You should understand that the biggest health care fraud in history has been and is the representation by psychiatry and most in medicine (Am. Psychiatric Assn, Am Acad. of Child Adol Psychiatry, American Acad of Neurol, Amer Acad of Pediatrics, AA Family Practice, and others) that all emotional and behavioral problems are diseases (having, as they must, microscopic or chemical abnormalities) so they can justify the coercive use of drugs as treatment. See the attached to understand the fraud and its perpetrators, including the APA, AAP, AACAP, those who now want mandatory, nationwide psych testing by which to label ever greater numbers of our children psychiatrically diseased, disordered, chemically imbalanced, when all of them in fact are entirely normal until drugged. Yes I am saying each of these groups is a perpetrator of a fraud. In 2003, Dr. William Carey of the U. of PA testified to Congress that 17% of US schoolchildren were on one or more psychiatric drugs. From 1990-2000, 186 deaths due to methylphenidate-Ritalin were reported to the FDA MedWatch program, a figure thought to represent no more than one percent of the actual number.
Not only are the parents/families of the nation lied to and told such things as "depression," anxiety, ADHD, bipolar disorder, etc. are diseases, they are told that if they do not go along with such diagnosis and drug treatment they are "medically negligent" and stand to lose custody of their child/children. You should not be endorsing "teen screen" you should be scared to death of it and all that it implies.
Sincerely,
Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD
See the attached and appended supporting documents:
This published after Perrin and Stein of the guidelines committee re adhd diagnosis had suggested it not be published. I wrote to leaned on Editor, Lucey. Fred
Re: Clinical Practice Guideline: Diagnosis and Evaluation of the Child with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactiviity Disorder. Committee on Quality Improvement, Subcommittee on Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. PEDIATRICS. 2000;105:1158-
To the Editor,
Clinical Practice Guideline opens: "Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder is the most common neurobehavioral disorder of childhood." "Neurobehavioral," implies an abnormality of the brain; a disease. And yet, no confirmatory, diagnostic, abnormality has been found.
With six million children said to have it, most of them on addictive, dangerous, stimulants, ambiguity as to the scientific status of ADHD is not acceptable.
Goodwin [1], acknowledged the: '...narrow definition of disease that requires the presence of a biological abnormality.'
Carey [2] testified at the 1998, Consensus Conference (CC): " ...What is now most often described as ADHD in the United States appears to be a set of normal behavioral variations... This discrepancy leaves the validity of the construct in doubt..."
The CC Panel [3] concluded: "...we do not have an independent, valid test for ADHD, and there are no data to indicate that ADHD is due to a brain malfunction." *
More recently, Castellanos [4], confessed: "Incontrovertible evidence is still lacking!"
Where has the notion come from that it is a disease?
Carey [2] observed: "ADHD behaviors are assumed to be largely or entirely due to abnormal brain function." The DSM-IV does not say so, but textbooks and journals do."
If not science, what are textbooks and journals to purvey?
Later in the conference, Carey [3] issued the plea: " ... we see...that the causes of these behaviors called ADHD are entirely speculative. And yet... parents and children are being told that these behaviors are due to a brain malfunction. Can you not please strengthen the statement to discourage practitioners from making this statement when there is not adequate proof to support that at this time?"
Pearlman [5], wrote: "I take issue with...Pincus' (DSM-IV Task Force) assertion that the elimination of the term 'organic' in DSM-IV has served a useful purpose for psychiatry...elimination of the term 'organic' conveys the impression that psychiatry wishes to conceal the nonorganic character of many behavioral problems that were, in previous DSM publications, clearly differentiated from known central nervous system diseases."
It is apparent that virtually all professionals of the extended ADHD 'industry' convey to parents, and to the public-at-large, that ADHD is a 'disease' and that children said to have it are 'diseased'-'abnormal.' This is a perversion of the scientific record and a violation of the informed consent rights of all patients and of the public-at-large.
The wording of the AAP Guideline should be changed, forthwith, to reflect the scientific and medical facts of the matter.
Sincerely,
Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD
Fellow, American Academy of Neurology (board certified, N, CN)
1303 Hidden Mountain Drive
El Cajon, CA 92019
fred-alden@worldnet.att.net
fax 619 442 1932
References
* This wording appeared in the version of the final statement of the CC Panel distributed at the press conference, the final part of the CC, November, 18, 1998. This wording, which appeared for an indeterminate time on the NIH web site, was subsequently removed and replaced with wording claiming 'validity' for ADHD.