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What are we doing to our kids? A recent NPR story does a thorough job of laying out how drugs are now given to kids that are not behaving as we wish.

Since the mid-1990s, the number of children diagnosed with bipolar disorder has increased a staggering 4,000 percent.

Yes, I do have a charge about the proliferation of drugs to treat children. May be it is because if I was a child today I would be given these drugs. When I was growing up in the 60’s I had many of the symptoms these kids have. Yet I was fortunate – there was no diagnosis or drugs for my problems.

My parents being good parents did what they could; they took me to speech, reading any other specialist that could help. I don’t recall any helping. I do recall feeling the love and support from my parents. There is a good chance today they would be taking me to a psychologist for elaborate tests to evaluate what would be the best drug. As the above story points out, we have gone beyond Ritalin – now the drugs of choice are anti-depressants hyper kids.

Healing ADHD

I cured my severe Asperger’s Syndrome, dyslexia and ADHD through natural means when I was a young adult. If I could do it as an adult and I have seen many children do it when their parents focused on removing the stress from their kids, others can do it.

I had an 11-year-old boy this week for a client. The day after his first session his mother reported the child was markedly better. It is that simple for most of these kids – just release the tension and their body does rest.

For a better sense of how something this simple is possible, I encourage you to read some of the other posts on this blog.

Please, let’s take our kids off these drugs. I know you want to do the right thing. I know his or her behavior is disruptive. However, there are less toxic, safer and more effective solutions. Drugs at best suppress, they don’t heal.

Further Reading:

1. The Truth about ADHD and Its Drugs
2. Finding a New Solution to Depression and ADHD
3. The Power of Breath – Media’s New Find

The New York Times Sunday Magazine recently ran a long article on depression, chronicling what life is like for both children and adults with depression/bi-polar problems. Essentially, the primary treatment for anyone suffering from any of these disorders is drugs. The old ADHD diagnosis is now evolving; now it’s called depression, too, and children suffering from its symptoms are being given psychotropic drugs.

The increased frequency of these problems in our culture demands that we look beyond what pharmaceutical science has to offer. The use of more holistic therapies is not even mentioned in the article. In conventional medicine, diet, trauma, somatic imbalance, environmental and stress variables are not considered as co-causes. It saddens me that we’re not looking at—let alone treating—the causes of these conditions.

But some professionals do get it. In another article in the New York Times, Dr. Ronald Pies, a professor of psychiatry at Tufts and SUNY Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse, comments on the depression diagnosis creating “a bogus epidemic of increasing depression.”

In my practice, I have seen many patients “cure” themselves of depression and ADHD using non-traditional therapies and lifestyle changes. It can be much like getting in shape: at first there is a lot of work and little benefit, but after awhile, the benefits are self-sustaining. The first step is to decide what model of depression you will use to define your condition, from there you can determine your next step.

As a former suffer of Asperger’s Syndrome, dyslexia and ADHD, my healing demonstrates you can go beyond medicating the symptoms to healing the condition(s). Many people will tell you these conditions are not curable, and they’re not—if you use pharmaceutical treatment. But sing bodywork, holistic nutrition, homeopathy, energy work such as acupuncture, and release of emotional trauma and stress, it is certainly possible to be “cured” of depression, bipolar disorder or ADHD.

Further Reading:

1. The Truth about ADHD and Its Drugs
2. Is Stress Real, Is Fibromyalgia Real?
3. They Lied to Us… Prozac Doesn’t Work

ADHD has become a veritable plague on our children. Some attribute the rise in the incidence of this condition to us simply being more aware of what always existed. Mike Adams contends that the cause of ADHD is diet. Others argue that this syndrome is only a creation of professionals and drug companies. Many are pushing for more testing and pharmaceutical treatment.

On top of all this, the media is telling us children with ADHD have smaller brains. But Mike Adams points out that the study the media is quoting about the “small brain phenomenon” was done on children taking ADHD medication. Further, he references a longitudinal study proving that children on these meds experience stunted growth. All these study results raise more questions than they answer.

I had ADHD as a child, I had it as an adult, and I’ve had dozens of children and adult clients with it, so I speak from personal experience. To address this issue, to get at the root cause, I believe the first thing we need to do is step back from all the hype. Let’s take a hard look at the culture our children are growing up in. The expectations, constant stimulation and projections from their parents continue to increase. Our children are simply stressed out.

What cured me of my ADHD was dealing with my stress – my old, stored stress – and learning not to reproduce it. I have found that, for most children and adults suffering from ADHD, their way of dealing with stress produces the ADHD responses.

A growing number of studies demonstrate that Mindfulness practices reduce ADHD symptoms. In one study, 78% of participants reported a reduction in total ADHD symptoms when using Mindfulness techniques.

We need to teach our children—and ourselves—to experience stress in a healthy manner. We all need to learn to accept its present effect on us, then release the stress or tension in the present moment. With this conscious response to it, stress does not build. The released stress does not find another means of expression, such as ADHD behavior.

ADHD is only one manifestation of the effects of constant stress; we are seeing more incidences of everything from childhood obesity to violence. Repressing the symptoms of ADHD with a time-release amphetamine is not dealing with the cause. When we finally deal with that root cause—the stressful environment our children live in—our children will be calmer, healthier and blissfully unmedicated.

Further Reading:

1. Say No to Anti-depressants drugs for Children
2. Finding a New Solution to Depression and ADHD
3. Mental Catch-and-Release of Emotions