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The Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), a non-profit mental health watchdog dedicated to the eradication of abuses committed under the guise of mental health, is calling on the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) to examine the facts behind the heavy drugging of children under the misdiagnosis of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADHD).
CLEARWATER, FL, October 25, 2016 – As ADHD Awareness Month draws to a close, CCHR Florida is calling on the FDA to examine the facts behind the heavy drugging of children under the misdiagnosis of ADHD. According to QuintilesIMS, the first independent, objective source of information about the pharmaceutical industry, in the United States alone, 8.4 million children are being prescribed psychiatric drugs and more than 1 million of these children are under the age of five. [1]
“Parents are being told that their child has a ‘mental disorder’ but in actual fact there is no independent, valid test for ADHD nor is there any data to indicate that ADHD is due to a brain malfunction yet the number of children being labeled with a ‘brain-disorder’ continues to climb,” stated Diane Stein, President of CCHR Florida.
In fact a recent study conducted by the CDC showed that approximately 11% of children 4-17 years of age have been diagnosed with ADHD as of 2011 [2] and the percentage being diagnosed continues to increase with 6.4 million children diagnosed in 2011.
Pediatric occupational therapist Angela Hanscom has traced back the reason that children are being increasingly diagnosed with ADHD. [3]
She notes that kids are forced to stay in an upright position for hours on end; gone are the days when children rolled down hills, climbed trees, spun in circles. Recesses are abbreviated because of increasing academic demands. Kids rarely play outdoors now. In other words, children do not move nearly as much as they need to.
Ms. Hanscom tested several classrooms and discovered most children had very poor core strength and balance. In fact, she discovered that only one in twelve children were normal in this regard.
Could it be that fidgeting is a natural response to an environment where children are not allowed to move, and is a desperate and natural response to the unnatural demands of the educational system?
The psychiatrist’s attitude of fixing a problem by quieting a child’s movement is not just ignorant, it is dangerous. The two commonly prescribed drugs for ADHA, Ritalin and Adderall, carry Black box Warnings and side effects can include agitation, aggression, mood swings, depression, thoughts of suicide, fast/pounding/irregular heartbeat, seizures, slurred speech and confusion.
“Dangerous psychiatric drugs are being given to infants and toddlers despite the known debilitating side effects of death, homicides and suicides that are reported in older children and adults taking these medications,” [4] stated Diane Stein. “Why is this being done despite the known risks? Because a psychiatrist prescribing drugs can make up to four times as much as one who doesn’t and drugs prescribed for ADHD alone make billions every year. It is all about the money.” [5]
Individuals are invited to the center, located at 109 N. Fort Harrison Avenue in downtown Clearwater, to learn more about the dangers associated with psychiatric drugs as well as alternatives to medication. To learn more, please call 727-442-8820 or visit www.cchrflorida.org.
About CCHR:
Initially established by the Church of Scientology and renowned psychiatrist Dr. Thomas Szasz in 1969, CCHR’s mission is to eradicate abuses committed under the guise of mental health and enact patient and consumer protections.
It was L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, who brought the terror of psychiatric imprisonment to the notice of the world. In March 1969, he said, “Thousands and thousands are seized without process of law, every week, over the ‘free world’ tortured, castrated, killed. All in the name of ‘mental health.’”
SOURCES:
[1] cchrint.org/issues/childmentaldisorders/
[2] cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/features/key-findings-adhd72013.html
[3] washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2014/07/08/why-so-many-kids-cant-sit-still-in-school-today/
[4] cchrflorida.org/infants-being-given-psychiatric-drugs-on-the-rise/
[5] apa.org/monitor/2012/06/prescribing.aspx
Release ID: 140988