Interesting reading the mega-list of drug company disclosures for Biederman, as well as several abstracts in the references that were his and Wilens, that appear to have taken a look at this topic previously. It's a curious piece that's for sure.

Well, that's hardly surprising; there's no traditional history of using SJW for children, nor for ADHD, and I can't think of a scientific rationale for its use either. Do they give any reason for picking that herb? Given how hard it is to get funding for complementary medicine research, it seems a waste of effort to me!

A biological intervention not working for a fake biological disease? No surprises there.

54 kids. 54 kids who've all been saddled with a cross to bear.

It's not even legitimate to study the outcomes of interventions in the bodies of people beleaguered with stigmatizing labels and added psychosocial stress thanks to psychiatry smearing their self confidence. It's in no way legitimate.

The social effect of setting these kids aside from the litter, and preaching otherness to them and alienating them from their formers selves to a point where people will say is that little jimmy talking or is it the adhd talking is the ultimate way to ruin any science applied to these contrived thrown together groups of disparate kids.

Evolving to be looked after for 12 years by a small hunter gather tribe, and living in modern civilization and being forced to go to school with the mass produced indoctrination and shit they teach at school, not to mention the state of education funding and shit like that, it is completely a BRAIN DISEASE to not be able to sit up straight in your chair and be enthralled with a math textbook... my ass!

This world claims to care about kids getting abused. My ass! A pedophile comes in and we all lynch them with one hand, while doping up innocent kids with perfectly formed brains with the other hand.

Give em labels, watch their confidence collapse, watch the self determination collapse, watch the bullying and self doubt begin, and then tinker around with food additives and herbal 'medicine'... how obscene... these kids deserve to grow up unencumbered by this obscenity of a 'science'.

Some kid is going to bomb medical center one of these days... there will be some kind of mental health IRA splinter group. Some kind of liberation army.

Interesting idea in the last post about kids rising up against the pharmas. The Pill Pusher Undergound.

I have dreams about attacking the Eli Lilly Building in Indianapolis. Only dreams, mind you. But with the way the industry is going, soon there will be no people in that building - all the drugs will be made overseas. Cheaper.

This is allopathic use of a natural substance. To use natural medicine the whole body must be looked at and addressed. Throwing one somewhat psychoactive herb at a symptom is no different than any pharmaceutical clinical trial that doesn't get to root causes in the least bit.

Green allopathic medicine is what this is.

And Poe,
I don't think that behavior problems are mental illness or that they are fundamentally a biological problem in the sense that psychiatry does, but there is plenty of evidence that dietary changes do effect behavior in children---hence, yes, some sort of biological basis, but not a mysterious chemical disorder that is genetically based, no.

What we put in our bodies do effect our mental wellbeing. But like I said and I think you are picking up the same thing...using SJW in this fashion is no different than using Ritalin...

I don't get it. Didn't Biederman read Bach's works on Flower Essences and Oils?

St. John's Wort is indicated for depression, not an inability to stay focused or pay attention.

Not to hijack the topic, but as a cure for depression, I found St John's Wort had absolutely no effect whatsoever on years upon years of morbid suicidal depression.

Maybe to help with SAD or post partum or something, maybe. It takes more than a dose of herbs to resurrect the will to live in someone.

Obvious solution is obvious.

Stop looking for a miracle compound that will give kids, teens, adults a laser like attention span motivated solely by the drug high.

Train your mind to focus through self discipline and mental exercises.

It is harder to do but has better, lasting results that do not rely on chems or pharmies.

Oh yea Joe does not give a shit about personal empowerment and good life skills training.

Anyone sucking in Pharma money is not capable of doing unbiased research. It is in his financial and career interests to make more slaves for his masters.

I would take a handful of kids with ADD who had a genuine desire to be more focused. I would teach them tai chi, yoga and chi gung, and than I would pit their attention span against any group of kids on meds and my kids will win.

I have to say, I'm not surprised. I follow the natural treatment/nutritional treatment/alt meds fairly closely, including treating myself and my son with alternative meds, and I've never even heard that St. John's Wort would help ADHD. It's useful for depression.

What I'd really like to see is a clinical study checking into Becalmed or Focus Factor - things parents I know ACTUALLY use for their ADHD kids.

What next, the shocking finding that Chamomile doesn't cure cancer???

Medical Defence Unuion warns GP's about treating depressed patients ..........£3 millions paid out

OnMedica News

GPs warned to take care when treating depressed patients

OnMedica Staff
Wednesday, 11 June 2008

http://www.onmedica.com/NewsArticle.aspx?id=eee511d2-bd99-46ee-9e3f-6488cbd59291

A major indemnity organisation is warning GPs to take care when treating depressed patients.

The Medical Defence Union says it has paid out nearly £3 million in compensation on behalf of GP members to settle 30 claims arising from the treatment of patients with depression during a recent ten-year-period.

In the latest edition of the MDU Journal, Professor Femi Oyebode, consultant psychiatrist and MDU Council member, analysed the main reasons for claims relating to the diagnosis and management of patients with depression (excluding post-natal depression).

“Depression is a relatively common presentation in general practice and in most cases, the care of patients with depression is generally straightforward and without incident. However when something does go wrong, the nature of the condition and the type of medication involved means there is significant potential for an adverse outcome, including the risk that the patient will harm themselves in some way, including a small number of tragic cases where a patient has committed suicide,” said Professor Oyebode.

Examples of cases settled by the MDU include more than £1m paid out to a patient with a history of depression who was left severely brain damaged following an overdose after being prescribed the antimalarial drug mefloquine; over £21,000 paid out to a patient who became addicted to an antidepressant; and a GP who missed a fractured hip in an elderly patient with depression after he visited the doctor following a fall. The patient received over £6,500 in compensation.

Professor Oyebode says there are three main areas of risk when treating depressed patients, these being: problems with medication, failure to diagnose or treat an unrelated condition in a depressed patient and failure to recognise the risk of suicide in a depressed patient.

GPs are advised to take care with prescription drugs with similar names and dosages, particularly those that come in different formulae and strengths. They are urged to be aware of the risk of drug interactions, for example between lithium and diuretics. They are encouraged to keep up-to-date with current guidance, to have a system in place to review patients on long-term medication, and to ensure that patients have been warned about side effects.

In addition, Professor Oyebode says patients who present with depression should be assessed regularly for the risk of suicide

Poe, you said:

"mental health IRA splinter group"

I am not sure you meant for this to be funny but due to my dark sense of humor, I had a good laugh, which I needed due to it being the day from h-ll.

AA

My son was a part of this study 2 years ago. He is ADD primarily inattentive. I never wanted to put him on meds so since this was close by decided to give it a try. Turned out after his study was over, we were informed that he was on placebo. We did see the doctor that was heading the study at her office at the Bastyr Clinic in Seattle afterwards. We tried St. John's Wort then and it still did not help.

To Milehimama, I also tried my son on The Costco version of Focus Factor last year. He started getting extremely paranoid and felt that he was going to die. I had one of his teachers call me very concerned. After thinking about what was going on and trying to get him in to a pdoc, I realized that I would stop the supplement. Within days he was fine.

To Jane, Postpartum depression is just as debilitating as regular old garden variety depression and it can bring you into the same pit of hell. It just has a different root cause. It's great that you feel you could teach kids to focus through martial arts and mental exercise. Most martial arts places want kids that already are focused and disciplined. They don't want to deal with the ADHD kids anymore than anyone else does. My ADD kid is extremely bright and capable...all honors classes...but to get him through a task is exhausting. My ADHD son is all over the place, rolling on the floors goofing around, etc. I have been told for both that different structured programs "are not a good fit" for them. I fought putting my Jr. High son on meds until he was 13. Again, I applaud your thinking and desire to coach these kids, but the reality is there are not many out there who will take the time.