Modern Psychiatricks for Adults - It Doesn't ADD Up !!!

[Guest guest]

Thought you'd all enjoy this from our Aussie friend:

Daily Dose

October 7, 2003

**************************************************************

Today's modern psychiatricks for adults...

We all know about ADD, right? How could we NOT know about it?

Attention Deficit Disorder has gotten more ink and airtime in

the last decade than the Clintons...

And of course, if you've been reading Daily Dose or my monthly newsletter

for any length of time at all, you probably remember me venting about

this made-up malady - the darling of those pseudo-scientists, the

psychiatrists, and their handmaidens, the psychologists. But in case

you really don't know where I stand on the issue (however remote that

possibility is), here's a brief refresher:

I think for the most part, ADD is bogus. It's a made-up

illness foisted on perfectly normal children unlucky enough

to have been born awash in the confluence of an age of

sensory overload from too many TV, computer, and video game

screens - and also an age of no-fault, guiltless parenting

spawned by the " I'm OK, you're OK " sensibilities of the boom-

boom, feel-good hippie age. Any questions?

But there's a new spin on the ADD soap opera. It seems that

the drug giants aren't making enough of a profit from the

millions of kids popping their Ritalin and other pills - or

selling them in the schoolyard...

Now they've set their sights on adults, too. According to

CNN.com, Eli Lilly and company - holders of the patent on

Strattera, the only drug approved by the FDA for the

treatment of adult ADD - has embarked on a national advertising

campaign to " raise awareness " of the prevalence of the

condition. That's all fine and dandy, but the list of

symptoms to be on the lookout for reads like everyday life!

In a thinly veiled attempt to " screen " (see also: recruit)

potential patients, the ads ask questions like:

" ... Are you distracted by activity or noise around you? How

often do you feel restless... ? " And my personal favorite: " Do

you have difficulty waiting in line? "

Seriously, who doesn't at times feel distracted and restless?

And who LIKES waiting in lines? Do you go to the bank on a

crowded Friday afternoon and say to yourself: " YES - a huge

line! I can't WAIT - but I guess I'll just have to! " If you do

think this, ADD drugs aren't the ones you need, my friend...

The problem is two-fold. First, I think it's wrong to even

offer direct-to-consumer marketing of drugs of any type - it

just invites people with no medical knowledge or education to

self-diagnose. Second, the " symptoms " sound just like the

universal conditions of modern life - leading people to

mistakenly believe that if they feel perfectly normal

(scattered, impatient, irritable, and restless), they must be

SICK!

But what can we do about it? Marketing is the only

unstoppable force in the universe nowadays...

Bottom line: Don't be tricked by slick sales pitches into believing

the run-of-the-mill stress you're feeling signals a " disorder, " or

that drugs will somehow make you immune to the trying experiences of

everyday life. The antidote for routine annoyances is a healthy perspective

on life -- not an open-ended prescription.

Setting my own standards,

s II, MD

To start receiving your own copy of the Daily Dose, visit:

http://www.realhealthnews.com/dailydose/freecopy.html

Or forward this e-mail to a friend so they can sign-up to

receive their own copy of the Daily Dose.

If you'd like to participate in the Real Health Breakthroughs

Forum, search past e-letters and products or you're a Real

Health Breakthroughs subscriber and would like to search past

articles, visit http://www.realhealthnews.com

_________________________________________________________________

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[Guest guest]

Thought you'd all enjoy this from our Aussie friend:

Daily Dose

October 7, 2003

**************************************************************

Today's modern psychiatricks for adults...

We all know about ADD, right? How could we NOT know about it?

Attention Deficit Disorder has gotten more ink and airtime in

the last decade than the Clintons...

And of course, if you've been reading Daily Dose or my monthly newsletter

for any length of time at all, you probably remember me venting about

this made-up malady - the darling of those pseudo-scientists, the

psychiatrists, and their handmaidens, the psychologists. But in case

you really don't know where I stand on the issue (however remote that

possibility is), here's a brief refresher:

I think for the most part, ADD is bogus. It's a made-up

illness foisted on perfectly normal children unlucky enough

to have been born awash in the confluence of an age of

sensory overload from too many TV, computer, and video game

screens - and also an age of no-fault, guiltless parenting

spawned by the " I'm OK, you're OK " sensibilities of the boom-

boom, feel-good hippie age. Any questions?

But there's a new spin on the ADD soap opera. It seems that

the drug giants aren't making enough of a profit from the

millions of kids popping their Ritalin and other pills - or

selling them in the schoolyard...

Now they've set their sights on adults, too. According to

CNN.com, Eli Lilly and company - holders of the patent on

Strattera, the only drug approved by the FDA for the

treatment of adult ADD - has embarked on a national advertising

campaign to " raise awareness " of the prevalence of the

condition. That's all fine and dandy, but the list of

symptoms to be on the lookout for reads like everyday life!

In a thinly veiled attempt to " screen " (see also: recruit)

potential patients, the ads ask questions like:

" ... Are you distracted by activity or noise around you? How

often do you feel restless... ? " And my personal favorite: " Do

you have difficulty waiting in line? "

Seriously, who doesn't at times feel distracted and restless?

And who LIKES waiting in lines? Do you go to the bank on a

crowded Friday afternoon and say to yourself: " YES - a huge

line! I can't WAIT - but I guess I'll just have to! " If you do

think this, ADD drugs aren't the ones you need, my friend...

The problem is two-fold. First, I think it's wrong to even

offer direct-to-consumer marketing of drugs of any type - it

just invites people with no medical knowledge or education to

self-diagnose. Second, the " symptoms " sound just like the

universal conditions of modern life - leading people to

mistakenly believe that if they feel perfectly normal

(scattered, impatient, irritable, and restless), they must be

SICK!

But what can we do about it? Marketing is the only

unstoppable force in the universe nowadays...

Bottom line: Don't be tricked by slick sales pitches into believing

the run-of-the-mill stress you're feeling signals a " disorder, " or

that drugs will somehow make you immune to the trying experiences of

everyday life. The antidote for routine annoyances is a healthy perspective

on life -- not an open-ended prescription.

Setting my own standards,

s II, MD

To start receiving your own copy of the Daily Dose, visit:

http://www.realhealthnews.com/dailydose/freecopy.html

Or forward this e-mail to a friend so they can sign-up to

receive their own copy of the Daily Dose.

If you'd like to participate in the Real Health Breakthroughs

Forum, search past e-letters and products or you're a Real

Health Breakthroughs subscriber and would like to search past

articles, visit http://www.realhealthnews.com

_________________________________________________________________

Instant message during games with MSN Messenger 6.0. Download it now FREE!

http://msnmessenger-download.com