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Moves 1 & 2: A Conflicting Perspective

Dr. David B. Stein's Ritalin is Not the Answer: A Drug-Free, Practical Program for Children Diagnosed with ADD or ADHD supports many of the incorrect and misguided assumptions about ADHD that I hope to correct through my research. Dr. Stein had bad experiences when his sons were misdiagnosed with ADHD and suffered from side effects when put on Ritalin. Unfortunately, Stein has allowed his personal bias to lead him to the conclusion that ADHD is not real and does not require medical treatment in addition to disseminating inaccurate information in the form of opinions about the disorder.

Dr. Stein vs. Reality

ADHD is not real.

ADHD is real.

  • ADHD "is not a disease but a problem of poor thinking patterns and lack of motivation.”*

  • Doesn't everybody experience instances in which they can not think well or are unmotivated?

  • “I [David B Stein] deeply believe that nothing medical causes children to not pay attention and to misbehave. They simply do not pay attention and they do misbehave.”*

  • Where is your evidence? All children misbehave and experience attention issues at one time or another. Is there not a difference between these examples?

*David B. Stein, Ritalin is Not the Answer: A Drug-Free, Practical Program for Children Diagnosed with ADD or ADHD, (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1999), 22.

**Holland, Kimberly. "The History of ADHD: A Timeline." The History of ADHD: A Timeline. 1 Jan. 2005. Accessed 22 Sept. 2014.

***David B. Stein, Ritalin is Not the Answer: A Drug-Free, Practical Program for Children Diagnosed with ADD or ADHD, (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1999), 24.

****David B. Stein, Ritalin is Not the Answer: A Drug-Free, Practical Program for Children Diagnosed with ADD or ADHD, (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1999), 27.

  • “If a systemic disease runs in families, that means it is genetic but cannot increase in the percentage of diagnosed cases in succeeding generations. A systemic disease remains fairly stable from one generation to the next or may increase only slightly. But it cannot increase between 400 and 500 percent in ten years, as has the occurrence of ADD and ADHD. Nongenetic systemic diseases also cannot increase unless there is a dramatic, toxic change in the environment, like massive radiation.”*

  • Remember, ADHD was not formally recognized as a mental disorder until the 1960s.** As such, it would be expected that diagnoses have increased over the years. Even after being recognized as a disorder, much research needed to be done to learn more about ADHD and few individuals were tested or treated for the disorder for many years after its recognition. ADHD has become more commonly diagnosed due to increased knowledge, not because it is not real or not related to genetics.

Medication can not be used to treat ADHD.

Medication can treat ADHD very effectively.

  • “The amphetamines only camouflage the problem.”***

  • “Disorders can be treated behaviorally, without the need for medication.”***

  • True, but medications are meant to treat the symptoms, not cure the disorder.

  • While this statement is true, it does not follow that medication can't be useful.

  • “Differences [seen in medicated individuals] could not only be the result of environment but also from long periods of being on Ritalin, or related drugs, or even the result of the constant, self-induced state of agitation ADHD children keep themselves in.”***

  • Dr. Stein is apparently unaware of the massive amount of research that has shown how medication can effectively treat ADHD symptoms. Furthermore, anybody with ADHD should be insulted by the suggestion that children with ADHD impose agitation upon themselves.

  • "In the Federal Government Control Act of 1988, Ritalin is classified in Schedule II, the same category as cocaine, opium, and morphine. This indicates that it has a high potential risk for abuse and addiction.”****

  • Clearly Dr. Stein can not understand that the potential for medications to be addictive says nothing about the uses of such drugs in treating something. Beyond this, many medications are potentially addictive.

Read more of these moves here:

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