Summary
I've been an outspoken critic of Ritalin for years. It's bad medicine and it's just an example of our nation's willingness to drug up our children instead of focusing on nutrition and the elimination of sugary foods and soft drinks from their diets. Now, new research is showing that rats given Ritalin show signs up mental depression in adulthood.
Maybe that's the plan of Big Pharma -- feed 'em Ritalin today, and you'll have a new customer for antidepressant drugs a few years down the road.
Original source:
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/health/2951386
Details
Pre-adolescent rats given the popular ADHD drug Ritalin are more likely to show signs of depression in adulthood, according to a Harvard study.
The study suggests stimulants, at least in the normally developing brain, can have unsuspected effects in adulthood.
The findings also underscore the importance of an accurate diagnosis for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
William Carlezon, director of McLean Hospital's Behavioral Genetics Laboratory and associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, presented the findings in Puerto Rico at the annual meeting of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology.
Carlezon said that because there are no animal models for ADHD, the young rats in the Harvard study were normal.
"We know that depression occurs more often in adults with ADHD," said Dr. Peter Jensen, director of the Center for the Advancement of Children's Mental Health at Columbia University Medical Center.
"What we don't know is whether it's because the disorder wasn't treated when it should have been, or was treated and the depression is a consequence of treatment, or it's a result of ADHD itself."
The animals were exposed to Ritalin during the same developmental stage as a human between ages 4 and 12.
In adulthood, the animals were given tests to tap the brain circuits thought to trigger ADHD symptoms --- hyperactivity, impulsivity, difficulty focusing.
The tests showed "the animal's brain reward system is altered" by drug treatment in pre-adolescence, Carlezon said.
About the author: Mike Adams is a consumer health advocate and award-winning journalist with a passion for sharing empowering information to help improve personal and planetary health He is a prolific writer and has published thousands of articles, interviews, reports and consumer guides, and he is well known as the creator of popular downloadable preparedness programs on financial collapse, emergency food storage, wilderness survival and home defense skills. Adams is a trusted, independent journalist who receives no money or promotional fees whatsoever to write about other companies' products. In 2010, Adams launched TV.NaturalNews.com, a natural health video site featuring videos on holistic health and green living. He also founded an environmentally-friendly online retailer called BetterLifeGoods.com that uses retail profits to help support consumer advocacy programs. He's also a veteran of the software technology industry, having founded a personalized mass email software product used to deliver email newsletters to subscribers. Adams also serves as the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a non-profit consumer protection group, and pursues hobbies such as martial arts, Capoeira, nature macrophotography and organic gardening. Known on the 'net as 'the Health Ranger,' Adams shares his ethics, mission statements and personal health statistics at www.HealthRanger.org
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Monday, December 20, 2004
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