The Attention Deficit Dilemma and Our Children
Flower Mound, TX (Akiit.com) – Recently, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced additional precautions concerning drugs prescribed for Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Apparently, the government agency is working closely with drug manufacturers to develop new patient medication guidelines, and the FDA is calling for enhanced product labeling about the potential adverse affects. Among problems cited, adults with serious heart ailments, and those with other risk factors were experiencing sudden death in reports reviewed by the agency.
The FDA also cited a slightly increased risk (1 of 1000) for drug related psychiatric adverse events such as hearing voices, unexplainable suspicion, and becoming manic. This was also evident in patients without previous psychiatric problems.
Dr. Steven B. DavidSon, the author of the Christ-based Counseling volumes, and Director of the National Association of Certified Christ-based Counselors explains that these are not new revelations. “Actually, it is about time the Federal Government elevated the awareness about drugs used for ADD and ADHD.”Â
Given our Christ-based perspective, attention deficit has been with us since the first human beings where distracted. No doubt, there are persons who suffer severely, but parties need to seriously assess the risk-reward factor when considering the use of psychiatric drugs, particularly with children.” DavidSon alludes to the work by authors Peter R Breggin and David Cohen in their book, Your Drug Could Be Your Problem: How and Why to Stop Taking Psychiatric Medications.
While the research concerning ADD and ADHD has been around for decades, DavidSon said he observed increased diagnoses in the mid-1980s and into the 1990s. “Initially, young boys were primarily the ones diagnosed followed by girls and then adults. I cannot speak for other practices, but I noted the growth was consistent with the expansion and development of video games. Additionally, you must consider the contributions of poor diet and faulty-discipline to ADHD. Diet and discipline have declined over time. It is a matter of record that our children have higher incidents of obesity, and don’t mention the condition of child-discipline in the nation.”
DavidSon also briefly addressed conditions where parents are encouraged to induce drugs where children are inattentive. Some parents lean toward medicinal therapy with the hope of improving grade performance. “When asked by parents about my Christ-based perspective, I suggest a simple observation such as ‘how long can your child play a favorite video game?’ If the child can play for extended periods of time and maintain scoring, the problem may be an educational-delivery deficit, and not an attention functioning deficit.” DavidSon is adamant that people need to ponder these observations with their physicians before determining to use drug therapy.
He adds, “Several years ago, I allowed my child to record satisfactory grade performance as opposed to inducing drugs as recommended by an educational psychologist. Thank God! Notwithstanding the short-term successes of these drugs, one in one-thousand does not sound like high-risk for an adverse drug reaction until your child is the one. Moreover, when the adverse reaction is related to brain functioning, or gives a child the impression that drugs should be administered for the slightest mental slippage, I decided my child would catch-up with the head-of-the-class later. It is a dilemma indeed trying to convince young people not to use recreational drugs to improve their social acceptance and fun when their parents encouraged drug-use for their educational acceptance. As Jesus would say, ‘those who have an ear, let them hear.'”