- http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/15/health/the-selling-of-attention-deficit-disorder.html
- https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aufmerksamkeitsdefizit-/Hyperaktivitätsstörung = ADHS (in German)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attention_deficit_hyperactivity_disorder
- …
… Behind that growth has been drug company marketing that has stretched the image of classic A.D.H.D. to include relatively normal behavior like carelessness and impatience, and has often overstated the pills’ benefits. …
… A medical education video sponsored by Shire portrays a physician making a diagnosis of the disorder in an adult in a six-minute conversation, after which the doctor recommends medication. …
… The American Psychiatric Association, which receives significant financing from drug companies, has gradually loosened the official criteria for the disorder to include common childhood behavior like “makes careless mistakes” or “often has difficulty waiting his or her turn.” …
… Few dispute that classic A.D.H.D., historically estimated to affect 5 percent of children, is a legitimate disability that impedes success at school, work and personal life. Medication often assuages the severe impulsiveness and inability to concentrate, allowing a person’s underlying drive and intelligence to emerge. …
… A magazine ad for Concerta had a grateful mother saying, “Better test scores at school, more chores done at home, an independence I try to encourage, a smile I can always count on.” A 2009 ad for Intuniv, Shire’s nonstimulant treatment for A.D.H.D., showed a child in a monster suit taking off his hairy mask to reveal his adorable smiling self. “There’s a great kid in there,” the text read.
“There’s no way in God’s green earth we would ever promote” a controlled substance like Adderall directly to consumers, Mr. Griggs said as he was shown several advertisements. “You’re talking about a product that’s having a major impact on brain chemistry. Parents are very susceptible to this type of stuff.”
The Food and Drug Administration has repeatedly instructed drug companies to withdraw such ads for being false and misleading, or exaggerating the effects of the medication. Many studies, often sponsored by pharmaceutical companies, have determined that untreated A.D.H.D. was associated with later-life problems. But no science determined that stimulant treatment has the overarching benefits suggested in those ads, the F.D.A. has pointed out in numerous warning letters to manufacturers since 2000.Shire agreed last February to pay $57.5 million in fines to resolve allegations of improper sales and advertising of several drugs, including Vyvanse, Adderall XR and Daytrana, a patch that delivers stimulant medication through the skin. Mr. Casola of Shire declined to comment on the settlement because it was not fully resolved. …
The idea of unleashing children’s potential is attractive to teachers and school administrators, who can be lured by A.D.H.D. drugs’ ability to subdue some of their most rambunctious and underachieving students. Some have provided parents with pamphlets to explain the disorder and the promise of stimulants. …
I had gotten pointed to this article, because I had mentioned “somebody’s disposition” (let’s call “somebody” simply “G”!). So what do I think about the article? (I am asked for feedback.)
I personally always doubted G’s disposition for A.D.H.D. – I actually always assigned the responsibility for his rampant behaviour to his “near anti-authoritarian hippie ancestry” (i.e. his mother). G’s parents never got advised by school or childcare staff or his paediatricians to treat him with drugs. There was only one pupils’ parents party, when one classmate’s mother (an auxiliary pharmacist by profession) somehow complained about G’s behaviour towards her son and other classmates and somehow urgently asked G’s parents to let him enjoy beneficial drugs.
Reading this article I understand there are well some 5 % kids with A.D.H.D., but the health industry is interested in selling their goods to far more than those 5 %. The health industry got fined by the FDA, but that doesn’t disturb the running business at all. (So far for tonight.)
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