Frank Granett explained to Lon Woodbury, talk show host for the Struggling Teen's weekly L.A. Talk Radio show that the main reasons ADHD and depression symptoms have become an epidemic in this country include Environment, Nutrition, and Physiological causes. He believes that one causative factor behind this epidemic of neurotic children is that we are over medicating our youth.
Frank Granett
Frank Granett is a Board Certified Pharmacologist with over 25 years of consultative pharmacy experience, with an emphasis in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and psychiatric medicines. In his groundbreaking book"Over Medicating Our Youth: The Public Awareness Guide for A.D.D. and Psychiatric Medications," he outlines just how negligent prescriptions are producing unsafe and long-lasting harm to children. He is the founder of the Coalition Against Overmedicating Our Youth (CAOOY).
For What Reason Are We Overmedicating Our Youth?
The guest talked about the reasons why ADHD appears to have reached epidemic proportions. In the last five years alone, 12 million young people in the U.S.A. have actually been diagnosed as having ADHD. This is three times greater than for other children around the world. However, this high number could be due to the way ADHD is identified, which is based upon behavioral assessments instead of looking at organic predispositions. The outcome of this sort of quick analysis is that we are over medicating our youth.
The response to this epidemic" has been overmedication, with millions of children being put on antianxiety, antidepressant, and antipsychotic drugs. Even children as young as three to four years are being put on these drugs. Moreover, this overmedication has created another alarming statistic: the number two cause of death of college students is suicide.
Granett talked about how the conditions for this perfect storm has been created over the past 40 years, when ADHD was first diagnosed. His research has led him to conclude that poor nutrition, as well as the hasty, often superficial diagnostic process. He talked in great depth about the best approach to empowering parents, educators, and counselors about the real causative factors behind ADHD as well as advising on the best alternative measures based on improving children's nutrition, including the use of enzymes and decreasing sugar and simple carbohydrates which cause hypoglycemia and behavior motivated by an upsurge in adrenalin.
In addition, Granett discussed the mission of CAOOY, an organization he started to give doctors, parents, and instructors the know-how they need to make informed decisions about the best medications for kids, and he is inviting parents, educators, and doctors to lead a reform.
Conclusion
The guests disclosed to Lon how important it is to do a bio-assessment prior to providing a prescription. This was preferable to issuing a diagnosis simply based on what was written-up in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. Merely doing an evaluation based on behavioral analysis led to a stupendous rise in premature drug therapy. While prescribing drugs may indeed be a short-term option to arrest visibly disruptive behaviors, research is starting to show overmedicating our youth has unfavorable impacts on their growth and development over the long term.
Frank Granett
Frank Granett is a Board Certified Pharmacologist with over 25 years of consultative pharmacy experience, with an emphasis in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and psychiatric medicines. In his groundbreaking book"Over Medicating Our Youth: The Public Awareness Guide for A.D.D. and Psychiatric Medications," he outlines just how negligent prescriptions are producing unsafe and long-lasting harm to children. He is the founder of the Coalition Against Overmedicating Our Youth (CAOOY).
For What Reason Are We Overmedicating Our Youth?
The guest talked about the reasons why ADHD appears to have reached epidemic proportions. In the last five years alone, 12 million young people in the U.S.A. have actually been diagnosed as having ADHD. This is three times greater than for other children around the world. However, this high number could be due to the way ADHD is identified, which is based upon behavioral assessments instead of looking at organic predispositions. The outcome of this sort of quick analysis is that we are over medicating our youth.
The response to this epidemic" has been overmedication, with millions of children being put on antianxiety, antidepressant, and antipsychotic drugs. Even children as young as three to four years are being put on these drugs. Moreover, this overmedication has created another alarming statistic: the number two cause of death of college students is suicide.
Granett talked about how the conditions for this perfect storm has been created over the past 40 years, when ADHD was first diagnosed. His research has led him to conclude that poor nutrition, as well as the hasty, often superficial diagnostic process. He talked in great depth about the best approach to empowering parents, educators, and counselors about the real causative factors behind ADHD as well as advising on the best alternative measures based on improving children's nutrition, including the use of enzymes and decreasing sugar and simple carbohydrates which cause hypoglycemia and behavior motivated by an upsurge in adrenalin.
In addition, Granett discussed the mission of CAOOY, an organization he started to give doctors, parents, and instructors the know-how they need to make informed decisions about the best medications for kids, and he is inviting parents, educators, and doctors to lead a reform.
Conclusion
The guests disclosed to Lon how important it is to do a bio-assessment prior to providing a prescription. This was preferable to issuing a diagnosis simply based on what was written-up in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. Merely doing an evaluation based on behavioral analysis led to a stupendous rise in premature drug therapy. While prescribing drugs may indeed be a short-term option to arrest visibly disruptive behaviors, research is starting to show overmedicating our youth has unfavorable impacts on their growth and development over the long term.
About the Author:
Learn more about Lon Woodbury on Struggling Teens. He has recorded the entire interview on his weekly L.A. Talk Radio show for people to listen to at any time.
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