ADD scam
Posted by unbrand on 11 December 2005 | 16 Comments
My blog subtitle rotator alters amongst various Attention Deficit Disorder-related statements, all of which reflect my opinion that ADD is a scam perpetrated by Big Pharma and the American Psychiatric community.
There’s an excellent well-documented history of where these drugs come from. What I find chilling is the DSM (the bible of the psychiatric community which describes all the um, conditions) or rather how the DSM gets updated with new entries. Stories of conditions pulled out of thin air while on fishing trips (“self-defeating personality disorder”), the utter lack of any scientific endeavour to determine what goes into DSM, how the DSM is applied, consulted, revered, caressed, etc. Well, maybe not caressed. At least I hope not. From the article:
The DSM is the only way that ADD is diagnosed. Here’s how it’s done. In the DSM, ADD has nine symptoms listed under it. If a child has any six of them, in the opinion of the doctor (or the teacher!) that child may be diagnosed as having ADD. That’s it! Funny thing is, it seems like most of these entries on the list are not symptoms of a mental disorder, but just symptoms of being a kid:
- Often fidgets with hands or feet or squirms in seat
- Often leaves seat in classroom or in other situations in which remaining seated is expected
- Often runs about or climbs excessively in situations in which it its inappropriate
- Often has difficulty playing or engaging in leisure activities quietly
- Is often on the go or often acts as if driven by a motor
- Often talks excessively
- Often blurts out answers before questions have been completed
- Often has difficulty awaiting turn
- Often interrupts or intrudes on others
Sound like anyone you’ve ever known? Some may ask if there are any kids who would not fit six of these criteria. The reader should understand that this is the only “diagnostic” “testing” that exists for determining ADD. Six out of nine. No lab test, no blood tests, no physical examination whatsoever, no standardized batteries of written or verbal psychological testing. Just these nine. And unlike any other disease in history, the diagnosis may be made by anyone in authority, with no medical credentials or training whatsoever: the school nurse, school counselor, a teacher, the principal, a coach.
The DSM is used as a guide by the pharmaceutical companies with agreement from the Psychiatric community to create drugs for made-up conditions. There is so much corruption involved around the DSM and ADD and related conditions you could easily devote an entire website to it.
I’m getting all tense just thinking about this. Now, where’s my Soma™?
Related links for this stuff:- 12 Monkeys – great film by Terry Gilliam
- Brave New World – landmark book by Aldous Huxley which describes a drugged-up, constructed society, many aspects of which are visible in America and other places today