A new tool to screen adults with ADHD has been created. Interestingly, this test was devised to match The American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual 5 (DSM-5) criteria.[1] (The DSM is the psychiatric handbook for diagnosing mental disorders.)
The DSM-5 is a controversial guidebook with information contested by many in both the psychiatric and psychological professions. For example, several divisions of the American Psychological Association wrote an open letter critical of DSM-5. According to an article in Psychology Today by Allen J. Frances, M.D. this “letter summarizes the grave dangers of DSM-5 that for some time have seemed patently apparent to everyone except those who are actually working on it. The short list of the most compelling problems includes: reckless expansion of the diagnostic system (through the inclusion of untested new diagnoses and reduced thresholds for old ones); the lack of scientific rigor and independent review; and dimensional proposals that are too impossibly complex ever to be used by clinicians.”[2]
Any proclamation by the American Psychiatric Association should be viewed askance, especially when based on the supposed validity of the DSM-5. Thus the creation of a “new tool” to screen adults with ADHD contains a “fox guarding the henhouse” mentality.
Dr. Frances continues his scathing remarks on DSM-5:
“… Despite the obvious impossibility of many of its proposals, it shows no ability to self correct or learn from outside advice. The current drafts have changed almost not at all from their deeply flawed originals…”[3]
Is ADHD Real?
Dr. Bruce D. Perry, one of the world’s leading neuroscientists, asserted that Attention Deficit/Hyper-Activity Disorder, or ADHD is “not a real disease.”
Dr. Perry has warned of the dangers of psycho-stimulant medications, stating that the so-called disorder is actually a description of a wide range of symptoms that children as well as adults can display at some point in their lives.
He states, “It is best thought of as a description. If you look at how you end up with that label, it is remarkable because any one of us at any given time would fit at least a couple of those criteria.” [4]
Dangers of Psychotropic Medications to Treat ADHD
Those already suspicious of the pharmaceutical industry’s motivations in promoting prescriptions of stimulants to treat ADHD (including parents and concerned activists) have welcomed Dr. Perry’s voice. He has this to say about such pharmaceuticals:
“If you give psychostimulants to animals when they are young, their rewards systems change. They require much more stimulation to get the same level of pleasure.
“So, on a very concrete level they need to eat more food to get the same sensation of satiation. They need to do more high-risk things to get that little buzz from doing something. It is not a benign phenomenon.
“Taking a medication influences systems in ways we don’t always understand. I tend to be pretty cautious about this stuff, particularly when the research shows you that other interventions are equally effective and over time more effective and have none of the adverse effects. For me it’s a no-brainer.”[5]
It is important to question the money-motivated pharmaceutical industry as well as the vast majority of psychiatrists that promote their dangerous drugs. Voices like Dr. Perry’s are being increasingly heard, and cannot be ignored.
The herd mentality of psychiatric “know best” is floundering, and doctors like Dr. Perry are leading the way to a long overdue reform in the psychiatric industry.
The public must question psychiatric “breakthroughs” such as a “new tool to screen adults with ADHD.” This and other so-called developments are just avenues to increase the revenue of pharmaceutical industries and keep the false authority of psychiatry in place.
[1] http://www.psychiatryadvisor.com/adhd/adhd-screening-tool-dsm-criteria-machine-learning/article/665339/
[2] https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/dsm5-in-distress/201110/psychologists-start-petition-against-dsm-5
[3] ibid
[4] https://realfarmacy.com/adhd-real-disease-says-leading-neuroscientist/
[5] ibid
Psychiatry Attempts New Screening Tool For Adult ADHD
1 Comment
Leave a Reply
Contact CCHR Florida
109 N. Fort Harrison Ave.
Clearwater, Florida 33755
Tel: 1-800-782-2878
I know that my daughter had attention deficit disorder and I refused to give her the drugs I was told to give her. Later on, I heard that this drug stunted the growth of children. She has grown up, largely but NOT ALL gotten along better with her ADHD. She is a normally functioning adult now.
SO happy I did not give her the drugs I was advised to give to her to “settle her down.’.