ADHD - Psychiatric Drugs Bring Brave New World

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"Only a large-scale popular movement toward decentralization and self-help can arrest the present tendency toward statism... A really efficient totalitarian state would be one in which the all-powerful executive of political bosses and their army of managers control a population of slaves who do not have to be coerced, because they love their servitude. To make them love it is the task assigned, in present-day totalitarian states, to ministries of propaganda, newspaper editors and schoolteachers." - Aldous Huxley - (1894-1963) Forword to 'Brave New World', 1932

Brave New World - Image from HuxleyNet.

Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or ADHD is said to be a developmental disorder. All but unknown as little as two decades ago, word has it that now about 5 % of children suffer from it. Whatever the cause, the rise of ADHD has been explosive, and it seems that schools, rather than doctors, may be a driving force behind the diagnosis.

Officially, there is no cure for ADHD, yet children, once diagnosed, are prescribed all manner of psychotropic drugs - Ritalin, Adderall, Concerta, Strattera, Methylphenidate - to quiet them down and 'make them pay attention'. We are down on illegal drug use, even to the point of putting people in prison for smoking a joint. Yet here we are pushing mind altering drugs on millions of children. The side effects of the drugs prescribed - amphetamine and methylphenidate and even antipsychotic drugs like Risperdal, Zoloft and Zyprexa - are horrendous. Violence and suicide are often associated with their use.

Let's take a look at the diagnosis itself. We're talking about children who, in school, don't give close attention to details and make mistakes in their schoolwork. They don't listen well, don't follow instructions, are unwilling and are easily distracted or "forgetful". They are unable to sit still, are fidgety, "can't play quietly" and worst of all, they talk a lot. Disruptively blurting out answers before the teacher even finishes asking the question, they tend to interrupt others. In other words, those kids are a nuisance to teachers. Does that, by the way, bring back any memories of your own time in school?

Rather than being a sign of illness however, this kind of behavior tells us something about the dismal state of today's educational system! We are indoctrinating children with useless knowledge, trying to make good robots out of them. Since we still believe having a job should be the only way for people to make a living, we extend education to keep kids out of the job market for as long as possible. The brighter ones rebel at that. They are telling us: "let me go out and learn something". They are bored by what schools have to offer. They want to learn and do something useful, have adventure and feel they are part of society.

Most kids know computers better than their teachers. No wonder they are impatient. Home schooling may be an alternative for some, but not all countries allow it. What we do need, it seems, is a re-tooling of the educational system to support critical thinking, creativity, as well as the capacity to evaluate data and make decisions. There is nothing like learning something you want to learn. Active learning seems to fit the bill.

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TMAP and TeenScreen

A program in US schools called TeenScreen, billed as a suicide prevention tool and mental health screening program, seeks to find those kids that don't fit the brave scheme. According to TeenScreenTruth, the test has an 84 to 94 % likelyhood of falsely labeling any kid taking it as either suicidal or mentally ill.

Once labeled, the most likely thing is a drug regime, and apparently only the latest, most expensive and at the same time most damaging drugs are good enough. A pharmaceutical company initiated program called TMAP has established a reference list of the drugs to be used. The Texas Medication Algorithm Program, pioneered in Texas and later extended to other states in the US, tells school psychiatrists and psychologists what drugs are to be used.

Many parents say no, but a great many accept the teacher-initiated diagnosis and agree to medicate their kids. Thus the brightest, most rebellious children are sacrificed on the altar of pharmacology in ritual appeasement of the gods of a brave new world.

Video by Citizens Commission for Human Rights

Nutrition better than drugs

While the school curriculum is a large part of the problem, what children eat often determines how they behave and whether they can concentrate in school or not. Missing nutrients are a sure recipe for bad grades in school, and often have been found to be at the bottom of problems, even outright criminal behavior.

Avoiding chemical food additives, artificial sweeteners and junk foods in general will go a long way. Proper, nutritious food is essential for doing well in school. Help is as Close as the Kitchen, says Jeannine Virtue of the Attention Deficit Disorder Help Center in an article that has good suggestions for how to arrange for better food when faced with that diagnosis of ADHD.

Jane Hersey, the national director of the Feingold Association of the US, confirms the importance of nutrition, saying:

I have worked with families of these children for over 30 years and have seen time and time again that simple changes in what they eat can turn their behavior around. Many of the children that I and my fellow volunteers helped in the 1970s are now raising their own healthy children. The new Lancet study (September 6, 2007) is yet another one that supports what we have seen for decades. Some food additives can trigger behavior and learning problems. What was new about this study is that is showed the effects apply to all kids, not just those with obvious problems.

In 1986, research done on more than eight hundred public schools in New York City, which involved more than a million kids showed that "…lowered sugar [sucrose], synthetic food colors/flavors, and two preservatives [BHA and BHT] over 4 years in 803 public schools resulted in a 15.7% increase in the mean academic percentile rating…". Jon Rappoport, who had brought the study to my attention, wrote at the time:

"If this study had been talking about the effect of a drug, it would be engraved, word for word, in stone on the side of the building headquartering the company that makes the drug. Alas, it was only talking about getting rid of synthetics. Companies don’t profit by ceasing to make chemicals. So it has been left to the grass roots to make something practical out of this landmark study."

See also:

Poor diet linked to bad behaviour
Children who have a poor diet are more likely to become aggressive and anti-social, US researchers believe. The University of Southern California found a lack of zinc, iron, vitamin B and protein in the first three years caused bad behaviour later on.

Mean Streets or Mean Minerals?
Nutritional deficiencies and imbalances can impair brain function and set the stage for delinquent and criminal behavior. Experts have found that the right supplements can improve behavior.

Let's Do Lunch - How to Improve Your School's Food Program

Gut and Psychology Syndrome
British neurologist and nutritionist Natasha Campbell-McBride, MD illustrates the connection between the gut flora — the microorganisms in the digestive tract — and the brain. Campbell-McBride emphasizes the gut's vital role in supporting mental and physical health. For helping the intestinal flora: Gut Health.

Video: Brave New World Aldous Huxley on Population Control
Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World and brother of Julien Huxley gave a speech in Berkeley in 1962, shortly before his death. He admitted that his best-selling book Brave New World, written in 1932, was based not on fiction, but on what the elite were actually planning to implement.

"... we are in process of developing a whole series of techniques which will enable the controll