Medicating children

[kelley]

from _Welcome to the Jungle_ Geoffrey T. Holz
"By the mid-seventies, a new "epidemic" had sprung up and was sweeping the 
country.  ...  it purportedly affected as many as 40% of all children in 
the US.  The "disease" was MBD, minimal brain dysfunction.  It was the 
supposed biological basis for a vast assortment of disorders that were 
classified at the time by the general term, "learning disabilities."  MBD's 
victims were, according to the 1966 report issued by a task force organized 
by the Public Health Service, "children of near average, average, or above 
average general intelligence with certain learning or behavioral 
disabilities ranging from mild to severe."  With this sort of nebulous 
langugage typifying the way the "disease" was discussed, the task force 
went on to identify ninety-nine symptoms to assist doctors and teachers in 
detecting this disorder.  These symptoms included both hyperactivity and 
hypoactivity, as well as other indications as varied as being "sweet and 
even-tempered, cooperative and friendly"; "easy acceptance of others 
alternating with withdrawal and shyness"; being "overly gullible and easily 
led";  being "socially bold and aggressive"; and having "excessive need to 
touch, cling and hold on to others."

The so-called epidemic spread quickly.  A 1971 Department of Heath, 
Education and Welfare report speculated that 3% of the school age 
population suffered from hyperactivity, the most common MBD diagnosis.  By 
1974, the numbers had already risen to an estimated 15%.

<...>
Ciba Geigy's Ritalin had become a veritable cash cow for the 
company.  150,000 childre were put on Ritalin in 1970 alone.  The number 
climbed to half a million by 974, then to 1.8 million by 1977, and Robert 
Brewin estimates that perhaps between 3 and 4 million children were treated 
for MBD in the 70s (MBD=minimal brain disfunction)

The growing popularity of these drugs can be partly attributed to 
aggressive promotional campaigns by Ciba-Geigy and other pharmaceutical 
companies.  Ciba actively promoted Ritalin, not only to physicians, but to 
educators, PTAs and the media.  (insert in here all those lovely ads for 
flu cures and hay fever remedies which i've heard are a crock).  They 
distributed a flyer called, "The MBD child:  A Guide for Parents," as well 
as a 96 page "Physician's Handbook:  Screening for MBD"  Their descriptions 
of MBDs symptoms were as vague and all-encompassing as those of the Public 
Health Service Task force and Ritalin always held the cure.  Not only was 
it the answer for classroom disorder, it was a virtual panacea and the 
National Easter Seal Society heralded the benefits of chemical therapy, 
claiming these drugs "can turn a non-achieving, hyperactive child into an 
interested, alert, co-operative student within twenty minutes!"

To make the learning-disability diagnosis more palatable, stories were 
circulated int eh mainstream media that romanticized MBD. In magazines from 
Psychology Today and People, in television specials on LD and in 
advertisements, LD was designated "the affliction of 
geniuses."  Self-titled experts onthe topic "proved" that great men such as 
Einstein and Edison had suffered from the disease.  The diagnosis was 
marketed as a twisted sort of status symbol.

<...>
James Bosco, a professor of education at Western Michigan University, 
speculated in a 1974 paper entitled, "Teaching with Drugs," on the "awesome 
potential" for using chemical treatments to teach and aid learning. 
<...>  He foresaw teacher-healers handing out pills to students for 
everything from problems with paying attention to difficulties learning 
math and would no longer have actually teach these things."

kelley

Kelley Walker, Researcher/Writer
Interpact, Inc. www.interpactinc.com

Internet and Computer Ethics for Kids
Excertps available at:
http://www.nicekids.net/book/excerpts/index.htm