What Was the Name of This Paper? I’m Told I Have ADHD.

What Was the Name of This Paper? I’m Told I Have ADHD.

            Johnny Davison is entering the third grade with a renewed excitement. He is looking forward to hanging out with his friends and starting a new school year. Johnny excels in school. He is considered an above average student. Unfortunately for Johnny, he has a hard time sitting still. He fidgets. He does not listen to his teachers. He does not organize his tasks. He is easily distracted, and he is forgetful in his daily activities. His teacher decides to schedule an appointment with his parents regarding his disruptive behavior. At the meeting, the teacher expresses her concerns with Johnny’s parents as she believes that Johnny might suffer from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). She wants Johnny to see the school psychiatrist. Johnny’s parents are a little reluctant, but they agree to have the psychiatrist visit with their son. Today, many parents are faced with this prognosis as children continue to be diagnosed with ADHD, and this has resulted in approximately 2.5 million children taking drugs to offset the symptoms of ADHD.¹ This diagnosis has become one of the overreaching answers to hyperactive children. While the debate continues as to whether or not ADHD is an actual disorder, the reality is ADHD is nothing new as kids have always been active, and this new disorder is simply a way for drug companies to make record setting profits at the expense of unsuspecting members of society.

            Today, hyperactive children are being diagnosed with ADHD. It has become the answer for helping children overcome their overactive minds and bodies. According to the Diagnostic Statistical Manual IV (DSM), children can be diagnosed with ADHD if they present with six or more of the following problems. Some of those problems are:                        

(a) often fails to give close attention to details or makes careless mistakes in schoolwork, work, or other activities (b) often has difficulty sustaining attention in tasks or play activities (c) often does not seem to listen when spoken to directly … (e) often has difficulty organizing tasks and activities… (g) often loses things necessary for tasks or activities (e.g. toys, school assignments, pencils, books, or tools) (i) is often forgetful in daily activities.²

These are the diagnostic tools doctors use to figure out who suffers from ADHD. If children demonstrate some of these markers, doctors are quick to recommend medicating the children, which generously benefits the doctors and the drug companies as they stand to make millions with these types of diagnoses. Thus, doctors and the drug companies have a great deal to gain by children being diagnosed with these illnesses. Today, ten million children are taking psychiatric drugs,³ and this is only possible because the DSM recognizes behaviors like hyperactivity as a disease, and because the DSM recognizes ADHD as a disease, it allows insurance companies to make money when people receive this diagnosis.  

            The use of medicine in American society has exploded since the 1990s when drug companies began targeting children, and now children are medicated at an alarming rate, which has resulted in record profits for drug companies. The drug companies target children and adults to convince them that they need medication. According to the documentary Generation RX, the United States is the last developed nation in the world to allow drug companies to advertise on television.⁴ These drug companies use the media to entice people to use drugs in order to solve their problems as these drug companies claim they can provide people with a quick fix for all their problems, and according to the Generation RX documentary, this media campaign has resulted in the residents of United States using five times more drugs than people throughout the rest of the world.⁵ This targeted media campaign has helped companies make record setting profits. According to Generation RX, people spend sixty-nine billion dollars per year on psychiatric drugs, which equates to one hundred thirty thousand dollars a second spent on drugs.⁶ Drug companies, thus, stand to make a significant amount of money with the recognition of illnesses like ADHD by the DSM.    

            While the DSM may recognize ADHD as a problem, other explanations have been used to explain why some children are more active than others. In an article by published National Public Radio (NPR), researchers suggest that diet may have more to do with why kids are active. According to NPR, a recent study published in the Lancent Journal validated that kids who were diagnosed with ADHD performed better when their diet was restricted.⁷ According to Dr. Lidy Pelsser, the author of the article in the Lancent Journal, ADHD is a “disorder [that] is triggered in many cases by external factors — and those can be treated through changes to one's environment.”⁸ Dr. Pelsser’s study states that “64 percent of children diagnosed with ADHD are actually experiencing a hypersensitivity to food.”⁹ However, by suggesting that food may be the cause of ADHD, Dr. Pelsser has put herself at odds with the medical community as a change in diet would result in millions of dollars lost for drug companies.

            While diet may be one cause of hyperactive children, another study, published in the Journal of Health Economics, suggests that some kids are simply diagnosed with ADHD because they are too young for their grade.⁹ The study demonstrated that younger children had a significantly higher chance of being diagnosed with ADHD; children too young for their grade were diagnosed at twice the rate of children age appropriate for their grade.¹⁰ Since these children are not prepared for class, they are told they may suffer from ADHD. While some people may disagree with these possible explanations for children being diagnosed with ADHD, a panel of well renowned experts who diagnose ADHD could not provide an answer to the simple question, “What does ADHD look like in children?” In 1998 a panel of experts met together at the National Institutes of Health to discuss ADHD, and when asked what the disease looked like in children, the expert called on to answer the questioned stammered over his words and could not provide the audience with a definition.¹² If a so called expert in the field cannot provide an adequate answer to the simple question of how ADHD presents itself, it would stand to reason that this disease may not be a disease after all.      

            The media campaign by drug companies to target kids is simply a way to make money while creating an underclass of people throughout society. Children on medication are now seen as deviant and they are considered to have something wrong with them. They are put in a special category, and this is especially true for the poor and disadvantaged. According to Generation RX, children in foster homes are more likely to be treated with psychiatric drugs. Furthermore, children who have been in trouble with the law or kids who have been labeled delinquent by society are often forced to take psychiatric drugs whether they choose to take them or not.¹³ Children who do not have people to advocate on their behalf are being targeted by drug companies as delinquent, thus, creating an underclass within society. This is a simple process undertaken by the drug companies and psychiatrists whereby people become inferior by receiving labels, thus, creating a new deviant underclass in society.       

            In today’s society, ADHD seems to be catch all for kids who are hyperactive. People want to medicate children instead of accepting that some kids simply have more energy than others or there may simply be other reasons that contribute to why kids are hyperactive, which helps to explain why Johnny was overactive in class. Johnny’s parents returned to the school after Johnny met with the school psychiatrist. The psychiatrist concluded that Johnny did in fact have the markers of ADHD. When Johnny’s dad inquired what the markers were, the psychiatrists started listing the markers. When Johnny’s dad inquired if Johnny’s behavior could be explained instead by the fact that he was simply an energetic child, the psychiatrist did not have an answer and began to stumble on his words. Johnny’s dad quickly concluded that his son did not in fact suffer from ADHD, and he sought a second opinion from a different doctor. After meeting with Johnny, the new doctor concluded that Johnny did not suffer from ADHD, but rather he was bored in class because he was not being challenged by the teacher. Johnny needed to be in the fourth grade, not medicated.

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1. Katherine Harmon, “Are some ADHD-labeled kids just young for their grade?,” Scientific American, 17 August, 2010, http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2010/08/17/are-some-adhd-labeled-kids-just-young-for-their-grade/. 2012

2. “ADHD & ADD DSM-IV Diagnosis,” Abacus News, 2011, http://www.abacus-news.co.uk/adhd/adhd-dsm-iv-diagnosis.php.

3. Generation RX, DVD, Kevin P. Miller, (2008; Vancouver B.C.: Common Radius Films).

4. Generation RX, DVD, Kevin P. Miller, (2008; Vancouver B.C.: Common Radius Films).  

5. Generation RX, DVD, Kevin P. Miller, (2008; Vancouver B.C.: Common Radius Films).  

6. Generation RX, DVD, Kevin P. Miller, (2008; Vancouver B.C.: Common Radius Films).

7. NPR Staff, “Study: Diet May Help ADHD Kids More Than Drugs,” National Public Radio, 2012, http://www.npr.org/2011/03/12/134456594/study-diet-may-help-adhd-kids-more-than-drugs?sc=fb&cc=fp.

8. NPR Staff, “Study: Diet May Help ADHD Kids More Than Drugs,” National Public Radio, 2012, http://www.npr.org/2011/03/12/134456594/study-diet-may-help-adhd-kids-more-than-drugs?sc=fb&cc=fp.

9. NPR Staff, “Study: Diet May Help ADHD Kids More Than Drugs,” National Public Radio, 2012, http://www.npr.org/2011/03/12/134456594/study-diet-may-help-adhd-kids-more-than-drugs?sc=fb&cc=fp.

10. Katherine Harmon, “Are some ADHD-labeled kids just young for their grade?,” Scientific American, 17 August, 2010, http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2010/08/17/are-some-adhd-labeled-kids-just-young-for-their-grade/. 2012

 11. Katherine Harmon, “Are some ADHD-labeled kids just young for their grade?,” Scientific American, 17 August, 2010, http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2010/08/17/are-some-adhd-labeled-kids-just-young-for-their-grade/. 2012

12. Generation RX, DVD, Kevin P. Miller, (2008; Vancouver B.C.: Common Radius Films).

13. Generation RX, DVD, Kevin P. Miller, (2008; Vancouver B.C.: Common Radius Films).

ADHD, I'm Not Buying!

What is the main thesis of this film?
For me thesis of this film revolves around drug companies and the FDA, which are both corrupt entities. The movie portrayed these entities as corrupt, and these entities were allowed to target kids to create a new market for drugs. Regardless of the side effects, the drug companies continued to push their drugs on kids while creating a new demographic, and doctors continued to diagnose kids with problems to fund the drug companies.    

2.    What were the main arguments in support of this thesis?
The main arguments that supported the thesis were two things: the numbers, and the doctor who couldn’t describe what the symptoms of ADHD consist of. Some of the numbers behind the drugs are, ten million kids are taking drugs today, sixty-nine billion dollars are being spent annually on drug in the United States, which equates to one hundred thirty nine dollars a second, forty million people are on Prozac, there has been a four hundred percent rise in antipsychotic drugs in teens and children, eight out of thirteen kids involved in school shootings were on psychotic drugs, Ritalin use is up by seven hundred forty percent in the 1990s, and twenty-eight thousand people experienced adverse effects to Prozac in four years. The other point that really validated the thesis came when a panel of Doctors could not describe what a child with ADHD looks like.      
          
3.    How does the thesis of this film relate to the course?

This film directly relates to the overall themes of the course as the drug companies are creating a deviant class. In sociological terms, deviance can be defined as anything out of the norm;¹ however, as more and more kids become hooked on drugs, the deviant class will be the kids who do not take antipsychotic drugs. The kids on these drugs are oftentimes outsiders, which is one of the ways Howard Becker describes deviance.² This films directly corresponds to the course.   

4.   Which arguments/points did you find the most convincing?
For me, the most convincing parts of this film revolved around the numbers, and the panel of doctors who could not describe what the symptoms of ADHD.   

5.   Which arguments/points did you find the least convincing?

I did not find any part of this movie to have flaws. It was very convincing throughout. I have been arguing for years that the idiots who are diagnosing ADHD are doing nothing more than condemning kids for being kids.


6.   Choose one argument, point or question that most stands out for you from the film. How would you study this point? Briefly design a research study around that point.

I would like to study the whole ADHD epidemic. It has clearly become a moral panic in our society. I would like to take kids who have been diagnosed with ADHD and to the best of my ability have a controlled study by seeing how kids on some form of medication perform in school versus kids without medication. I would have them all in the same class, with the same teacher, and make them all do the same work. I would like to see how these kids perform. I have a feeling it results would make for an interesting report.

Alex Heckert and Druann Maria Heckert. (2010). A New Typology of Deviance: Integrating and Reactivist Definitions of Deviance. In Alex Thio, Thomas C. Calhoun, and Addrain Conyers (Eds.), Readings in Deviant Behavior. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Howard S. Becker. (1963). Group from Outsiders: Studies in the Sociology of Deviance. In Alex Thio, Thomas C. Calhoun, and Addrain Conyers (Eds.), Readings in Deviant Behavior. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Tough People All Around!

What is the main thesis of this film?
The main thesis of this film is men are supposed to fit into a specific masculine identity, and in today’s society, men are supposed to be even more masculine than ever before. Men are supposed to conform to the masculine standards set by society or men run the risk of being classified as deviant.

2.    What were the main arguments in support of this thesis?
For me, some of the most convincing arguments came when the dolls were presented. I was shocked at how much bigger the dolls were than twenty years ago. It was a shocker. I also found it really interesting when African American masculinity was said to be rooted in Mafia culture as well as a way of mimicking white male masculinity. The other thing that was not only convincing but disgusting was listening to Howard Stern when he was talking about the Columbine incident. He actually made the comment that the boys shooting people “should have had some sex.” These things clearly show how male masculinity has evolved. 
          
3.    How does the thesis of this film relate to the course?

This fits with the overall theme of the class because males in our society are expected to fit the role masculinity. If they do not conform to society’s ideas of masculinity, they run the risk of being deviant since deviance is anything outside of the norm,¹ and according to Howard Becker deviance can be defined as people who are outsiders,² which would clearly be a male who does not fit the societal idea of masculinity.

4.   Which arguments/points did you find the most convincing?
The most convincing points of this movie were the male dolls and the loud mouth Howard Stern. Those things were very convincing.  

5.   Which arguments/points did you find the least convincing?

I did not find any part of this movie to have flaws. It was very convincing all the way around.


6.   Choose one argument, point or question that most stands out for you from the film. How would you study this point? Briefly design a research study around that point.

I would like to study how women fit into this equation. I want to know how women view male masculinity and if they believe in the same trends. I would do this by interviewing women and showing them various pictures of men and asking hem questions about what is attractive and what their thoughts are.   

Alex Heckert and Druann Maria Heckert. (2010). A New Typology of Deviance: Integrating and Reactivist Definitions of Deviance. In Alex Thio, Thomas C. Calhoun, and Addrain Conyers (Eds.), Readings in Deviant Behavior. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Howard S. Becker. (1963). Group from Outsiders: Studies in the Sociology of Deviance. In Alex Thio, Thomas C. Calhoun, and Addrain Conyers (Eds.), Readings in Deviant Behavior. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.