Anyone who’s ever tried to get reimbursed by a health insurance company after seeing a psychiatrist or psychotherapist, or taking a child or teenager to one, has no doubt noticed the incomprehensible numbers that appear on the clinician’s statement, perhaps preceding some slightly less imponderable phrase.
Maybe you are a 296.22 (major depressive disorder, single episode, mild) or a 300.00 (anxiety disorder NOS–not otherwise specified). Hopefully, you are not a 301.83 (borderline personality disorder). Your kid might be a 313.81 (oppositional defiant disorder) or, more likely, a 314.01 (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, predominantly hyperactive-impulsive type).
Dr Gabrielle Todd from the University of South Australia's School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences has commenced a research study on ADHD medication for children and its impact on the brain.
The study will examine stimulants such as Ritalin and dexamphetamine, and how they affect parts of the brain that control movement.
The researchers are looking for 50 children (aged from 6 to 18 years), including some with ADHD who have been taking medication for more than a year, some with ADHD who are unmedicated and some who do not have the condition.
For more information, contact research assistant Miranda Leach on 8302 1248 or email
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Is ADHD a real disorder, or a 'big lie'? Are we tricking ourselves into thinking that the way kids act in response to our society can be diagnosed as a disorder? In 2011, YANQ gathered some of the key researchers in Brisbane to put these ideas to debate.
Opinions varied amongst the researchers and academics. Some considered that ‘ADHD’ is a real but rare condition that is mis-diagnosed and over-medicated; others considered ‘ADHD’ to be an outright fraud. However, all agreed that unnecessarily giving powerful psychotropic drugs to children is a violation of their rights and often results in serious short and long term harm.
Martin Whitely MLA is a politician and author. He has written on: the rise and fall of ADHD child prescribing in WA; the long term WA data about the safety and efficacy of stimulants and; the Draft National Guidelines for the treatment of ADHD.
The debate about "ADHD" has been hot this month, with reports in the Australian on the over-medication of Australian children and the implicit threat in the Draft Clinical Practice Points to involve child protection if parents refuse to drug their children. You can read the Draft Points here.
A recent article published on the Children & Young People Now website cautions against the increasing medicalisation of children. Read the article here: http://bit.ly/ngfijQ
If, as the ADHD Industry frequently claims, ADHD is a neurobiological disease, a child’s birth date should have no bearing on their chances of being diagnosed and ‘medicated’. However, two recent (2010) US studies demonstrate the children who are the youngest in their school year are much more likely than their oldest classmates to be diagnosed and ‘medicated’.*
The first of the two studies, The importance of relative standards in ADHD diagnoses: Evidence based on exact birth dates, compared the diagnosis rate of North Carolina kindergarten children born in the first month of the intake with their classmates born in the last month of their intake. The study found that ‘Roughly 8.4 percent of children born in the month prior to their state’s cut-off date for kindergarten eligibility – who typically become the youngest and most developmentally immature children within a grade – are diagnosed with ADHD, compared to 5.1 percent of children born in the month immediately afterward.…..These perceptions have long-lasting consequences: the youngest children in fifth and eighth grades are nearly twice as likely as their older classmates to regularly use stimulants prescribed to treat ADHD.’
Dr Bob Jacobs, who initiated YANQ's Celebrate Don't Medicate
campaign will be interviewed by ABC Radio's Richard Fidler during
the Conversation
Hour on August 24th from 11am.
Bob is hoping he'll get a chance to talk about his latest
initiatives at The
Parenting Centre, including The Parenting Centre's new model
of resolving parenting plans for separating couples - Trans-Disciplinary
Family Resolution (TFR). TFR is an alternative to family
court that reduces the stress on separating families and leads to
better outcomes for children and parents. Members of the youth sector may also be interested to hear that
Bob is about
to release a FREE book that features a chapter on parenting
teenagers.
By David Webb and Melissa Raven. First published by On Line Opinion, April 6 2010
"[McGorry's] form of early intervention is quite controversial, even among some of his psychiatric colleagues... There is little scientific evidence of the effectiveness of [psychiatric] drugs for prevention."
Since his appointment as Australian of the
Year, Professor Patrick McGorry has established a prominent profile in
the media, calling for major mental health reform. It is clear that
many people, including the Federal Government, are listening to him.
The world’s first long term data review, puublished by the Western Australian Department of Health, argued that "that there is little long-term benefit of stimulant medication in the core symptoms of ADHD."
The report also stated that, where ADHD medications had an effect "... on externalising behaviour and attentional problems ..." the effect "... was in the direction of symptoms worsening with the use of ADHD medication".
I am writing to you regarding your article entitled "Party use of ADHD drugs" and published on Sunday the 8th of February. I am a
psychologist, family mediator and (pending my Australian registration) a lawyer and I work with Youth Affairs Network of Queensland (YANQ), the
state's peak youth body.
We have been involved in a campaign over the past 6-7 years to raise public
awareness about the overdiagnosis of "ADHD" and the overuse of stimulant
medication on children throughout Australia. Needless to say, we read your
article with great interest.
RE Your report: Research suggests biological base for ADHD
We watched with interest this report
which was broadcast on the evening of December 3rd 2007. Unfortunately we
felt it made a number of mistakes that are commonly found in reports
of 'new' research into the diagnosis of Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
There are some people that are denying that Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder exists. They are accused of being irresponsible, causing the condition
to be underdiagnosed and even causing the sufferers of this disease to
"unwittingly self medicate with illegal drugs or alcohol". If it were not for
the fact that the explosion in ADHD diagnosis and treatment with stimulants such
as Ritalin (Methylphenidate) represents the greatest medical catastrophe since
Thalidomide these statements would be laughable.
Researchers from the United States recently suggested that
medication has no beneficial effects on ADHD sufferers in the
long-term and have warn that the medication can lead to
stunted growth in a significant number of patients. ABC Radio National's World Today (13 Noember 2007) interviewed Professor William Pelham who has been involved in a national study on ADHD treatment since
the 1990s.
In this article (What is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), published in the Journal of Child Neurology, Dr Lydia Furman argues that "the working
dogma that ADHD is a disease or neurobehavioral condition does not at this time
hold up to scrutiny of evidence".
This report is written out a desire to protect children. It is written to advocate for the right of children to grow up with healthy bodies and clear minds. It is written as a plea to celebrate the diversity of children and to view their unique expressions as precious gifts, rather than describing them as “sick” when they don’t conform, obey or please adults.
ADHD Workshop Presentation Slides 
