Education – Dumbing Down of America?/Education & Bipolar Disorder Revisited
Important Recap!
I have some information that was posted on this blog in December that needs to be repeated. Articles are popping up on the internet about “Dumbing Down America”. Some of them are humorous and some of them are serious. The two articles posted here are in the latter category. It is so important for every citizen to ‘Wake Up’ and realize what is happening in our public schools. Therefore, I am reprinting two critical articles for your review. The first is about a deliberate plot to maintain an under-educated middle and lower class. The second is about the way too many children are being warped by inappropriate and indiscriminate drugging, for alleged psychiatric disorders.
Repeat of Article 1:
Dumbing Down of America?
Wow! This morning I read an article by Tom DeWeese, President of the American Policy Center and Editor of The DeWeese Report.
I say “Wow!”, because this is quite an article.
Mr. DeWeese makes a solid argument that there is a a deliberate conspiracy on the part of the Department of Education and the National Education Association (NEA) to dumb-down American education. Along the way he blasts No Child Left Behind (NCLB) as failing to address the core problems.
This article gives an overview of the ‘Big Picture’ so clearly that it is hard not to immediately agree with everything he says. In fact, Mr. DeWeese spells out the disaster that our schools have become so well, that I can only hope that people (especially parents and taxpayers) will be jolted into action to demand change.
The article explains so many things:
- 20 years ago the US ranked FIRST in the world in high school diplomas and college degrees.
- Now our education system ranks 18th out of 24 industrialized nations in effectiveness.
- We are already second in the world in money spent per student, yet
- American students grow more illiterate by the year.
As Mr. DeWeese points out,
“Twenty years ago the U.S. ranked first in the world in the number of young adults who had high school diplomas and college degrees. Today we rank ninth and seventh, respectively, among industrialized nations. Compared to Europe and Asia, 15-year-olds in the United States are below average in applying math skills to real-life tasks.”
He continues by pointing out that the National Education Association is NOT a professional organization of teachers dedicated to improving quality of teaching. Instead, Americans need to remember that it is a Labor Union, with the goal being to “. . . get more money into the educational system. Clearly the NEA is not about education – it’s about money and a political
agenda.”
The article pulls no punches. Rather than try to paraphrase, let me quote directly:
“Clearly the nation’s education system is not teaching the children. They can’t read or work math problems without a calculator. They can’t spell, find their own country on a map, name the president of the United States or quote a single founding father. America’s children are becoming just plain dumb.
“Yet we have been focusing on a massive national campaign to “fix” the schools for the past decade or more. Now we have ultra high-tech, carpeted, air-conditioned school buildings with computers and television sets. We have education programs full of new ideas, new methods, and new directions. In the 1990′s we set “national standards,” accountability through “national testing” through Goals 2000.
Through that program we declared that every child would come to school “ready to learn,” “no child would be left behind,” and pledged that our kids would be “second to none” in the world. Above all, we’ve spent money, money and more money. The result, American students have fallen further behind, placing 19th out of 21 nations in math, 16th in science, and dead last in physics.
“Most Americans find that statement to be astonishing and, in fact, to be beyond belief. Parents don’t want to let go of their child-like faith that the American education system is the best in the world, designed to give their children the academic strength to make them the smartest in the world.
Politicians continue to offer old solutions of more money and more federal attention, almost stamping their feet, demanding that kids learn something. Programs are being proposed that call for teacher testing to hold them accountable for producing educated children. More programs call for annual tests to find out if children have learned anything. The nation is in panic. But none of these hysterical responses will improve education – because none of them address the very root of the problem.
“As fantastic as it seems, the entire history of the education restructuring effort is carefully and thoroughly documented in a book called The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America. The book was written by Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt, a former official at the Department of Education in the Reagan Administration. While there in 1981 – 1982, Charlotte found the “mother lode” hidden away at the Department. In short, she found all of the education establishment’s plans for restructuring America’s classrooms. Not only did she find the plans for what they intended to do, she discovered how they were going to do it and most importantly why. Since uncovering this monstrous plan, Charlotte Iserbyt has dedicated her life to getting that information into the hands of parents, politicians and the news media.
He concludes:
“Americans who want to rid the nation of this plague have little choice but to insist that their representatives in Congress begin a complete investigation into the Department of Education and its policies, its waste, and its fraud on the taxpayers, parents and children of this nation.
“Perhaps then, as the facts are exposed under the hot lights of a Congressional hearing, the American people will begin to understand that the problem with education isn’t low paid teachers and crowded classrooms – but rather, is the result of a cynical, deliberate attempt to dumb-down America to promote a radical political agenda. For that is the truth.”
This article is so chock full of ideas that I have included a link here, so that you can read it in it’s entirety.
Looks like it’s time to wake up and take action! Read Set Our Teachers FREE! A Plan to Save Public Education by Don Kingsland. Learn how parents, teachers and taxpayers can change American Public Schools with The Kingsland Plan.
WOW!
Repeat of Article 2:
Education & Bipolar Disorder Revisited
Massive increases in the diagnoses of psychiatric disorders in America’s children!
In 1994, there were twenty thousand documented cases of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Today, there are 800 thousand cases. That’s forty times as many diagnoses! But ADHD is just one diagnosis.
What about the massive increase in Bipolar Disorder diagnoses? Forty times as many cases from 1994 to 2003? And many more since then!
Bipolar Disorder, sounds neat and clean, doesn’t it? Yup! Bipolar Disorder. But it’s just a sanitized way to describe a condition that used to be called Manic-Depression. Does that ring any bells?
Think back to all the things you’ve ever heard about Manic-Depression and the odd behaviors associated with it. Just keep reminding yourself that 40 times as many children have been diagnosed with an illness that was formerly only thought to occur in adults (and that still has not been proved to even exist in children). And they are being medicated with powerful and expensive drugs, that have serious side effects. Who stands to benefit from this? Huh?
Well, I’ve done some real pondering on this issue. It is especially personal to me, because I have loved ones who suffer with this painful emotional dichotomy. I have seen the ravages of this “disorder” first-hand.
First, let me say that in spite of the increase in diagnoses, even the experts don’t agree whether it is a valid diagnosis in children, or not. And even specialists who say it may be a valid diagnosis say that bipolar disorder is over-diagnosed.
Let’s take a look at some issues that may lead to this type of diagnosis:
- A child may have an explosive personality, with outbursts.
- A child may exhibit aggression.
- A child may be angry, even have rage.
Now, let’s look at each of these issues:
FIRST:
Childhood is a time of bombastic, even explosive, outbursts. Do you ever remember your parents telling you to “settle down”, or to “speak more quietly” when you were a child? Have you ever thought back as an adult and wished you had one-tenth of the energy you experienced as a child? Or, have you ever watched a youngster get angry with a playmate, then quickly settle down to play harmoniously after the tears were dried?
Childhood is the time when we learn about the world, ourselves and others. It is a time when we learn to modulate, moderate and curb our enthusiasms. It is the time when we learn, through trial and error, to play nicely with others, or suffer the consequences.
SECOND:
With the role models children are inundated with on a daily basis (through the media, including warfare games on their Playstations), is it any wonder that children see aggression as the mode to success in life?
Losers are weak; they let people walk all over them; they even get killed. The strong get what they want.
Psychiatrists have known for years that Passive-Aggressive behavior is one of the chosen defense mechanisms of those who feel they can gain control in no other way.
Who has less control over their lives than a child? They don’t get to decide if there is a divorce or if they get to see their father (or mother, as the case may be). Nowadays, they may not even HAVE an acknowledged father. They have no say about where they will live or under what conditions. In most cases, they don’t even get to decide what they’re going to get to eat for dinner. Helpless? Hopeless? Possibly.
THIRD:
Given the helplessness and lack of control I just mentioned, is it possible a child can be angry, even in a rage, over the conditions in their lives? Does it make sense to say the child has a “disorder” because they have these angry feelings? Given the natural childhood tendencies to rambunctiousness, and the automatic need to learn modulation and moderation, children need time to learn how to handle these explosive emotions.
How dare we say that anti-psychotic drugs are the preferred solution! These emotional upheavals and mood swings are not just a modern phenomena. One only needs to read the tragic fiction love story of “Romeo and Juliet”, written many years ago by William Shakespeare, to realize that emotional upheaval (and faulty judgments and behaviors) of young people have been with us for a long time.
As a society, we need to start looking at the causes of some of this anger and rage, instead of just prescribing drugs (which, by the way, were never intended for children and have nasty side-effects, like massive weight gain, tremors and lack of fine motor skills, just to name a few).
Psychiatrists don’t know if the children being treated would ever have developed a full-blown case of Bipolar Disorder as adults. Even psychiatrists are arguing among themselves whether this is a valid diagnosis for children, some as young as 5 or 6.
What they DO KNOW is that most children who qualify for the diagnosis DO NOT develop mania in later years. No, they usually develop clinical depression. How sad!
If you’ve ever known an adult diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder (which used to be called Manic Depression), then you know they can function as level-headed, sane adults, with no outlandish behaviors or flamboyance, IF THEY TAKE THEIR MEDICINE. The difficulty is keeping them on their medications because they miss the wonderful exhilaration of their manic phases.
Is it any wonder these diagnosed children grow up to be depressed? They are being sedated before they’ve even had a chance to experience the childhood exhilaration of just being alive!
We have some serious problems in our society, including a public educational system that has completely deteriorated. The issue of over-diagnosing psychiatric disorders gives a whole new meaning to “drugs in our schools”. It’s about time that we wake up to the fact that things won’t get fixed with a pill.
Social problems are impacting our educational system and social problems MUST be taken into consideration in any education reform programs.
What we are doing to our children is insane! We are teaching them that pills and drugs are the solution to every uncomfortable problem. And we wonder why drug abuse is so prevalent in our country.
If you want to know about a plan that will revamp our school systems completely AND offers solutions for the impact of social problems in our schools, then you MUST read Set Our Teachers FREE! A Plan to Save Public Education by Don Kingsland. Learn all about The Kingsland Plan TODAY! I’d be happy to tell you where you can get your very own copy!
Remember, drugs can be THE problem, not THE solution!
Brennan Kingsland, RN, BSOM, CHN
Education: Alternatives to ‘Drugging’ Our Children
A few days ago, I posted a repeat of the horrendous statistics regarding how many children are being diagnosed (over-diagnosed?) with severe mental and behavioral disorders.
(See “Education & Bipolar Disorder Revisited” from December 13th, 2007.)
It appears that we have come to rely on drugs as the antidote for bad behaviour, and what may be perceived as bad behaviour even if it is normal childhood ‘acting out’.
It also appears that European countries are far more advanced in recognizing more natural treatments as being effective, without the terrible side effects we see with so many anti-psychotic and mood-altering drugs.
The number one solution for ‘Bad Behavior’ presented in the Lancet, Britain’s major medical journal, is to “remove additives from the child’s diet”.
And the journal European Child Adolescent Psychiatry published a report in 2006, calling for Bad Behavior to be treated with Pycnogenal (extract from the bark of the French maritime pine tree), Omega-3 and Omega-6 supplements.
In the United States, we’ve known for years that food allergies can cause a child to exhibit hyperactivity and other unpleasant behaviors. We also know that the typical American diet contributes to obesity, lethargy and a wide range of health issues. So why do we continue to see drugs as the treatment of choice? Why don’t we look for healthier solutions to bad behavior.
It’s about time that Americans wake up to what we are doing to our children. We are shortchanging them in ways that can ruin their chances for success. Why label a young child as “bipolar”? This will affect everything that happens in his life in the future.
I know personally that information about the adverse effects of food additives has been available for over twenty years. I can even remember when every newspaper and magazine carried stories about the newly-discovered relationship between hyperactivity and red food dye (which was in just about every commercially prepared foodstuff at the time). Even though red food dye was banned after the discovery, I know there are still substances in our foods that are as dangerous, or worse.
Why are we, as a nation, so resistant to implementing safer and more natural, PROVEN antidotes to bad behavior? Why do we always look for the easy solution, no matter how damaging in the long run? Why don’t we insist on better solutions?
Another way we are shortchanging ALL of our children, hyperactive or not, is allowing our education system to continue to deteriorate. Once again, the Europeans are way ahead of us, as are the Asian countries and the rest of the world.
Our schools are failing, but we are ignoring the ‘red dye’ of failing schools. We either look for a ‘quick fix’, or we choose to ignore the matter entirely or claim it is someone else’s problem. Why refuse to look at a better solution?
“Set Our Teachers FREE! A Plan to Save Public Education”, by Don Kingsland offers safe and PROVEN solutions to the dismal conditions in our public schools. Don’t settle for a bureaucratic ‘quick fix’ or a political ‘cop-out’. Learn about The Kingsland Plan and how we can safely instill excellence in our public schools.
Brennan
Education & Bipolar Disorder Revisited
We are seeing massive increases in the diagnoses of psychiatric disorders in America’s children.
In 1994, there were twenty thousand documented cases of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Today, there are 800 thousand cases. That’s forty times as many diagnoses! But ADHD is just one diagnosis.
What about the massive increase in Bipolar Disorder diagnoses? Forty times as many cases from 1994 to 2003? And many more since then!
Bipolar Disorder, sounds neat and clean, doesn’t it? Yup! Bipolar Disorder. But it’s just a sanitized way to describe a condition that used to be called Manic-Depression. Does that ring any bells?
Think back to all the things you’ve ever heard about Manic-Depression and the odd behaviors associated with it. Just keep reminding yourself that 40 times as many children have been diagnosed with an illness that was formerly only thought to occur in adults (and that still has not been proved to even exist in children). And they are being medicated with powerful and expensive drugs, that have serious side effects. Who stands to benefit from this? Huh?
Well, I’ve done some real pondering on this issue. It is especially personal to me, because I have loved ones who suffer with this painful emotional dichotomy. I have seen the ravages of this “disorder” first-hand.
First, let me say that in spite of the increase in diagnoses, even the experts don’t agree whether it is a valid diagnosis in children, or not. And even specialists who say it may be a valid diagnosis say that bipolar disorder is over-diagnosed.
Let’s take a look at some issues that may lead to this type of diagnosis:
- A child may have an explosive personality, with outbursts.
- A child may exhibit aggression.
- A child may be angry, even have rage.
Now, let’s look at each of these issues:
FIRST:
Childhood is a time of bombastic, even explosive, outbursts. Do you ever remember your parents telling you to “settle down”, or to “speak more quietly” when you were a child? Have you ever thought back as an adult and wished you had one-tenth of the energy you experienced as a child? Or, have you ever watched a youngster get angry with a playmate, then quickly settle down to play harmoniously after the tears were dried?
Childhood is the time when we learn about the world, ourselves and others. It is a time when we learn to modulate, moderate and curb our enthusiasms. It is the time when we learn, through trial and error, to play nicely with others, or suffer the consequences.
SECOND:
With the role models children are inundated with on a daily basis (through the media, including warfare games on their Playstations), is it any wonder that children see aggression as the mode to success in life? Losers are weak; they let people walk all over them; they even get killed. The strong get what they want.
Psychiatrists have known for years that Passive-Aggressive behavior is one of the chosen defense mechanisms of those who feel they can gain control in no other way.
Who has less control over their lives than a child? They don’t get to decide if there is a divorce or if they get to see their father (or mother, as the case may be). Nowadays, they may not even HAVE an acknowledged father. They have no say about where they will live or under what conditions. In most cases, they don’t even get to decide what they’re going to get to eat for dinner. Helpless? Hopeless? Possibly.
THIRD:
Given the helplessness and lack of control I just mentioned, is it possible a child can be angry, even in a rage, over the conditions in their lives? Does it make sense to say the child has a “disorder” because they have these angry feelings? Given the natural childhood tendencies to rambunctiousness, and the automatic need to learn modulation and moderation, children need time to learn how to handle these explosive emotions.
How dare we say that anti-psychotic drugs are the preferred solution! These emotional upheavals and mood swings are not just a modern phenomena. One only needs to read the tragic love story of “Romeo and Juliet”, written many years ago by William Shakespeare, to realize that emotional upheaval (and faulty judgments and behaviors) of young people have been with us for a long time.
As a society, we need to start looking at the causes of some of this anger and rage, instead of just prescribing drugs (which, by the way, were never intended for children and have nasty side-effects, like massive weight gain, tremors and lack of fine motor skills, just to name a few).
Psychiatrists don’t know if the children being treated would ever have developed a full-blown case of Bipolar Disorder as adults. Even psychiatrists are arguing among themselves whether this is a valid diagnosis for children, some as young as 5 or 6.
What they DO KNOW is that most children who qualify for the diagnosis DO NOT develop mania in later years. No, they usually develop clinical depression. How sad!
If you’ve ever known an adult diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder (which used to be called Manic Depression), then you know they can function as level-headed, sane adults, with no outlandish behaviors or flamboyance, IF THEY TAKE THEIR MEDICINE. The difficulty is keeping them on their medications because they miss the wonderful exhilaration of their manic phases.
Is it any wonder these diagnosed children grow up to be depressed? They are being sedated before they’ve even had a chance to experience the childhood exhilaration of just being alive!
We have some serious problems in our society, including a public educational system that has completely deteriorated. The issue of over-diagnosing psychiatric disorders gives a whole new meaning to “drugs in our schools”. It’s about time that we wake up to the fact that things won’t get fixed with a pill.
Social problems are impacting our educational system and social problems MUST be taken into consideration in any education reform programs.
What we are doing to our children is insane! We are teaching them that pills and drugs are the solution to every uncomfortable problem. And we wonder why drug abuse is so prevalent in our country.
If you want to know about a plan that will revamp our school systems completely AND offers solutions for the impact of social problems in our schools, then you MUST read “Set Our Teachers FREE! A Plan to Save Public Education” by Don Kingsland. Learn all about The Kingsland Plan TODAY! I’d be happy to tell you where you can get your very own copy!
Remember, drugs can be THE problem, not THE solution!
Brennan Kingsland, RN, BSOM, CHN
Education & Bipolar Disorder
We are seeing massive increases in the diagnoses of psychiatric disorders in America’s children.
In 1994, there were twenty thousand documented cases of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Today, there are 800 thousand cases. That’s forty times as many diagnoses!
But ADHD is just one diagnosis.
As I said last week when the report was released:
“What about the massive increase in Bipolar Disorder diagnoses? Forty times as many cases from 1994 to 2003? And many more since then!”
“Bipolar Disorder, sounds neat and clean, doesn’t it? Yup! Bipolar Disorder. But it’s just a sanitized way to describe a condition that used to be called Manic-Depression. Does that ring any bells?”
“. . . think back to all the things you’ve ever heard about Manic-Depression and the odd behaviors associated with it. Just keep reminding yourself that 40 times as many children have been diagnosed with an illness that was formerly only thought to occur in adults (and that still has not been proved to even exist in children). And they are being medicated with powerful and expensive drugs, that have serious side effects. Who stands to benefit from this? Huh?“
Well, I’ve done some real pondering on this issue. It is especially personal to me, because I have loved ones who suffer with this painful emotional dichotomy. I have seen the ravages of this “disorder” first-hand.
While I intended to address this issue immediately after my previous post, fate intervened. Server and domain issues knocked me off the internet for awhile. But, now that I’m back, I’d like to tackle this issue.
First, let me say that in spite of the increase in diagnoses, even the experts don’t agree whether it is a valid diagnosis in children, or not. And even specialists who say it may be a valid diagnosis say that bipolar disorder is over diagnosed.
Let’s take a look at some issues that may lead to this type of diagnosis:
- A child may have an explosive personality, with outbursts.
- A child may exhibit aggression.
- A child may be angry, even have rage.
Now, let’s look at each of these issues:
FIRST:
Childhood is a time of bombastic, even explosive, outbursts. Do you ever remember your parents telling you to “settle down”, or to “speak more quietly” when you were a child? Have you ever thought back as an adult and wished you had one-tenth of the energy you experienced as a child? Or, have you ever watched a youngster get angry with a playmate, then quickly settle down to play harmoniously after the tears were dried?
Childhood is the time when we learn about the world, ourselves and others. It is a time when we learn to modulate, moderate and curb our enthusiasms. It is the time when we learn, through trial and error, to play nicely with others, or suffer the consequences.
SECOND:
With the role models children are inundated with on a daily basis (through the media, including warfare games on their Playstations), is it any wonder that children see aggression as the mode to success in life? Losers are weak; they let people walk all over them; they even get killed. The strong get what they want.
Psychiatrists have known for years that Passive-Aggressive behavior is one of the chosen defense mechanisms of those who feel they can gain control in no other way.
Who has less control over their lives than a child? They don’t get to decide if there is a divorce or if they get to see their father (or mother, as the case may be). Nowadays, they may not even HAVE an acknowledged father. They have no say about where they will live or under what conditions. In most cases, they don’t even get to decide what they’re going to get to eat for dinner. Helpless? Hopeless? Possibly.
THIRD:
Given the helplessness and lack of control I just mentioned, is it possible a child can be angry, even in a rage, over the conditions in their lives? Does it make sense to say the child has a “disorder” because they have these angry feelings? Given the natural childhood tendencies to rambunctiousness, and the automatic need to learn modulation and moderation, children need time to learn how to handle these explosive emotions.
How dare we say that anti-psychotic drugs are the preferred solution! These emotional upheavals and mood swings are not just a modern phenomena. One only needs to read the tragic love story of “Romeo and Juliet” to realize that emotional upheaval (and faulty judgments and behaviors) of young people have been with us for a long time.
As a society, we need to start looking at the causes of some of this anger and rage, instead of just prescribing drugs (which, by the way, were never intended for children and have nasty side-effects, like massive weight gain, tremors and lack of fine motor skills, just to name a few).
Psychiatrists don’t know if the children being treated would ever have developed a full-blown case of Bipolar Disorder as adults. Even psychiatrists are arguing among themselves whether this is a valid diagnosis for children, some as young as 5 or 6.
What they DO KNOW is that most children who qualify for the diagnosis DO NOT develop mania in later years. No, they usually develop clinical depression. How sad!
If you’ve ever known an adult diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder (which used to be called Manic Depression), then you know they can function as level-headed, sane adults, with no outlandish behaviors or flamboyance, IF THEY TAKE THEIR MEDICINE. The difficulty is keeping them on their medications because they miss the wonderful exhilaration of their manic phases.
Is it any wonder these diagnosed children grow up to be depressed? They are being sedated before they’ve even had a chance to experience the childhood exhilaration of just being alive!
We have some serious problems in our society, including a public educational system that has completely deteriorated. The issue of over-diagnosing psychiatric disorders gives a whole new meaning to “drugs in our schools”. It’s about time that we wake up to the fact that things won’t get fixed with a pill.
Social problems are impacting our educational system and social problems MUST be taken into consideration in any education reform programs.
If you want to know about a plan that will revamp our school systems completely AND offers solutions for the impact of social problems in our schools, then you MUST read “Set Our Teachers FREE! A Plan to Save Public Education” by Don Kingsland. I’d be happy to tell you where you can get your very own copy!
Remember, drugs are a problem, not THE solution!
Brennan Kingsland, RN, BSOM, CHN
More Drugs for Education?
Golly, even more drugs impacting education! But this time it is prescription drugs that I’m referring to.
I have been doing some real soul-searching, as well as my usual research, on this very explosive topic.
There have been numerous reports in the media about the astounding increase in diagnoses of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and the unbelievable increase in children being diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder (an increase of 40 times!).
If you’ve read “Set Our Teachers FREE! A Plan to Save Public Education” by Don Kingsland you already know that the author believes that children are being over-diagnosed and over-medicated, just to keep them quiet and malleable.
A diagnosis of ADHD may make a parent relieved and possibly more comfortable with their inability to cope with an over-active, often aggressive child, who has difficulty concentrating on tasks. But it is a terrible label and burden for a child to carry through their lifetime. Not to mention that many of these very bright children change from being sparkling and precocious learners (with behavior problems, true) into quiet, zombie-like introverts. Both Don and I have seen this too many times in our careers to believe that it occurs only in isolated cases.
What is most distressing is that drugs are seen as the first line of treatment, rather than ruling out other causative factors.
- A perfect example is the “red dye issue”, where it was discovered that a type of red food coloring being used in many, many ready-made and snack products in the US was linked to hyperactivity in children. O.K. let’s stop the red dye (and find another chemical additive) and then there is no need to look for other causative factors for agitation and aggression.
- And what about other common food allergies? Research reports that food and environmental allergies are very much a contributing factor in many personality disorders, but “Nah! That’s too ambiguous or too much work. Just give ‘em a pill.”
- What about the violence children witness in the media on a continuous basis? Why are some more susceptible to acting-out than others? Can it be that they are bright and impressionable? “Well, we’ll never get rid of violence in the media. Just give ‘em a pill.”
- What about the other factors that may be contributing to uncontrolled behaviors? Lack of proper role models? And the list goes on and on and on. The response in too many cases is “Just give ‘em a pill.”
We’ve become a society of “quick fixes”. And the sale of drugs are skyrocketing.
But ADHD is just one diagnosis.
What about the massive increase in Bipolar Disorder diagnoses? Forty times as many cases from 1994 to 2003? And many more since then!
I need to take a deep breath before I continue this rant!
Bipolar Disorder, sounds neat and clean, doesn’t it? Yup! Bipolar Disorder. But it’s just a sanitized way to describe a condition that used to be called Manic-Depression. Does that ring any bells?
I’ll continue on this subject tomorrow, or this post will be much too long. But, in the meantime, think back to all the things you’ve ever heard about Manic-Depression and the odd behaviors associated with it. Just keep reminding yourself that 40 times as many children have been diagnosed with an illness that was formerly only thought to occur in adults (and that still has not been proven to even exist in children). And they are being medicated with powerful and expensive drugs, that have serious side effects. Who stands to benefit from this? Huh?
Just keep thinking about that.
Brennan Kingsland, RN, BSOM, CHN,
