Disease inventor

Author: (German) J?rg Brehm
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: Do children lack attention because they have ADHD? Do strong men also need "Viagra"? Do women with menopause have to take hormones for treatment? Is bone degeneration in the elderly definitely osteoporosis? The modern healthcare industry is selling our health! To what extent has the process of medicalizing life progressed? What significant impact has it had on our society, our healthcare system, and each of us? Few people have discussed this issue so far, and it has not sparked any controversy. This book will change that. It will discuss the rules of selling health and how we can protect our health from being sold. "The Disease Inventors" is both interesting and meaningful. The author looks at medicine from an alternative perspective, especially in the era of rapid corporatization, commercialization, and secularization of medicine, where some improper practices have distorted the true meaning of medicine. This book uses a different way of thinking to critique medicine, with the power to awaken the public, but it also has some minor biases. To prevent this sufficiently disruptive book from misleading the public, the author has agreed to write a preface to present alternative views.
Children addicted to medication
Kaspar Meckel, the drug issues specialist for the German federal government, felt uncomfortable whenever she mentioned methylphenidate. She was surprised by the doubling annual usage of the drug and launched an investigation. In 2000, the prescribing rates of methylphenidate varied greatly across German states, which was highly unusual: Bremen and Hamburg prescribed the drug far more frequently than North Rhine-Westphalia and Saxony. Some doctors without relevant professional backgrounds often prescribed psychotropic drugs to children. Meckel collected and analyzed prescriptions from 200 so-called specialized pharmacies, finding that one-third of the prescriptions did not come from pediatricians or child psychiatrists, but from laboratory doctors, radiologists, otolaryngologists, gynecologists, and even dentists. In one case, a prescription was even issued by a dentist. Based on this, Meckel concluded: "Not all diagnoses for methylphenidate are flawless." Meckel was not the only one with such doubts. An increasing number of doctors and therapists have stepped forward to criticize the rapidly expanding prescribing situation. Experts like Reuel from Berlin Charité Hospital and Ficken from Hamburg North Hospital have repeatedly found cases of children being misdiagnosed and prescribed methylphenidate.
While some children show clear evidence of attention disorders, only one-third of them meet the criteria for medication. The daily medication of children thus forms blindly, yet the condition they are supposed to combat remains vague. The heavy label of "ADHD child" is often based on a doctor's subjective impression; certain criteria for diagnosing ADHD behaviors can also be found in most healthy children, such as frequently struggling to focus on listening to others, doing homework, or organizing activities, and answering questions impulsively. Are these symptoms? Or are they just behaviors that annoy (certain) adults? Doctors themselves are often confused, leading them to frequently misuse controversial diagnostic tools. Even supporters of ADHD estimate that one-third of children diagnosed with the condition are victims of the diagnostic model.
Comparing countries, it is also evident how casually the ADHD label is applied to children. Research shows that 5.8% of Brazilian children have ADHD, 7.1% of Finnish children, and 14.9% of children in the UAE suffer from attention deficit. How can such differences exist? Who knows! Even half of the children in the U.S. prescribed methylphenidate do not meet the diagnostic criteria for ADHD according to the guidelines of the ADHD Foundation (standardized judgment forms). The U.S. leads the world in the number of ADHD patients, consuming 80% of the global methylphenidate. In the U.S., ADHD is as much a part of daily life as McDonald's and Burger King: about 5 million children are believed to have ADHD. Schools receive $400 annually for each affected child to compensate for potential disruptions caused by them. In 1999, a court even ruled that a couple must medicate their 7-year-old son.
CellTech, the manufacturer of methylphenidate drugs, uses hopeful messaging in its advertisements: "Just one dose, and ADHD children can stay focused all day in class." Currently, the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health even funds a clinical study for children, located in a kindergarten.