Doctors And Drug Companies Turning Our Children Into Zombies

The New York Times recently reported that about 15,000 American two and three year
olds are currently being medicated for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Such toddlers are disproportionately from low-income families with health care provided
by Medicaid.

The American Academy of Pediatrics standard practice guidelines address an ADHD
diagnosis in children over the age of four, and specify that alternatives to medication
should be the first course of action for kids aged four to six. So why are so many two and
three year olds being drugged for ADHD?

Let’s keep in mind that the ADHD diagnosis is one arrived at when a child presents a
collection of symptoms, including that a child can’t sit still, has short attention spans,
talks a lot, and is “unusually” active and noisy. Let’s keep in mind that researchers and
pediatricians continue to debate whether ADHD is a biologically based disorder, or if it is
a label given when a collection of symptoms present. Let’s keep in mind that toddlers
and young children are often noisy, talkative, have ants in their pants or can’t seem to
focus on anything for long. Heck, I know some teenagers like that, too. These
“symptoms” may reflect an active mind and a lack of self-control that is common among
youngsters.

Diagnosing ADHD is often difficult, and guidelines only refer to kids over the age of
four, so an ADHD diagnosis for a two or three year old should be rare, right? Not so, as
evidenced by the numbers of two and three years olds being drugged for this condition.

An ADHD diagnosis is hard on a family, even a family with means, with the world of
alternate therapies available to them. But for a poor family, or a single-parent family, an
ADHD diagnosis can be overwhelming. Resources for kids suffering from ADHD are
scarce, and must be sought out, applied for, and followed up on, in order to benefit from
them. From what I’ve seen first hand, trying to get appropriate help for your ADHD child
can be a nearly full-time job. How does a struggling parent cope? Apparently, by
allowing their child to be medicated when the pediatrician suggests it could help.

I don’t fault parents who are only trying to cope. But I do worry for the kids who are
drugged because their family isn’t well-off enough to get real attention for ADHD
symptoms. We have no idea what ADHD drugs will do to toddlers in the long term. Do
such drugs alter brain chemistry over time? Do tender, unformed brains develop properly
if drugged?

If accepted pediatric protocols apply to children aged four and over, why are significant
numbers of poor toddlers being drugged?

The concern, of course, is that American kids are being turned into little zombies and that's both scary and sad.

image credit, visionswest.blogspot.com