ADHD: SSRI anti-depressants for aspergers, ADD, autism

The rise and fall of the wonder-drugs

New Scientist vol 183 issue 2454 - 03 July 2004, page 36 ADHD

There is a crisis of confidence in many psychiatric drugs. In the first of a two-part series about mind medicines, James Kingsland looks at the Prozac class of antidepressants. Once thought to make you feel 'better than normal', now there are fears that they might raise the risk of suicide, and some even question how well they work to treat depression

IT IS the most widely used antidepressant in history, boasts the website for the blockbuster drug Prozac. Beneath a picture of a smiling model is the beguiling claim: "Chances are, someone you know is getting better because of it."

Pharmaceutical companies tout antidepressants like Prozac as wonder drugs that can make the world a happier place. They claim that this class of medicines - known as SSRIs - are a safe and effective treatment for depression, a devastating illness that affects about 1 in 10 people at any one time. Some doctors have even advocated that people without depression should start popping the pills too, to feel "better than normal".

Over the past decade, however, this story of medicine's triumph over depression has started to look increasingly suspect. Reports have emerged that SSRIs make some patients agitated, and that a few even became violent or suicidal. In the past 12 months major journals have published papers questioning the drugs' safety and effectiveness. In December, the UK banned six SSRIs - although not Prozac - from use in under-18s (unless patients had already started taking them and were doing well). Other countries may follow suit.

There is a highly effective treatment alternative to drugs.

For over 35 years I have worked with ADHD children and their families. Having been an ADHD child myself, I have a personal interest in this area.

Current explanations of the disorder never fit my experience or the children I saw. It always seemed contradictory that children who could not attend to school work could play computer games for hours, though both activities use the same areas of the brain. This stimulated years of research and rethinking of ADHD theory and treatment. From this I developed my new (patented) and highly effective, drug free, Computer Aided Emotional Restructuring (CAER) treatment and wrote my books, ADHD: Drug-free and Doin' Fine and ADHD: A Path to Success to explain it. Learn how ADHD is not a defect, deficit or a disorder, but a highly skilled short-term defense mechanism that backfires in the long-run. Read more than 40 Amazon.com “customer reviews” of my book and treatment. The most typical response when people read the book is “That makes so much more sense than anything else I have read”, “You describe my child exactly”.

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