Understanding the Social Issues of ADHD in Children— ADHD Medication, Symptoms and Solutions
There is more to understanding and treating ADHD in children than a mysterious chemical imbalance with subsequent drug treatment in an attempt to repress ADHD symptoms. The book Rethinking ADHD: Integrated Approaches to Helping Children at Home and at School is one of the few books that highlights the social factors that contribute to the causes of ADHD and the implied non-chemical approaches theorized and recommended by experts in treating children with ADHD. The book is a careful, well-researched treatise on understanding why so many millions of children in the U.S. and throughout the world are being diagnosed with ADHD, and how and why use of drug treatments for ADHD in children has skyrocketed over the past decades, both in the U.S., Australia, and even in Third World countries.
Rethinking ADHD was written by a team of Australian therapists and researchers who are involved in treating children with ADHD. They have found success in a treatment approach that favors non-drug treatment. Rethinking ADHD fulfills a need in providing mental health professionals, researchers, educators, and parents with insight into the social dynamics that can contribute to ADHD symptoms in children. The benefit of this lies in getting to the roots of the problem rather than simply providing what has been described as a “chemical band-aid” to mask or “control” symptoms. Psychiatric drugs are often used as a controversial means of “behavioral control” and the overmedication of children, or needless medication of children is of much concern to both educators, especially those in the public schools, and of course to parents.
Overcoming symptoms of attention deficit through behavioral therapy and/or behavioral modification is backed by an evaluation of the mental health status of children with ADHD in England and Australia over recent years. This book succeeds in being one of the most insightful volumes today into the causes of ADHD in children, along with insight into the social issues that contribute to it. Child abuse can be one social factor that contributes to ADHD-like symptoms, and treating child abuse-related psychological issues is never as simple as prescribing a stimulant, which can often do more harm than good.
Social Structure, Parenting, and Emotional Health –Why Overreliance on ADHD Medication
Rethinking ADHD links social structure, parenting and family life of a child with emotional and mental health, and has a bearing on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and the symptoms related to it. Overreliance on medication is partly the result the convenience of drug treatment, and the economic interests of health care providers, insurance corporations, and of course Big Pharm. Many children benefit from some form of psychotherapy treatment, which gets closer to the heart of the issues causing ADHD in a subset of children manifesting the typical symptoms of the disorder. The book achieves a balanced, well-researched, largely non-emotional, somewhat neutral and objective assessment of the issues involved.
Other books providing insight into ADHD in children, Causes and Solutions
Two other books that provide insight into understanding ADHD are the books What Causes ADHD: Understanding What Goes Wrong and Why, by Joel Nigg, Ph.D. of Michigan State University, and the book, ADD & ADHD Answer Book: Professional Answers to 275 of the Top Questions Parents Ask, by Susan Ashley, another valuable and insightful work, with practical advice and an honest look at the issues involved with the treatment and prevention of ADHD. Ashley is a noted author and a practicing U.S. clinical psychologist.
Rethinking ADHD: Integrated Approaches to Helping Children at Home and at School proves to be a promising reference. It goes beyond the surface and is of benefit to anyone researching the subject of ADHD in children and ADHD medication. It is also a valuable reference for therapists, educators and parents in understanding the multi-faceted needs of developing children—even children without a diagnosable disorder—in today’s complex society.
Please see
Overcoming ADHD Without Medication:
A Guidebook for Parents and Teachers, by the AYCNP, for a list of valuable resources on the subject of ADHD in children, ADHD medication side effects and safe non-pharmaceutical treatment of ADHD.
