Recognition of the False Epidemic of ADHD by a Major Newspaper Its About Time

Finally, there has been recognition by at least one major metropolitan newspaper, the New York Times, about the phony “epidemic” of ADHD diagnoses among both adults and children. Not that doctors pushing the disorder would ever admit to it. (News to some: a high percentage of these diagnoses are made by non-psychiatrist physicians such as pediatricians).

An e-mail newsletter from the American Psychiatric Association contained the following story on 12/10/2013:

 “The Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that there has been a 42% increase in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnoses in children aged 4 to 17 from 2003 to 2011. Data were published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. The study included 2011 data from a randomized, cross-sectional national survey of more than 95,000 U.S. households known as the National Survey of Children's Health. …The results showed by 2011, 11% of children—or 6.4 million children nationwide—had received a diagnosis of ADHD. Among those with a diagnosis for ADHD, approximately 70% were currently taking medication for the disorder—increasing by 28% from 2007 to 2011. Nearly 1 in 5 high school boys was diagnosed with ADHD, compared with 1 in 11 high school girls. ADHD-diagnosis frequency was most prevalent in Kentucky, at 15 percent, and least prevalent in Nevada, at 4.2 percent.

"The authors [of the study] speculate that 'better detection of underlying ADHD, due to increased health education and awareness efforts' may be the reason for the increase of ADHD diagnoses among American children."

BETTER RECOGNITION?? REALLY?!?  A story in the New York Times by Alan Schwarz on December 14, 2013 had a far more reasonable explanation.  It said that even the person most responsible for recognition of ADHD in children, Keith Conners, questioned the rising rates of diagnosis and called them “a national disaster of dangerous proportions.”

“The numbers make it look like an epidemic. Well, it’s not. It’s preposterous,” Dr. Conners, a psychologist and professor emeritus at Duke University, said in a subsequent interview. “This is a concoction to justify the giving out of medication at unprecedented and unjustifiable levels.”

Keith Connors, Ph.D.

The Times story continues:

“The rise of A.D.H.D. diagnoses and prescriptions for stimulants over the years coincided with a remarkably successful two-decade campaign by pharmaceutical companies to publicize the syndrome and promote the pills to doctors, educators and parents. With the children’s market booming, the industry is now employing similar marketing techniques as it focuses on adult A.D.H.D., which could become even more profitable.

… The disorder is now the second most frequent long-term diagnosis made in children, narrowly trailing asthma, according to a New York Times analysis of C.D.C. data.

Behind that growth has been drug company marketing that has stretched the image of classic A.D.H.D. to include relatively normal behavior like carelessness and impatience, and has often overstated the pills’ benefits. Advertising on television and in popular magazines like People and Good Housekeeping has cast common childhood forgetfulness and poor grades as grounds for medication that, among other benefits, can result in “schoolwork that matches his intelligence” and ease family tension.”

The story was followed by an editorial on 12/18/13, An Epidemic of Attention Deficit Disorder.  Hooray for the New York Times!!  Some of what it said:

“The hard-sell campaign by drug companies to drive up diagnoses of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or A.D.H.D., and sales of drugs to treat it is disturbing. The campaign focused initially on children but is now turning toward adults, who provide a potentially larger market…Many of these children, it appears, had been diagnosed by unskilled doctors based on dubious symptoms…

“Shire, an Irish company that makes Adderall and other A.D.H.D. medications, recently subsidized 50,000 copies of a comic book in which superheroes tell children that “Medicines may make it easier to pay attention and control your behavior!” Advertising on television and in popular magazines has sought to persuade mothers that Adderall cannot only unleash a child’s innate intelligence but make the child more amenable to chores like taking out the garbage…

“The potential dangers should not be ignored. The drugs can lead to addiction, and, in rare cases, psychosis, suicidal thoughts and hallucinations, as well as anxiety, difficulty sleeping and loss of appetite…So many medical professionals benefit from overprescribing that it is difficult to find a neutral source of information. Prominent doctors get paid by drug companies to deliver upbeat messages to their colleagues at forums where they typically exaggerate the effectiveness of the drugs and downplay their side effects. Organizations that advocate on behalf of patients often do so with money supplied by drug companies…

“Curbing the upsurge in diagnoses and unwarranted drug treatments will require more aggressive action by the F.D.A. and the Federal Trade Commission, which share duties in this area. It will also require that doctors and patients recognize that the pills have downsides and should not be prescribed or used routinely to alleviate every case of carelessness, poor grades in school or impulsive behavior.”

Initial Reactions to the Return of Major Depressive Disorder

Please note - this article is about major depressive disorder, which is different from the most common form of depression, which has a variety of different causes, and is a normally an isolated, one-off episode.

Do Not Blame Ourselves

A reaction we may have to major depressive disorder’s return is to blame ourselves for its return, asking ourselves questions like, “What have I done to cause this relapse?”

When depression was forcing its way back into my life in 2010, I kept going through this issue, wondering if I was doing too much, not exercising enough, and so on. Here’s such an entry from my diary:

3.11.10 – Here I am, making lists again.
I believe the primary cause of what I’m going through now is a combination of the following:
1. Was not eating properly for a few months due to throat problems, and lost 6kgs
2. Add to that getting sick repeatedly throughout winter, perhaps seven illnesses in a row...
3. As a result of getting sick so many times, I did not exercise regularly.
4. Pushed myself way too hard practising the the piano.
5. Though of course, it could be my damaged, epilepsy ridden brain simply misfiring, with no rhyme or reason at all.

However, major depressive disorder, which is also known as recurrent depression, is called that because it re-occurs, and does not need anything to trigger it. Instead, it is a malfunction of the brain and nervous system, and new episodes may trigger from time to time, as sufferers can have several episodes during their life. We can have months, years, or decades free of it before it triggers again.

Succumbing to another episode of major depressive disorder in 2010 was none of my doing, it was simply another episode caused by the disorder. And it followed the same pattern it took back in 1989 - 1994. Therefore must not blame ourselves or feel guilty when it returns. We are not a failure. We cannot prevent such episodes, but by responding to them correctly, for example by trusting entirely in God, keeping our eyes fixed upon Jesus, using Dr Claires Weekes techniques of facing, acceptance, learning to live with it, and letting time pass; medication, counseling, exercising, etc, we can reduce the severity and duration of the episode.

Do Not Feel Guilt if Previously Dealt with Fears Return

When I suffered an emotional/mental collapse during my first major depressive episode in Dec 1989, a fearful thought/doubt entered my mind that became an obsessive fearful thought, which terrorized me night and day, week after week, for months. I received significant relief when the fear was addressed by my counselor, but it continued to plague me until the end of that depressive episode. After I recovered, it popped up a few times but was easily dispatched. So to all intents and purposes, it had been dealt with.

Several months after the onset of this new depressive episode which began in 2010, I suffered another emotional/mental collapse, and that same fear, which had previously been dealt with, resurrected, and with almost as much power as it had back in 1989-94.

One reaction to the return of previously dealt with fears is to feel guilty, to think we have regressed to falling prey to those fears again, perhaps even thinking our walk with the Lord is going backwards. However, we have to remind ourselves that the only reason these fears have returned is because of depression. For when we are depressed, our mind typically loses its flexibility and resilience. If we were not depressed we would have got rid of the fears with ease.

So we must must not feel guilt if any previously dealt with fears return, but remember that those fearful thoughts will reduce in severity and duration as we recover from this depressive episode.

However, we may need to receive prayerful/Biblical counseling or therapy to help us deal with and overcome those fears. At the very least, we need to speak to someone wise to help us see the true perspective about what we fear, and learn to see things as they see them.

“There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” Romans 8:1

Maintain Hope

Regardless of how bad a new major depressive episode becomes, we must NOT lose hope. We need to keep reminding ourselves that we recovered from it last time, and we will recover from it this time.

We need to remember that our hope in Jesus gives us the strength we need to persevere and endure whatever trials come our way. ‘We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.’ 1 Thessalonians 1:3

Set Realistic Recovery Goals

We also need to set ourselves realistic goals for recovery if we enter a new episode of recurrent depression. Unrealistic goals create time pressure, which only makes things worse. It took me five years to recover from a major depressive episode last time, so when I was diagnosed with it again in 2010, I mentally set aside five years to recover from it again. That means five years of doing less, of reduced responsibilities, of never feeling guilty for not doing as much as I was before the onset of this depressive episode. And Jesus understands exactly what we are going through, and is there to comfort and strengthen us.

‘For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.’ Hebrews 4:15