ADHD is a prime example of an invented disease. – Dr Leon Eisenberg, father of ADHD research.
This is a quote about ADHD that I’ve seen online on a few occasions and have been sceptical about it’s source. When I see statements like this I like to do some research on them to find out if they’re true. Well, this one seems to be genuine. It comes from an article in a German magazine called Der Speigel from 2012.
These same sentiments were repeated by Dr Jerome Kagan, a Harvard psychologist in a 2012 interview:
Speigel: Experts speak of 5.4 million American children who display the symptoms typical of ADHD. Are you saying that this mental disorder is just an invention?
Kagan: That’s correct; it is an invention. Every child who’s not doing well in school is sent to see a pediatrician, and the pediatrician says: “It’s ADHD; here’s Ritalin.” In fact, 90 percent of these 5.4 million kids don’t have an abnormal dopamine metabolism. The problem is, if a drug is available to doctors, they’ll make the corresponding diagnosis.
A Neurologist who has 50 years experience with treating people who supposedly have ADHD, Dr Richard Saul, has written a book called ADHD Does Not Exist: The Truth About Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder.
“Not a single individual — not even the person who finds it close to impossible to pay attention or sit still — is afflicted by the disorder called ADHD as we define it today.” – Dr Saul
“ADHD makes a great excuse,” Saul says. “The diagnosis can be an easy-to-reach-for crutch. Moreover, there’s an attractive element to an ADHD diagnosis, especially in adults — it can be exciting to think of oneself as involved in many things at once, rather than stuck in a boring rut.”
Dr Saul looks at the individual symptoms that make up the supposed disorder and finds solutions to those. One New York girl was labelled as having ADHD because she was being disruptive. Once she has glasses and could see the blackboard properly the problem was solved. She needed an eye test, not drugs.
In my experience in practice I’ve seen similar such changes without the need to label a person with a disorder. By addressing spinal misalignments that can distort the signals between the brain and the body as well as addressing nutrition, movement and mental and emotional states, we have seen some amazing results.
The biggest change we see is in the self-esteem of the person who has been labelled. Whether child, teen or adult, people who have the ADHD label hanging around their neck believe they are no good without the drug to correct their ‘fault.’ Once they begin to see changes and are able to decrease or come off their meds entirely, their perception of themselves improves. They regain confidence in themselves and their own abilities.
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Peak Chiropractic Centre located in Claremont are family-friendly chiropractors focused on relieving aches, pains and posture correction. We offer in-house X-Ray facilities.
