'Ritalin Gone Wrong': Is ADHD Caused By Bad Parenting?

Dr. L Alan Sroufe has been fanning the flames of parental guilt lately by suggesting that one major cause of ADHD in children is... their parents.

This latest round came in the form of a New York Times Op-Ed piece titled "Ritalin Gone Wrong" in which Sroufe, who is a psychology professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota, declared that too many kids are on drugs to treat the condition. Three million children would not be taking the medication, he wrote, if their parents hadn't "derailed" them psychologically in the first place.

The doctor gave a very specific example of what he meant. He wrote:

"... a 6-month-old baby is playing, and the parent picks it up quickly from behind and plunges it in the bath. Or a 3-year-old is becoming frustrated in solving a problem, and a parent taunts or ridicules. Such practices excessively stimulate and also compromise the child's developing capacity for self-regulation."

In the week since Dr. Sroufe weighed in, others have fired back. Dr. Harold Koplewicz, for one, who is president of the Child Mind Institute, pointed out on The Huffington Post, that Sroufe is painting the "ordinary mistakes" of "ordinary parents" as something sinister and dangerous, which is neither helpful nor accurate. Yes, parental patterns influence a child's development, he agreed, and counseling parents to do better is always helpful, but the fact is that parent-child interaction therapy can not cure the symptoms of ADHD. To suggest otherwise, he said on the "Today Show" this past weekend is to perpetuate a "heritage we have of this country of blame and shame."

Dr. Koplewicz appeared on the program with Dr. Nancy Snyderman, NBC's chief medical editor, and her comments reflected just how personally parents take the ADHD debate. Her child, she said, has been diagnosed with the condition, adding:

"There is a lot of self-doubt when you raise children that don't fit into societal norms, when you have a child who can't sit in circle time... that's seen as bad behavior, but it means the brain wiring is different."

Yes, she agreed, there is evidence that some children who receive medication might not need it. But not nearly the number that Sroufe suggests, and they are not candidates for that medication in the first place for the reasons Sroufe claims. Instead, she says, the drugs are designed to meet a biological "need for neurotransmitters that could help the brain's circuitry," and the proof is in conversation with parents whose children have been properly medicated and who will tell you it has changed their child's life.

What do you think? Is there something to Dr. Sroufe's argument? Or is it just one more way to blame parents for anything that might be amiss with their children?

Comments

[mlschott]

11:27 AM on 05/10/2012

"Having" is predicated on it's opposite of "not having," or better yet, being able to get rid of. A person cannot "have" ADHD in the way a person "has" a tumor, as it possesses no physical existence (a tumor can be seen, felt, and hopefully removed). Rather, the concept of ADHD was invented based on the human observations of supposed symptom patterns. Sure, people EXPERIENCE difficulty with attention and concentration, but they don't necessarily have a disorder (I hate that word). Unfortunately, our culture (and particularly my profession) has brainwashed folks into believing normal experiences are pathological, perhaps because uniqueness isn't something we value (who wants to be the nail that's sticking out, eh?). Rather than encouraging folks to engage in activities they're good at, we demolish their character by telling them they have a "disorder" merely because they can't sit still in class to listen to a boring lecture. Rather than accepting and valuing people for who and how they are, we take pleasure in categorizing and medicating them. This is sad. Perhaps Huxley was on to something... Soma anyone?

[Michael Leinbach]

04:30 PM on 02/09/2012

I am going to make this as clear as I can without even reading the article.

40 years ago ADHD did NOT exist! Why?

Because children were disciplined more and if they showed a lack of concentration in school dads STAFF Of Butt Whoppin would always do the job! If their behavior was bad Dad AGAIN would take care of it!

now dad cant because dad can go to jail for abuse so they have taken a more passive role on Discipline. Also, Society has become much more rouge.

These same kids that are diagnosed as ADHD, when they want to know something and have interest they can accomplish much! I know about 10 people who were diagnosed with this and in every case they all had a lack of motivation problem and lack of interest! Lets face it, many kids are not interested in school when there are friends and technology to be invoved with!

[HENNIE GEYSER]

01:02 PM on 02/10/2012

Do you know what you talk about?I DONT THINK SO!!!!!!

[Michael Leinbach]

03:02 PM on 02/10/2012

Nah!! I dont know what I am talking about! I only have a brother that was diagnosed with this and about 10 friends who are ALL doing fine once they found some PURPOSE IN LIFE!! Most kids GOALS are not what they are supposed to be doing and their mind wanders because no one in there to discipline then properly from a young age!

ADHD = Children Dupping parents and Psychologists and Pharmacompanies getting rich off of it!!
Please tell me, first, Do you know anyone over the age of 60 who will tell you honestly that kids couldnt focus and their hyperactiveness caused them not to be able to focus in school? OR can you tell me if you know someone over 60 who will tell you they feared their father enough to do what was right evne when they didnt want to?

[MIMom]

05:09 PM on 02/10/2012

Well, it certainly DID exist. My husband will be 40 this year and was diagnosed with it as a child.

Your post is simply your opinion and a ridiculous one (in MY opinion) at that. The answer to ADHD is not the beat your children more.

[Michael Leinbach]

09:41 PM on 02/10/2012

Because you have someone who has supposedly suffered from this then to you it is real. Did you ever think maybe when you husband was diagnosed it was Misdiagnosed or maybe WRONG? Or maybe when he was diagnosed he was just assumed to have it when he really just had no insterest? Kids get diagnosed with this as Kids because of SCHOOL issues! Because they are energetic and dont do their work when they are supposed to.

Obviously you grew up in the same era I did and there are those who see it the way I do and there are those who always believe the PROFESSIONALS because they have degrees. Well, I dont believe them because I had cancer, Diagnosed by ME and 7 doctors told me I didnt have it! And then I went in and demanded they do an ultrasound. And I WAS RIGHT! With NO CREDENTIALS AND NO DEGREE!! And all those with the degrees were wrong!! And If I had listened to them they would had been DEAD WRONG.. Only I Would have been the dead one!

And Who said Beat your children MORE? People dont even spank their children for fear of Jail! If you dont like my take on this then you dont have to. But because your husband was diagnosed is not a good reason to not believe it. Emotional attachment in this type of thing is never a good indicator that you are right.

[dopamineboy]

03:15 PM on 02/09/2012

The percentage of kids in the US with an ADHD diagnosis has increased.
Boys are 2x more likely to be diagnosed than girls.
Reports suggest the use of psychotropic medication has increased 700% in 10 years.
The U.S. consumes 5x more methylphenidate than any other place in the world.
There is no definite proof of what causes ADHD.
Studies have shown an association between lead exposure and ADHD symptoms in young children.
Several studies have specifically linked smoking and drinking during pregnancy to an increased risk of having a child with ADHD.
Research in Britain supports a link between food coloring or food preservatives and an increase in ADHD symptoms.
A Harvard study suggests that pesticide exposure may increase the risk of ADHD in children.
A study funded by the NIH in 2004 examined the effects of exposing rats to Ritalin during early development on behaviors later in life. The adult animals had a reduced ability to experience pleasure and reward, and those exposed to Ritalin during pre-adolescence were more prone to express despair-like behaviors in stressful situations as adults. Overall, the animals showed evidence of dysfunctional brain reward systems and depressive-like behaviors in adulthood.

[KKS278]

12:19 PM on 02/09/2012

I have a child that has ADHD. I took her to her Pediatrician, to a counselor and to get testing done. If I was a bad parent would I bother with that? It gets very expensive. I want my daughter to do well in school, in life. I care. I think that makes me a good parent. The fact that she has ADHD and my other daughter does not should say that parents are not to blame. I am raising them both the same, with the same amount of love and appreciation that they are in my life. I am sure there are people out there that don't want to deal with their child and are quick to blame their behavior on ADHD. However, not all cases are the same. I wish people could undestand that. When people are quick to blame the parents, it hurts feelings, especially when you know that you are doing all that you can to help your child.

[tipiman53]

06:01 PM on 02/08/2012

There are real cases of adhd, but why has the occurnce of these cases skyrocketed in the last 40 years? Could it be that kids just being kids in an era where both parents are working 2 jobs and don't have time to really sit down with their kids and channel their enthusiasum for life cause the medication overload? In ma., the schools get x amount of dollars for each kid diagnosed with these "symptoms. It has gone to40% of the school population in 40 yrs! something to think about!





5 of the entire school population

[Toonguy]

07:02 PM on 02/08/2012

No it hasn't gone to 40% and I have never heard the policy you speak of. Perhaps you are thinking of schools getting additional funding for "special needs" children, but it certainly isn't limited to ADHD.

But to answer your question, if you discover a fossilized dinosaur in your backyard, did it just spring into being when you discovered it or had it always been there? It's not that there are actually more people with ADHD, there are more getting a correct diagnosis thanks to better understanding of the condition.

[docbets]

04:18 AM on 02/14/2012

Well, think about it. It's kind of like once women began to actually report the rapes they experienced, the rape occurrences seemed to skyrocket. But it was only because reporting was better, not so much that there were suddenly more rapes.

With ADHD, it's a matter of kids and adults getting a proper diagnosis and treatment for a disorder that has been around forever. My mother was born in 1916 and before she died, we determined that she had ADHD. She came from a strict family, no TV, fresh food from the family garden, so don't start with that line of craziness.

It's heritable

[AnthropologistAmongApes]

05:26 PM on 02/08/2012

I would maintain that television has a great responsibility here in the way it segments attention into 5 or 10 minute intervals between commercials.

[Toonguy]

07:04 PM on 02/08/2012

That's an incorrect assumption. There is evidence that shows that ADHD existed long before there was a diagnosis for it and long before television existed.

[AnthropologistAmongApes]

12:45 AM on 02/09/2012

Who said there are no additional drivers of the problem?

[WilmaJune]

03:12 PM on 02/08/2012

Before these children are diagnosed, are they given a brain scan? I have always been hyper and cannot sit still. A brain scan revealed a short circuit in the Thalamus Gland. It effects my head, hands, feet and vocal chords. Excitement or nervous stress makes it worse. Medicine helps but, doctors say it will get worse with age. My brain is going 80 MPH unless I am sleeping. The tremors stunted my growth and caused lots of embarrassment through the years.

[Toonguy]

07:06 PM on 02/08/2012

ADHD is not simply being hyper. Currently there is no physical way to detect it.

[WilmaJune]

10:24 PM on 02/08/2012

How can they diagnose so many children with no physical way to detect it?

[drvaleithian]

06:13 AM on 02/09/2012

Not true - SPECT scans can show the differences in the activity of the prefrontal cortex, which is the area of the brain responsible for planning, prioritizing, reasoning, impulse control, etc. However, the scans are very expensive and often only confirm what has already been diagnosed through observation, interview, behavior checklists completed by the individual being assessed and/or his/her parents, teachers, spouse, etc. so the scans generally are not used for diagnosis. In fact, as a pschologist, I routinely diagnose ADHD as well as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, PTSD, and lots of other mental/emotional problems in these ways, without physical evidence.

[Laurence Lance]

02:15 PM on 02/12/2012

read the dagnosis patter some years ago.. I think maybe 2005 and it seems so general that it pretty much fits almost all children and especially male children. That alone is problematic. The "Testing' also seems at best haphazzard, at worst I'd think reasonable grounds for malpractice.

I'm sure there is some point where behavior crosses a line, but that "line' seems far more general and non specific than is healthy. I've seen some of these kids and based on my admitted limited exposure I've very troubled by what appears to be very casual decision to drug these children.

Toon writes that the children are under careful controll. Maybe where he(/) lives but I don't see any evidence of that being the case in Washington state. BTW, Toon, if you read this do know I appreciate your taking the time to write back. Your attitude was civil and reasoned. That I do not agree has more to do with my "sixth sense" than a failure of your argurment.

[WilmaJune]

07:30 PM on 02/12/2012

Careful control? Not my relatives kids. They walk, talk, and act like a doped up kid. Observing the children, I get the impression the medicine is preventing them from having a normal life. School is difficult because their thinking is slower due to medication. They are going through life in slow motion. It is very sad to watch.

[dopamineboy]

02:49 PM on 02/08/2012

The headline seems rather misleading. I read the NY Times article and didn't conclude he was blaming parents. He states: "It is certainly true that large numbers of children have problems with attention, self-regulation and behavior. But are these problems because of some aspect present at birth? Or are they caused by experiences in early childhood?"
The main gist of the article is questioning the wholesale drugging of young brains. And at what cost?

[Hpotterfan77]

01:19 PM on 02/08/2012

I love all you self serving "super parents" out there that apparently think that those of us that have ADHD affected children have done it all wrong. True, the way kids were taught in the last 30 years have changed dramatically BUT having 2 sons who both have it, I can tell you from first hand experience (at least in my own sons' type of ADHD) that no amount of dicipline, sugar banning, etc had any effect whatsoever. I knew when my 5 year old (at the time) said that I was the worst mommy in the world and he hoped I would die, there wasn't something deeper going on. Not every child is the same and it's great if those things worked for your kids but it didn't for mine. After making the decision to put my kids on meds, one a stimulant and one a non-stimulant, I couldn't be more happy with myself for doing it. It completely improved their lives overall, especially their school work. Please keep your sactimonious preaching about how you're so great and we're so bad to yourselves.

[icesailor]

12:47 PM on 02/08/2012

The good doctor has dog park dirt on his shoes. I'm 68 years old. I've been ADD all my life. I'm not ADHD in motion, but ADHD in my brain. When I was in my 40's, I found out I was ADD/ADHD and was tried on Ritalin, the real stuff, NOT methylphenidate. My awareness was/is so accute, I heard things that no one else heard. I could be working in a cellar and hear a mouse walk up a concrete wall. Wonder why your child does homework with the TV, radio and I-Pod going on at the same time? It blocks out the noise. You can study in silence. Only an ADD will understand what I just said. After I was on Ritalin, I realized that the world could be quiet and I could learn how to turn off excessive sounds. I always worked alone. I could never work without noise, and not a radio playing pop FM music. It was recorded music of music I owned, and always knew what came next.

My ability to Hyper-Focus on a task is my greatest personal strength. I will never give up on a problem and there is no length I will not go to to find a solution.

I say, the good Doctor knows not of what he speaks or writes of. It's MY experience, that anyone who protests this subject as widely as he has, suffers from the problem and doesn't want to admit it.

[Marilyn Wedge, Ph.D.]

11:35 AM on 02/08/2012

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marilyn-wedge-phd/natural-ways-to-help-adhd_b_956127.html

[Toonguy]

08:39 AM on 02/12/2012

Reading the author's other posts, I would think some sort of preface or disclaimer would be in order. I have serious doubts about whether or not the author accepts ADHD as a diagnosis and for those reasons I do not believe they should be allowed to try and pass off any advice about ADHD treatment. On the otherhand, the author certainly has a lot of books to sell.

[figure8]

11:07 AM on 02/08/2012

My child was prescribed Ritalin years ago for ADHD, he was in the 3rd grade. Teachers had nothing but praise for the changes in my son in just a few weeks of being on Ritalin. Our family however saw a negative affect on him. I took it upon myself to give him half a baby aspirin which looked so much like his Ritalin tablet so my son was unaware he was not taking a medication. Wha-la no difference, the school continued with all the positive feedback of how well and what an improvement they saw in my sons behavior, and he was on baby aspirin! My son got positive attention from his teachers because they thought he was medicated.

[Reid Howland Geisenhof]

09:37 AM on 02/08/2012

As an adult (who grew up in a chaotic and alcoholic household) diagnosed with ADHD, I can say unequivocally that medication works and works wonders for me, in ways that talk therapy never did. For me, at least, it seems like there is definitely something funky in my brain, wiring-wise, that amphetamine straightens out. Years of talk therapy never helped get the bills taken care of, the house clean, my undergraduate degree finished, or my mood stabilized--dextroamphetamine, though, did. I personally don't think my household situation growing up helped me any--other than to know what a cruel mistress booze can be--but I don't think it was the cause of the ADHD.

[papa54]

09:27 AM on 02/08/2012

I have a 7 year old step-son with ADHD. He talks and yells incessantly during his sleep. He also makes unusual sounds and noises throughout the day including in the classroom. He has not been diagnosed with Terrettes Syndrone. We have met with his teacher because of this behavior. He takes adderall and is seen regularly by a child neurologist, The adderall is very helpful, but has anyone else experienced these other two behaviors.

[Hpotterfan77]

01:00 PM on 02/08/2012

Yes actually, though not on the same level. I have 2 sons, both with ADHD (it runs in our family) and my older son had a vocal tic due to his medication. He would constantly clear his throat and cough every 5 minutes. We switched him to a non-stimulant ADHD med and the ticks went away. Something to consider.

[papa54]

07:14 PM on 02/08/2012

Thank you for responding hpotterfan. What is the name of the medicationa and does your son suffer any side effects from this new medication?

[drvaleithian]

05:32 AM on 02/09/2012

Don't know if this is the medication the previous poster was referring to, but Strattera is a nonstimulant medication for ADHD. It is a norepinephrine re-uptake inhibitor, and like antidepressants it takes 2 to 6 weeks to reach full effectiveness. Unfortunately, it is not as effective for many with ADHD as stimulant meds, but for someone who can't tolerate the stimulants it's an option. It might work for your son. Also, sometimes the tics decrease or go away over time.

[fallenarches]

04:00 PM on 02/07/2012

Well, I do know of a case of "bad parenting" being the culprit behind a clearly mistaken "diagnosis" of ADHD. The kid began "acting out" when his parents split, which should have been no surprise to anyone, but instead of dealing with the real issues at hand - namely the kid's anger - and giving him some structural guidance on appropriate behavior and emotional expression, the parents sought the refuge of medicalization. The mother, in particular, was deeply, emotionally invested in there being a diagnostic label for her son so that she could not be held accountable for his behavior and would not be expected to provide disciplined structure. As the parent of a son with very real neurological developmental disabilities, seeing a parent with *desire* for that for her son and popping inappropriate medication into him as a tool for avoiding the hard work of parenting was infuriating beyond description. I sometimes wonder, too, if it wasn't kind of Munchhausen-by-proxy situation... the mother seemed to feel special, because she had a "special needs" son. Very odd, very exasperating, very wrong and very unfair to individuals with very real neurological challenges.

[drvaleithian]

05:41 AM on 02/09/2012

I had written a post that included the problems with misdiagnosis, but then I couldn't sign in for some reason, and I lost the post. Misdiagnosis is definitely a problem, usually based on an inadequate assessment. Parents, teachers, and medical professionals, though all important in the process, are usually not trained to diagnose mental/emotional problems. Some mental health professionals may be trained but still not very skilled at diagnosing ADHD, simply because they haven't spent their time practicing that part of their profession. If you or someone you know MIGHT have ADHD, be sure to get a complete assessment from a psychologist of or other mental health professional who is trained and experienced in assessing ADHD and in differentiating it from other issues with overlapping symptoms.