ADHD

Blog #4 ADHD

                The “DSM” is a vital tool used among most physicians in the United States for diagnosing people with mental health disorders and complications. Today’s focus is on ADD and ADHD. What are these disorders? According to Katherine Harmon, ADHD stand for “Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder” (Harmon). ADD is a slightly different form of ADHD, where it primarily affects a person’s ability to learn. What is particularly interesting about both of these illnesses is that there have been a rising number of people being diagnosed with ADD or ADHD.

                Children are the one specific group that is most often diagnosed with ADD and ADHD. Some argue that there is nothing wrong with our children they are simply being children. I would have to agree; when you are a kid you naturally have an abundance of energy. Some studies even search to find the real answer to the ADD/ADHD over diagnosis epidemic. According to the “Journal of Health Economics, found that students whose birthdays fell just before their school’s age enrollment cutoff date—and thus were among the youngest in their class—had a substantially higher rate of ADHD diagnoses than students who were born just a day or two later and were the oldest in the grade below” (Harmon). Maturity seems to be one driving force to diagnosing children with ADD or ADHD. This maturity factor is one of main assumptions we have on a person diagnosed with ADD of ADHD. In society it is not positive thing to be diagnosed with anything. However, it is also looked at positively if a person chooses to take medicine to fix their mental disorder.

                What really needs to be analyzed is the actual diagnosis located in the DSM. The diagnosis for ADHD includes “Hyperactivity, Fidgeting, Inattention, and Impulsivity. If your child has one or more of these qualities on a regular basis, you may be told that he or she has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder” (Staff). Maybe the problem to this whole matter is how broad the actual definition of ADD and ADHD are. Simple solutions could be found elsewhere than through the use of pharmaceutical drugs. I personally believe exercise can burn all the energy you have. Drugs should not be the go to solution to fixing mental illness. According to “a recent opinion piece in the New York Times by psychology professor L. Alan Sroufe argues at great length that attention-deficit drugs do more harm than good over the long term, a conclusion other professionals in his field dispute” (Willingham). With the health community clearly on the side of the pharmaceutical industry the battle of who is right will continue.

The beneficiaries of diagnosing children with ADD and ADHD are the pharmaceutical industry and parents. Parents earn the satisfaction of controlling their children’s natural abundance of energy. Parents gain the ability to control their uncontrollable children. While the pharmaceutical companies keep their wallets fat with monthly refills. The person who really loses out is the child incorrectly diagnosed.

Work Cited

Harmon, Katherine. "Are some ADHD-labeled kids just young for their grade?." Scientific American. n. page. Web. 25 Mar. 2012. <http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2010/08/17/are-some-adhd-labeled-kids-just-young-for-their-grade/>.

Staff, NPR. "Study: Diet May Help ADHD Kids More Than Drugs." NPR. n. page. Web. 25 Mar. 2012. <http://www.npr.org/2011/03/12/134456594/study-diet-may-help-adhd-kids-more-than-drugs?sc=fb&cc=fp>.

WillingHam, Emily. "Guest Blog Guest Blog [RSS feeds for Guest Blog] Commentary invited by editors of Scientific American Guest Blog HomeAboutContact ADHD: Backlash to the Backlash." Scientific American. n. page. Web. 25 Mar. 2012. <http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2012/02/23/adhd-backlash-to-the-backlash/>.

Word Count: 500

Generation RX

Film Review: Generation Rx

            Generation Rx, is a documentary covering the controversial topic of the pharmaceutical industry. Specifically Generation Rx uncovers the secrets of the industry and what information they try to keep from you. Some of the major focal points of the documentary were the over diagnosis of ADHD and the suicidal and violent reactions from Anxiety and depression medication.

The first topic talked about in the documentary was the issue regarding the diagnosis of ADHD. The DSM determines all the mental disorders diagnostics, and is the primary tool for diagnosing people in America. As soon as ADHD was put into the DSM there was a surge of people diagnosed with ADHD. Many physicians speculate on why this is the case. An interesting point made Katherine Harmon suggests a different theory on why so many kids are being diagnosed with ADHD. In her article she  “found that students whose birthdays fell just before their school’s age enrollment cutoff date—and thus were among the youngest in their class—had a substantially higher rate of ADHD diagnoses than students who were born just a day or two later and were the oldest in the grade below” (Harmon). If this were true that would mean that our youth are being tricked into believing they have something wrong with them, when really they are just being diagnosed incorrectly. The tricky thing about diagnosing is that there is never a 100% correct diagnosis. According to Jeremy Minyard, “There are no reliable biological indicators in most cases of autism. Behavioral symptoms vary widely and often overlap with other neurological disorders” (Minyard). This can explain why so many are often lumped into a category of having a mental disorder.  One of the main points from the documentary was that there needs to be better, more accurate diagnoses in the DSM.

Another important portion to the documentary was the dangers with the drugs being prescribed. The battle between kickbacks started a vicious cycle of prescribing patients medication with potentially harmful and suicidal side effects. Some products that induce this behavior include Fluoxeteine also known as Prosac and Zoloft. The problem is that the Pharmaceutical companies are going directly to medical practitioners endorsing their medication. When a certain number of prescriptions are filled a certain amount of kickbacks go directly to the Doctors. I found this documentary very intriguing and eye-opening. This documentary directly relates to the class for many reasons. For one, people diagnosed with a mental disorder often carry their mental illness as their master status. This often is attached with stigmatization from society. These stigmas are often filled with negative connotations regardless of medical knowledge of the illness.

I think in order to improve the ethics of diagnosing patients, there should be laws implementing ethical diagnoses. Theoretically speaking, if “kickbacks” became illegal would there be a drop in prescription medication? I would like to find out if more physicians would choose more effective methods such as Cognitive Behavioral methods that are proven to work. I think if this were to happen less people will be diagnosed with mental disorders and more individuals will live a “normal” life. What I would really like to see is how the DSM diagnosis “normal” and with that description, how many people fall into that category?

Work Cited

Harmon, Katherine. "Are Some ADHD-labeled kids just Young for their Grade?.”

 Scientific American. (2010).

Minyard, Jeremy. "The Autism Information Epidemic." contexts discoveries.

American Sociology Association, 15 11 2010. Web. 11 Mar 2012. <http://contexts.org/discoveries/the-autism-information-epidemic/>.

Film Review: Tough Guys

Film Review: Tough Guys

            Tough Guys is a film describing the way society perceives masculinity. Throughout the film images like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Rock Balboa display this Hegemonic Masculine Hero that men look to as ideal man. Tough Guys although very one sided, backed up all of the arguments with great detail. I personally believe that there are some major flaws on the information and images the media feed society.

            “Tough Guys” emphasized that masculinity is directly related to violence. The film describes that most violent offenders are male. So the film boils down to explaining that there is something wrong with the way masculinity is determined. This misinterpretation society has on masculinity has produced violent behavior among males. It is not only proven to affect adult males but these images are also affecting our youth. A perfect example of how violence is affecting even the youth, take a look at what a few teenagers were capable of in this video. (Paradise Lost).http://youtu.be/Tfj_bVIwyeA

            Like I argue in most of my writings context is everything. I do believe violence is affecting male culture. So the most important question how do we as a society fix it? In order to fix it the first thing that would have to be accomplished is to abolish masculinity as it stands today. If I were to put together a study I would want to know how society would react to such an occurrence. Throughout American history change has constantly occurred. One can argue that the ideals of masculinity are too embedded into our culture. This argument tends to lead to the ideas that masculinity is here to stay just the way it is. On the other side one could argue that culture constantly changes and is receptive to change.

            I personally believe that masculinity is here to stay just the way it is. The truth is Violence and hegemonic hero’s sell. At the end of the day, businesses and corporations are going to market products or ideals that sell because there is just simply more money to be made. Money plays a huge role on the images being presented in culture. Another major flaw is the stigmatization that is put on all males in society. If you do not meet to the standards of masculinity ridicule and stigmatization occur fueling this vicious cycle of masculinity.

“Tough Guys” also describes how masculine men can only be heterosexual. A common word used to describe someone to having very little masculinity is to call that person gay. That alone shows how our culture constructed a heterosexual model of masculinity. This relates to the course because all that do not follow the heterosexual model of masculinity are shamed in society. I hate to bring it up again but the Shaming Theory perfectly describes how the behavior continues. John describes that “communitarian society’s individuals are densely enmeshed in interdependence” (Braithwaite 33). With the pressure of society telling you this is the way it should be it is hard to individuals to step out of the given norm.

Work Cited:

Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills Trailer. 2009. YouTube Web.

4 Mar 2012: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tfj_bVIwyeA&feature=player_embedded>.

Braithwaite, John. Readings in Deviant Behavior. 6th. Boston: Pearson Education Inc.

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