Tonight’s “Panorama†programme discloses that thousands of British children with “behavioural problems†are being prescribed anti-psychotic drugs with dangerous side effects.
The powerful tranquillisers, designed to treat psychosis and schizophrenia in adults, are often being used to calm children who are simply “hyperactive”.
The situation is even worse in the States (and it will get worse here too, soon). Even since ADHD was determined by the APA to be a mental illness, the drugs companies have had a field day. And the UK is their next growth market.
If you answer “yes” to any six of the following criteria – congratulations! You’ve officially got ADHD, and should be medicated:
- Not paying attention in school
- Not listening when spoken to directly
- Failing to follow directions
- Losing things
- Being easily distracted and forgetful
- Fidgeting with hands or feet
- Talking excessively
- Blurting out answers
- Having difficulty awaiting turn.
What many people are missing is that these “symptoms” (they sound pretty damn subjective to me) are mainly male-focused. Boys are naturally boisterous. They have a low tolerance for boredom. They want to jump up and down and shout “Me! I’ve got the answer!”
Treating boyhood as a mental illness is certainly a new take on the total-control society, where everyone’s behaviour is mediated in one form or another. Won’t someone please stand up and say this isn’t just madness – it’s arrant, sexist madness.
