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The Forum > General Discussion > Medicalising normalcy

Medicalising normalcy

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New draft guidelines for detecting ADHD in children appear to medicalise and brand normal behaviour, if you believe the Royal Australian College of Physicians.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24210209-23289,00.html

They claim that normal childhood behaviour like fidgeting will be diagnosed as ADHD, and that the numbers of children receiving medication could grow significantly.

"Features include fidgeting or squirming in their seat, blurting out answers before questions have been completed, having difficulty awaiting their turn, butting into conversations or games, and talking excessively.

Other symptoms include making careless mistakes in schoolwork, not following through on instructions, failing to finish chores, losing things and being easily distracted and often forgetful in daily activities."

When the people who stand to make money out of a practice criticise it, then I think you have to take their criticisms seriously.
Posted by GrahamY, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 9:21:36 AM
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I can think of some rather large Pharmeceutical giants who would be most interested in promoting this..... :)
Posted by Polycarp, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 9:24:55 AM
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Perhaps analogous to posters spamming the Forum, do you think, GrahamY?

Having failed to browbeat an Australian government into abandonment of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, is Big Pharma (or their factota) now trying to swamp the PBS with a wave of unsustainable costs for medication for an undefined and open ended 'condition', that of childhood?

This, from the link you gave: "The diagnosis [for ADHD] is based on the criteria developed by the American Psychiatric Association, known as DSM-IV. Children exhibiting either six symptoms of inattention or six symptoms of hyperactive and impulsive behaviour are said to have ADHD."

A covey of Yank shrinks.

Would a Yank shrink be automatically authorized to practice in Australia without specific Australian acceptance of his/her study and training credentials? Correct me if I am wrong, but I think the answer to that is 'no'. Why then accept the position of an association of such unaccredited persons with respect to diagnostic guidelines?

What is the Federal government hoping for? An excuse to have to fold on keeping the PBS because of 'financial unsustainibility'? Is it hoping to get off the hook of responsibility for such an eventual outcome by being able in due course to claim that it was the Royal Australasian College of Physicians that actually set the diagnostic guidelines?

I think Big Pharma regard the Australian PBS as effectively a prices watchdog, and an obstacle to their being able to hike prices at will in a market able to be easily guilt-tripped into spending 'whatever is necessary' on behalf of their children.

Irrespective of anything contained within the US-Australia free trade agreement, the decision as to whether or not Australia retains its PBS is a domestic political matter. No foreign interference in that is acceptable.

So retention of the PBS is a standing contradiction to the terms of the free trade agreement? Too bad. We've had a change of government since that agreement was struck.

I agree with you. When those who stand to benefit from a proposal warn against it, it IS time to take notice.
Posted by Forrest Gumpp, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 2:18:09 PM
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I wouldn't say ADD or ADHD are complete horsepooh, but they're near enough. Naughty kids were so much better off before it was invented, when they were held responsible for their own behaviour.

We already have too many perfectly normal kids getting branded and filled up with amphetamines. Roping more in is just crazy.
Posted by chainsmoker, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 5:09:23 PM
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Dear Graham,

I fully agree with you. It is time
we took notice. The medical institution
has grown steadily in size. The pharmaceutical
industry has now become one of the largest
in the economy. Health insurance has become
a major personal or social cost. And many
events of life that were once considered
natural and inevitable have now been redefined
as medical and modifiable, even if they don't
involve "disease" in any clinical sense.

Hyperactive children have
long been disruptive in classrooms, where
their behaviour used to be considered a
discipline problem. Then researchers
discovered that a stimulant drug, ritalin,
had the unexpected effect of pacifying
children. Having found the "medicine,"
doctors soon discovered the "disease" of
"hyperkinesis" which, is the Greek word for
"overenergetic." I guess the only up side from
this is that offenders are now treated as
"sick" people rather than punished as "bad"
people.

Then you've got childbirth. Today it's become
a major medical event,as has getting fat,
or being unable to sleep. Medicine can even
intervene in the physical appearance of age.
Plastic surgery is booming. Death, too has
become a medical event. It usually takes place
in a clinical setting, where doctors sometimes
make judgements about whether to keep people alive
or let them die, or even hasten their deaths.
Some researchers are trying to discover how to
stop the aging process, so that we can live
forever.

What we need to do is not to let things
go unchallenged where we feel that medicine
has overextended itself. Doctors need to be
challenged by demands for patient's rights -
ranging from the right to full information,
to the right to die in dignity.

But it's not going to be easy. Medicine has
achieved an impressive position, and remains
one of the most dominant and highly regarded
institutions in our society.
Posted by Foxy, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 11:04:30 PM
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My experience is that the symptoms of ADHD are definitely more commonplace in children today than they were a few decades back and, I agree, we should be concerned at the medicalisation of these and other behavioural problems.

As with depression, which is also on the rise, the pharmaceutical industry has been quick to exploit the situation and to derive huge profits through peddling its so-called cures.

My research and my own life experience has convinced me that neither condition is medical, as much as it is dietary. Both are exacerbated by the sugar-rich and nutrient-deficient junkfood diets prevalent in today's fast-paced western societies, and both can be overcome through switching to a nutrient-rich diet based on wholesome and unprocessed food.

This is a far safer and more effective treatment than medication but of course it will never be promoted because there's no easy profit in it.
Posted by Bronwyn, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 11:25:09 PM
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