"ATTENTION-DEFICIT DISORDER"

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More and more doctors are diagnosing kids with this condition called "Attention-Deficit Disorder," and then prescribing medication to help with this condition.

But, we have to ask . . .

Is "attention" something that can be gotten from a pill?

Or, is it something is developed and strengthened deliberately through practice? Meaning, by developing concentration?

Much of modern psychology and psychiatry flies directly in the face of some Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, and Christian traditions, which state that "attention" is not something that is inherent and easily obtained, but is something that much be built and developed . . .

What Causes "ADD"?

The popular slogan behind much of today's propaganda of "what causes ADD" is that it is simply "defective brain chemistry."

This reductionistic approach is typical of many in the scientific community. Apparently to them, any behavior, it seems, is attributed to defective brain chemistry - except, of course, for their own.

This explanation is convenient for many people, because not only does it allow nearly everyone involved to consider themselves blameless victims, but it also puts a great deal of money into the hands of certain individuals and corporations.

But other theories do exist, although they rarely get as much attention, for the reasons mentioned above. For example . . .

Perhaps in some cases
"ADD" is actually caused by "defective brain chemistry"

If situations such as this are true, then it seems
there is nothing to do but buy drugs
and the only responsible party is God.

Perhaps in some cases
"ADD" is caused by Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
click here

"It requires mothers to admit
that they've been drinking during pregnancy.
So they deny it, and physicians don't press the issue."
- Carole Kenner, Professor of Nursing, University of Cincinnati

Perhaps in some cases
"ADD" is caused by those who diagnose it.

To follow this recipe, take following ingredients:

• a bright, spirited, intelligent child;
• a large dose of painfully boring and irrelevant learning material
• (almost any subject - math, history, geography, and so on will do; the important part is it being presented in the most dull and irrelevant way possible)
• a few well-meaning but dull and impatient teachers in positions of authority,
• a few well-meaning but less-than-perfectly consistent and attentive parents (if desired),

Stir.

Get the teachers to force the children to learn the boring material.
When the children naturally resist,
the teachers must label them as "disorderly," "insubordinate," and "troublemaking,"
according to their own standards of order,
threaten them with the possibility that their futures will be bleak as a result,
and order a healthy round of brainwashing, including drugs.

(Note: The above can be made even more thoroughly perplexing for the child if the child is told to "be true to oneself" and is told to have "self-esteem" and so on during all of the above. This creates a very effective double-bind or no-win situation: if the child is actually "true to oneself" and rebels, he or she is punished. What is actually meant is being "true to oneself" according to the definition of the figure in authority.

"There is not one shred of medical evidence
that ADHD is caused by any specific brain disease,
but that is the claim that justifies
pronouncing millions of American schoolchildren mentally ill,
drugging them by coercion,
and recording these "diagnoses" of "mental illness" on their permanent records.
Why are normal, healthy, inquisitive - and at times rambunctious -
children having trouble paying attention in school?
ADHD is one possibility; there are many others.
It could also be because of no motivation,
no discipline, no subject matter left to study,
no standards that demand any learning,
no tests that evaluate any knowledge,
incompetent teachers,
and indifferent parents.
It could be because mandatory standards have been replaced with mindless slogans,
and there is no moral authority at home or at school
to inculcate virtues in these children.
The educational system has been transformed from a path of learning
to a minefield of debilitation
- with psychology and psychiatry as willing accomplices . . ."
- Lou Marinoff, Ph.D. Plato Not Prozac

Recommendation:

Skeptic Magazine article, "Attention Deficit Disorder: Good Science or Good Marketing?" Volume 8 No. 1, 2000

The following passage from the National Institute of Mental Health was quoted in this article:

"In 1998, for example, there was a NIMH consensus conference of ADHD. Its final report contained these cautionary statements: 'We don't have an independent valid test for ADHD; further research is necessary to firmly establish ADHD as a brain disorder; existing studies come to conflicting conclusions as to whether the use of psychostimulants increases or decreases the risk of abuse; and finally after years of clinical research and experience with ADHD, our knowledge about the cause or causes of ADHD remain largely speculative."

Developing Attention

Some people say that almost everyone has "ADD" to one degree or another. The only difference is in the matter of degree.

Further, many schools of thought claim that we can actually develop "attention" in the same way that we can build muscles by going to the gym. It's essentially a matter of working out your mind in almost the same way that you work out your body.

There are certain practices of developing attention that dates back thousands of years (of which the modern medical establishment typically is ignorant). This has to do with what are called "meditation" practices, mental and spiritual exercises that do for your mind and soul what going to the gym does for your body. In our opinion, a genuine meditation practice is worth doing and is effective.
To see more about these, go here.

Appendix:

Lou Marinoff mentioned in the book Plato Not Prozac (as quoted above) the problem of "moral authority" at school and in the home. This issue naturally brings up the question "What is 'moral authority'?" How does a person "get" it? After all, "What is Morality?" anyway?

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