Ritalin - The Hidden Effects

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Bolen Report ARCHIVES

 

Ritalin - The Hidden Effects...

 

Article by Independent Investigative Reporter Jon Rappaport

 

Tuesday, May 23rd, 2006

 

(Jon Rappoport has worked as an independent investigative reporter

since 1982. He has published articles on medical issues and politics

for LA Weekly, Spin, CBS Healthwatch, Stern, and many other

newspapers in the US and Europe. His website is

www.nomorefakenews.com. Mr. Rappoport also writes extensively on the

mind-body connection, alternative healing, and the extraordinary use

of imagination to build futures in which oppressive power is

decentralized.)

 

In 1986, The International Journal of the Addictions published a very

important literature review by Richard Scarnati. It was called " An

Outline of Hazardous Side Effects of Ritalin (Methylphenidate) " [v.21

(7), pp. 837-841].

 

Scarnati listed a large number of adverse affects of Ritalin and

cited published journal articles which reported each of these

symptoms.

 

For every one of the following Ritalin effects, there is at least one

confirming source in the medical literature:

 

.. Paranoid delusions

· Paranoid psychosis

· Hypomanic and manic symptoms, amphetamine-like psychosis

· Activation of psychotic symptoms

· Toxic psychosis

· Visual hallucinations

· Auditory hallucinations

· Can surpass LSD in producing bizarre experiences

· Effects pathological thought processes

· Extreme withdrawal

· Terrified affect

· Started screaming

· Aggressiveness

· Insomnia

· Since Ritalin is considered an amphetamine-type drug, expect

amphetamine-like effects

· Psychic dependence

· High-abuse potential DEA Schedule II Drug

· Decreased REM sleep

· When used with antidepressants one may see dangerous reactions

including hypertension, seizures and hypothermia

· Convulsions

· Brain damage may be seen with amphetamine abuse.

 

Many parents around the country have discovered that Ritalin has

become a condition for their children continuing in school. There are

even reports, by parents, of threats from social agencies: " If you

don't allow us to prescribe Ritalin for your ADHD child, we may

decide that you are an unfit parent. We may decide to take your child

away. "

 

This mind-boggling state of affairs is fueled by teachers,

principals, and school counselors, none of whom have medical

training. Yet even if they did…

 

The very existence of the " illnesses " for which Ritalin would be

prescribed is unproven. It is merely assumed.

 

In commenting on Dr. Lawrence Diller's book, Running on Ritalin, Dr.

William Carey, Director of Behavioral Pediatrics, Children's Hospital

of Philadelphia, has written, " Dr. Diller has correctly described...

the disturbing trend of blaming children's social, behavioral, and

academic performance problems entirely on an unproven brain

deficit... "

 

On November 16-18, 1998, the National Institute of Mental Health held

the prestigious " NIH Consensus Development Conference on Diagnosis

and Treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder [ADHD]. "

The conference was explicitly aimed at ending all debate about the

diagnoses of ADD, ADHD, and about the prescription of Ritalin. It was

hoped that at the highest levels of medical research and bureaucracy,

a clear position would be taken: this is what ADHD is, this is where

it comes from, and these are the drugs it should be treated with.

That didn't happen, amazingly. Instead, the official panel

responsible for drawing conclusions from the conference threw cold

water on the whole attempt to reach a comfortable consensus.

 

Panel member Mark Vonnegut, a Massachusetts pediatrician, said, " The

diagnosis [of ADHD] is a mess. "

 

The quite conventional and orthodox panel essentially said it was not

sure ADHD was even a valid diagnosis. In other words, it virtually

admitted that ADD and ADHD might be nothing more than attempts to

categorize certain children's behaviors---with no organic cause, no

clear-cut biological basis, no provable reason for even using the ADD

or ADHD labels.

 

The panel found " no data to indicate that ADHD is due to a brain

malfunction [which malfunction had been the whole psychiatric

assumption]. "

 

The panel found that Ritalin has not been shown to have long-term

benefits. In fact, the panel stated that Ritalin has resulted

in " little improvement on academic achievement or social skills. "

 

Panel chairman, David Kupfer, professor of psychiatry at the

University of Pittsburgh, said, " There is no current validated

diagnostic test [for ADHD]. "

 

Yet at every level of public education in America, there remains what

can only be called a voracious desire to give children Ritalin (or

other similar drugs) for so-called ADD or ADHD.

 

The 1994 Textbook of Psychiatry, published by the American

Psychiatric Press, contains this review (Popper and

Steingard): " Stimulants [such as Ritalin] do not produce lasting

improvements in aggressivity, conduct disorder, criminality,

education achievement, job functioning, marital relationships, or

long-term adjustment. "

 

Parents should also wake up to the fact that, in the aftermath of the

Littleton, Colorado, school-shooting tragedy, pundits and doctors

began urging much more extensive " mental health " services for

children. Whether you have noticed it or not, this no longer means,

for the most part, therapy with a caring professional. It means

drugs. Drugs like Ritalin.

 

In December 1996, the US Drug Enforcement Agency held a conference on

ADHD and Ritalin. Surprisingly, it issued a sensible statement about

drugs being a bad substitute for the presence of caring parents: " [T]

he use of stimulants [such as Ritalin] for the short-term improvement

of behavior and underachievement may be thwarting efforts to address

the children's real issues, both on an individual and societal level.

The lack of long-term positive results with the use of stimulants and

the specter of previous and potential stimulant abuse epidemics, give

cause to worry about the future. The dramatic increase in the use of

methylphenidate [Ritalin] in the 1990s should be viewed as a marker

or warning to society about the problems children are having and how

we view and address them. "

 

In his book, Talking Back to Ritalin, Dr. Peter Breggin expands on

the drug's effects: " Stimulants such as Ritalin and amphetamine...

have grossly harmful impacts on the brain -- reducing overall blood

flow, disturbing glucose metabolism, and possibly causing permanent

shrinkage or atrophy of the brain. "

 

In the American press, although many articles have appeared

covering " the debate " about Ritalin and ADHD, no newspaper or TV

network has taken it upon itself to hammer on all the lies, day after

day, month after month. That kind of campaign could turn around the

whole nation on this vital subject---but of course, pharmaceutical

advertising is a more powerful force.

 

And one should not forget that Ritalin came out of a Swiss drug giant

called Ciba Geigy (now Novartis) fifty years ago. That company once

had very close business ties with the infamous Nazi cartel, IG

Farben. Farben stood for inhuman experiments on human beings. Read

the adverse effects of Ritalin again, and consider that millions of

children take those pills every day.

 

JON RAPPOPORT - http://www.nomorefakenews.com