood in a number of studies, improves these negative symptoms.  DHEA is a hormone used by the body in making other hormones, thus its use commonly results in an overall "lift."  DHEA is inexpensive and easily found in “health food” stores

Feb. 2003 issue of Archives of General Psychiatry : 

3. Dr. Abram Hoffer of Canada, one of the pioneers of research into nutritional treatments in psychiatry, uses a niacin-based treatment regimen for schizophenia, tested in 6 double-blind studies, reported as 90% effective in the first 2 years of illness with declining percentage as the illness progresses.  Regimen at http://www.alternativementalhealth.com/articles/schizdiet.htm

4. An estimated 4% of people with schizophrenia have celiac disease (sensitivity to wheat and other grains) and a change of diet alone will reverse symptoms in most of these cases.  Celiacs commonly do better avoiding milk as well.  A double-blind study of mostly psychotic patients reported in the British Journal of Psychiatry (1986 Apr;148:447-52) found that all had beneficial changes on a 14-week gluten-free diet.  Two patients of the 24 improved on the diet and relapsed when gluten was re-introduced.