Frank Granett clarified to Lon Woodbury, talk show host for the Struggling Teenager's regular L.A. Talk Radio program, that the major factors why ADHD and depression have actually become an epidemic in this country are because of negative environments, poor nutrition, and physiological predispositions. He thinks that one causative factor behind this preponderance of neurotic kids is that we are overmedicating our youth.
About Frank Granett
Frank Granett is a Board Certified Pharmacist with over 25 years of consultative pharmacy experience, specializing in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and psychiatric medications. In his book "Over Medicating Our Youth: The Public Awareness Guide for A.D.D. and Psychiatric Medications", he outlines how careless prescriptions are creating harmful long-term effects on 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 how ADHD appears to have now reached an epidemic proportion. In the last five years alone, 12 million young people in the U.S.A. have been diagnosed as having ADHD. This is three times the rest of the children in the world. However, this high number may be due to the way ADHD is diagnosed, which is based on behavioral assessments rather than looking at biological causative factors. The result of this type of quick assessment is that we are over medicating our youth.
The response to this "epidemic" of ADHD has been overmedication, with millions of children being put on antianxiety, antidepressant, and antipsychotic drugs. Even those as young as 4 years are being put on these drugs. In addition, this overmedication has developed another troubling statistic: the number two cause of university student is suicide.
Granett talked about just how the problem has increased over the past 40 years, when ADHD was first diagnosed. His study has led him to conclude that poor nutrition, along with the rash, shallow analysis and diagnostic procedure are the chief reasons behind the epidemic. He discussed in great depth about the most effective method for informing parents, teachers, and therapists about the real facts behind ADHD. He also recommended measures like boosting a child's nourishment, suggesting the use of enzymes to improve digestion. He also suggested decreasing sugar and simple carbohydrates because it could induce hypoglycemia, which in turn caused behavioral problems arising from an increase in adrenalin.
Granett also explained the role CAOOY, an organization he founded which provides physicians, parents, and educators the knowledge they need to make informed decisions regarding the use of stimulant and psychiatric medications in children, and will unite parents, educators, and physicians to lead this reform.
Final Thoughts
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 Frank Granett
Frank Granett is a Board Certified Pharmacist with over 25 years of consultative pharmacy experience, specializing in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and psychiatric medications. In his book "Over Medicating Our Youth: The Public Awareness Guide for A.D.D. and Psychiatric Medications", he outlines how careless prescriptions are creating harmful long-term effects on 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 how ADHD appears to have now reached an epidemic proportion. In the last five years alone, 12 million young people in the U.S.A. have been diagnosed as having ADHD. This is three times the rest of the children in the world. However, this high number may be due to the way ADHD is diagnosed, which is based on behavioral assessments rather than looking at biological causative factors. The result of this type of quick assessment is that we are over medicating our youth.
The response to this "epidemic" of ADHD has been overmedication, with millions of children being put on antianxiety, antidepressant, and antipsychotic drugs. Even those as young as 4 years are being put on these drugs. In addition, this overmedication has developed another troubling statistic: the number two cause of university student is suicide.
Granett talked about just how the problem has increased over the past 40 years, when ADHD was first diagnosed. His study has led him to conclude that poor nutrition, along with the rash, shallow analysis and diagnostic procedure are the chief reasons behind the epidemic. He discussed in great depth about the most effective method for informing parents, teachers, and therapists about the real facts behind ADHD. He also recommended measures like boosting a child's nourishment, suggesting the use of enzymes to improve digestion. He also suggested decreasing sugar and simple carbohydrates because it could induce hypoglycemia, which in turn caused behavioral problems arising from an increase in adrenalin.
Granett also explained the role CAOOY, an organization he founded which provides physicians, parents, and educators the knowledge they need to make informed decisions regarding the use of stimulant and psychiatric medications in children, and will unite parents, educators, and physicians to lead this reform.
Final Thoughts
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:
Lon Woodbury, the founder of Struggling Teens, has recorded the entire interview on his weekly L.A. Talk Radio show for people to listen to at their convenience.
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