By Judith E. Pearson, Ph.D.

A recent article by Dorothy Rowe in the June 16 issue of New Scientist gives a new perspective on the recent increases in ADHD and Bipolar Disorder among children and young adults. She writes that "In the U.S. nearly a million people, mostly children and young adults, are being prescribed amphetamine-like drugs for ADHD." She also cites the observations of psychiatrists Gabrielle Carlson and Joseph Blader of Stonybrook University, New York, that "...in 1996 just 13 out of every 100,000 children in the U.S. were diagnosed with bipolar disorder [and] in 2004 the figure had leapt more than fivefold to 73 in 100,000.

Rowe states that the symptoms of these two disorders resemble those of a person who is afraid. She offers that psychiatrists and psychologists often diagnose children as having ADHD or Bipolar Disorder on the basis of a reports by parents and teachers. In some cases the doctors have not obtained additional information about the child's home life, nor have they actually sat down for detailed conversation with the child. Rowe writes that perhaps, instead of suffering from ADHD or bipolar disorder, many of these children might actually be experiencing fear---fear of adults---adults with power over their lives; the power to inflict hurt.

Rowe states that "In saying this I have broken a powerful rule: namely, that parents and those in loco parentis must not be criticized. If a child behaves badly, the child is at fault. If she or he can't be regarded as naughty and must be punished, she or he must be mad and the madness treated with drugs, the effects of which on the developing brain are still largely unknown. Blaming and punishing the child are also ubiquitous in cultural practice...Diagnosing children with ADHD and bipolar disorder requires collusion. Parents and doctors must agree the fault is in the child. So parents fail to mention their own economic, social, or personal problems, or underplay them, while doctors don't ask because they lack the skills and resources to help the parents. Thus parents can go on believing they are good parents faced with an inherently flawed child..."

Judith E. Pearson Ph.D. maintains a private counseling practice in Springfield, Virginia, specializing in hypnotherapy and NLP. She is the Executive Director for Certification for the National Board for Certified Clinical Hypnotherapists. She has recently published The Weight, Hypnotherapy and You Weight Reduction Program: A Manual for Hypnotherapists and NLP Practitioners (Crown House, Ltd.). Her web site is www.engagethepower.com.