Child deaths Paying the price for psychiatric profit Stephanie Hall The controversial and unscientific labelling of children with “learning disorders” is happening throughout Europe. In Britain, a 7-year-old child attempted suicide after being prescribed Ritalin. And the children pictured here died directly from the effects of drugs themselves. These are but a few tragic cases of lives destroyed or ruined by this false and deadly “solution.” It is not surprising that the UK Shaina Dunkle government, in 2003, banned the administration of such drugs to anyone under 18 years of age.Despite psychiatric claims to the contrary, the practise of prescribing cocaine-like drugs to deal with such problems is far removed from conclusive science. There are no scientific studies to show any validity to the theories popularised in mass media; nor is there any proven long-term benefit of such treatments except to the psychiatrists and psychologists who grab and hold onto young clients as long as possible to “treat,” but never cure them. That the drugs can make their Matthew Smith children violent, even suicidal, or have fatal side effects is not made clear to the parents. Nor are they provided information about the increasing number of government warnings on the dangers of these substances.

It is time to take a closer look.

First, studies show that children who take Ritalin and similar stimulants do not perform better academically. “The present results suggest that continued use of Ritalin and possibly other drugs to control hyperactivity may result in compliant but academically incompetent students”, the British Journal of Applied Behaviour Analysis has reported. “The control of hyperactivity by medication, while effective, may be too costly to the child, in that it may retard his academic and social growth, a human cost that schools and society can ill afford”.

Second, the dangers these drugs pose are very real. Many young lives have already been ruined—still more are lost forever, now dead. But all are at risk.

If the drugs don’t help, but in fact harm, why are they pushed so aggressively? And who is pushing them?

It is not too simplistic to merely ask: Who profits?

Warning parents, teachers and community leaders about the dangers of psychiatric child-drugging campaigns has become one of CCHR’s most important missions. Aside from the harmful nature of the drugs prescribed, it is vital to inform the public that there is no scientific evidence supporting the supposition that such “learning disorders” even exist.

The truth is that Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), “hyperkinetic⁵ disorder”, “deficits in attention, motor control and perception” (DAMP) in Sweden, and the many other labels used by psychiatrists and psychologists, do not identify mental “illnesses” or “diseases”. Instead, they are affixed to psychiatric diagnoses, which are then used by the psycho-pharmaceutical industry to justify the wholesale and very profitable drugging of our young.

“The claim that ADHD is biologically caused or stems from a metabolic disturbance in the brain is not scientifically founded in any way”, said sociologist Eva Karfve of Sweden.

Other experts concur. “ADHD is not like diabetes and Ritalin is not like insulin. Diabetes is a real medical condition that can be objectively diagnosed. ADHD is an invented label with no objective, valid means of identification”, said Dr M. A. Block, author of No More ADHD.

According to Dr Paul Runge, a German child and adolescent psychiatrist, if it were accepted that ADHD was biologically based, “a real, effective treatment would require a cure which influences only this specific biological disorder”. Such a treatment does not exist.