Re: <font color=red>Picture Profile</font><br>Baughman Dispels The Myth of ADHD

[Guest guest]

Thank you for that Article. I know someone who really needs to read

it!

stinky

>

> <font color= " red " >Picture Profile</font><br>Baughman Dispels The

Myth of ADHD

> By: O'Meara

>

>

> 01/25/02

> --------------------------

>

> Photograph by Fred Greaves

>

> Retired California neurologist Fred A. Baughman Jr. fired off a

letter in January 2000 to U.S. Surgeon General Satcher in

response to Satcher's Report on Mental Illness. " Having gone to

medical school, " Baughman wrote, " and studied pathology — disease,

then diagnosis — you and I and all physicians know that the presence

of any bona fide disease, like diabetes, cancer or epilepsy, is

confirmed by an objective finding — a physical or chemical

abnormality. No demonstrable physical or chemical abnormality: no

disease!

>

> " You also know, I am sure, " Baughman continued, " that there is no

physical or chemical abnormality to be found in life, or at autopsy,

in 'depression, bipolar disorder and other mental illnesses.' Why then

are you telling the American people that 'mental illnesses' are

'physical' and that they are due to 'chemical disorders?' "

>

> Baughman concluded his six-page letter to Satcher by saying that

" your role in this deception and victimization is clear. Whether you

are a physician so unscientific that you cannot read their [the

American Psychiatric Association's] contrived, 'neurobiologic'

literature and see the fraud, or whether you see it and choose to be

an accomplice — you should resign. "

>

> It is this direct, no-nonsense style that has made Baughman a pariah

among the psychiatric and mental-health communities and a hero to

families of children across America who believe they have been

" victimized " by the attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

label. The " disease, " Baughman tells Insight, " is a total 100 percent

fraud, " and he has made it his personal " crusade " to bring an end to

the ADHD diagnosis.

>

> Insight: You've spent 35 years in private practice as an adult and

child neurologist, diagnosing real diseases. What spurred your

interest in the ADHD diagnosis?

>

> Fred A. Baughman Jr.: Through the 1970s and 1980s the ADHD

" epidemic " began to impact all of us, and the numbers of children

being referred to me were increasing dramatically. I'd examine these

kids to determine whether they did or did not have real diseases.

After giving them thorough examinations, doing such tests as I deemed

were necessary, I couldn't find anything wrong with them.

>

> I was becoming more and more aware that something was afoot from the

tone with which the diagnoses were being made in schools and by

psychiatrists who were part of the school team. And never mind that I

could find no scientific basis for the diagnosis. But here were

pediatricians and school psychiatrists practicing mental health in

ways that did not make sense. Principals and teachers would threaten

that if I didn't diagnose ADHD they'd find someone who would. As a

neurologist, I'm in the business of diagnosing real diseases, so this

attitude on the part of people who should know better was very

disturbing.

>

>

>

>

> Personal Bio

>

>

>

> Fred A. Baughman Jr.: The outspoken neurologist began his private

practice in San Diego in 1975.

>

> Currently: Leading critic of chemistry-set psychiatry.

>

> Personal: Born Nov. 14, 1932, El Centro, Calif. Married with three

children; three grandchildren.

>

> Education: B.S., New York University, 1955; M.D., adult and child

neurology, New York University, 1960.

>

> Career accomplishments: American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology,

1968; fellow, American Academy of Neurology; medical adviser, National

Right to Read Foundation; member, Academic Review Panel, Research in

English Acquisition and Development (READ) Institute.

>

> Publications: " The Glioma-Polyosis Syndrome, " New England Journal of

Medicine, 1969; " Re-evaluation of CHANDS, " Journal of Medical

Genetics, 1979; " Treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity

Disorder, " Journal of the American Medical Association, 1995.

>

>

>

>

>

>

> Insight: You are among a small number of physicians publicly to

challenge the psychiatric community about this diagnosis. Why do you

think so many doctors are diagnosing ADHD when they, too, must know

there is no scientific data to support it?

>

> FAB: Most physicians, like the public, have bought into the whole

psychiatric line. The populace at large has been so brainwashed by

this " tyranny of the experts " that they cannot bring themselves to

believe things are other than what the psychiatric industry and the

pharmaceutical companies tell them. The population has been told again

and again that these " diseases " exist, despite the fact that there is

no scientific proof to back up their claims.

>

> People have been lied to so often that they can't disabuse

themselves of the notion that these so-called diseases are chemical

abnormalities of the brain. Psychiatry never has proved that ADHD, let

alone depression, anxiety or obsessive-compulsive disorder [OCD], even

exists. Yet this hasn't stopped doctors from diagnosing them. It

simply was decided during the early days of psychopharmacology — of

psychiatric drugs — that these were nice theories and they were fed to

the public as fact.

>

> Insight: With the diagnosis comes the " fix, " the prescription pills

that reportedly help control these diseases.

>

> FAB: Yes, that's right, and like the unscientific diagnosis no one

really knows how these drugs work on the brain. It's all just theory

at this point.

>

> But then this same psychiatric community says even depression is a

disease resulting from a chemical imbalance. They also say that OCD is

a disease with a known chemical abnormality of the brain. In neither

case is there proof to support either claim. Through the years,

though, they've gotten to fudging their line a bit, saying instead:

" Well, it's a psychiatric disorder. "

>

> Insight: You've testified before Congress on this issue, and several

of your papers on these matters have been published in medical

journals. Recently you traveled to France to address a committee of

the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of France as a counterweight

to ADHD advocates. What kind of response did you get?

>

> FAB: I was charged with presenting the argument against the

diagnosis and treatment of ADHD. I never expected it to go so well.

>

> Three European psychiatrists presented the case for the ADHD

diagnosis using the same old slide-show presentation, presumably

showing brain atrophy in the patients diagnosed with ADHD.

>

> I pointed out to them, as I've done numerous times here in the

states, that all the patients in the slides whose brains showed

atrophy also had been on stimulant therapy, so there was no way to

know that the atrophy was not, in fact, caused by the drugs rather

than the alleged brain disorder ADHD. A member of the council

committee summarized what had transpired during the day and basically

said they didn't believe what the psychiatrists had presented about

ADHD — that they were skeptical about the appropriateness of the drugs

recommended for the diagnosis.

>

> One of the psychiatrists was so intimidated by my argument that he

threatened to leave the meeting. It was just amazing to see this guy

get so frazzled. The council was terrific, and I couldn't have

imagined so favorable a response. It was so unlike a typical U.S.

response. I think the Europeans are trying to resist this whole ADHD

business.

>

> Insight: You set up a Website, www.adhdfraud.org, to help get

information out to parents who have been impacted by the ADHD

diagnosis. What kind of response are you getting from parents?

>

> FAB: I hear from many families who have been victimized by this

diagnosis. By the time they find me their eyes usually have been

opened and they realize the fraud of the diagnosis. But they also

realize how serious the diagnosis is for the child and the problems it

can create for families.

>

> On the other side of the coin, of course, are the perpetrators at

the National Institute of Mental Health [NIMH] and the academic

psychiatrists who put out the ADHD propaganda. These people also know

who I am and try not to respond to the letters and papers I write.

They don't want to see me at medical conferences and seminars because

they know that I have the facts, take no prisoners and am willing to

show that they are perpetrating a fraud. If they can keep the public

in the dark about the facts of this alleged " disease " then science is

beside the point.

>

> I'd love to debate the surgeon general or anyone in the hierarchy of

academic psychiatry, but I don't think any would agree. The surgeon

general wouldn't even respond to the letter I wrote to him about his

Report on Mental Illness, so I don't see him stepping up to the plate

anytime soon.

>

> Insight: You've testified in court for nearly two dozen families who

were fighting the ADHD diagnosis. What should parents do when their

child has been diagnosed?

>

> FAB: People are being told in no uncertain terms that this " disease "

exists and should be treated with drugs, so it's extremely difficult

to get the truth out. The essential first step of the perpetrators is

to label the child with ADHD. I've seen how these things turn out for

those who try to go up against the system, and it is very sad. Before

parents find themselves in a legal adversarial relationship with the

school system and county officials, they should get their child out of

that school and either homeschool them or put them into a parochial or

private school. I tell parents with children caught up in this fraud

that, for now, going against the system is a no-win situation.

>

> Insight: What will it take to turn the establishment crowd on this

issue?

>

> FAB: I'm trying to expose the medical fraud and to get just and

appropriate medical treatment for children when it is needed and,

where it isn't required, I'm trying to get appropriate education,

parenting, disciplining and training so these children can achieve

self-control. They all certainly are capable of it.

>

> We've got to do something because we're talking about 6 million to 8

million children who have been diagnosed with ADHD. This just can't

wait.

>

> O'Meara is an investigative reporter for Insight.

>

>

> email the author

> --------------------------

> Story Source: Insight on the News

[Guest guest]

Thank you for that Article. I know someone who really needs to read

it!

stinky

>

> <font color= " red " >Picture Profile</font><br>Baughman Dispels The

Myth of ADHD

> By: O'Meara

>

>

> 01/25/02

> --------------------------

>

> Photograph by Fred Greaves

>

> Retired California neurologist Fred A. Baughman Jr. fired off a

letter in January 2000 to U.S. Surgeon General Satcher in

response to Satcher's Report on Mental Illness. " Having gone to

medical school, " Baughman wrote, " and studied pathology — disease,

then diagnosis — you and I and all physicians know that the presence

of any bona fide disease, like diabetes, cancer or epilepsy, is

confirmed by an objective finding — a physical or chemical

abnormality. No demonstrable physical or chemical abnormality: no

disease!

>

> " You also know, I am sure, " Baughman continued, " that there is no

physical or chemical abnormality to be found in life, or at autopsy,

in 'depression, bipolar disorder and other mental illnesses.' Why then

are you telling the American people that 'mental illnesses' are

'physical' and that they are due to 'chemical disorders?' "

>

> Baughman concluded his six-page letter to Satcher by saying that

" your role in this deception and victimization is clear. Whether you

are a physician so unscientific that you cannot read their [the

American Psychiatric Association's] contrived, 'neurobiologic'

literature and see the fraud, or whether you see it and choose to be

an accomplice — you should resign. "

>

> It is this direct, no-nonsense style that has made Baughman a pariah

among the psychiatric and mental-health communities and a hero to

families of children across America who believe they have been

" victimized " by the attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

label. The " disease, " Baughman tells Insight, " is a total 100 percent

fraud, " and he has made it his personal " crusade " to bring an end to

the ADHD diagnosis.

>

> Insight: You've spent 35 years in private practice as an adult and

child neurologist, diagnosing real diseases. What spurred your

interest in the ADHD diagnosis?

>

> Fred A. Baughman Jr.: Through the 1970s and 1980s the ADHD

" epidemic " began to impact all of us, and the numbers of children

being referred to me were increasing dramatically. I'd examine these

kids to determine whether they did or did not have real diseases.

After giving them thorough examinations, doing such tests as I deemed

were necessary, I couldn't find anything wrong with them.

>

> I was becoming more and more aware that something was afoot from the

tone with which the diagnoses were being made in schools and by

psychiatrists who were part of the school team. And never mind that I

could find no scientific basis for the diagnosis. But here were

pediatricians and school psychiatrists practicing mental health in

ways that did not make sense. Principals and teachers would threaten

that if I didn't diagnose ADHD they'd find someone who would. As a

neurologist, I'm in the business of diagnosing real diseases, so this

attitude on the part of people who should know better was very

disturbing.

>

>

>

>

> Personal Bio

>

>

>

> Fred A. Baughman Jr.: The outspoken neurologist began his private

practice in San Diego in 1975.

>

> Currently: Leading critic of chemistry-set psychiatry.

>

> Personal: Born Nov. 14, 1932, El Centro, Calif. Married with three

children; three grandchildren.

>

> Education: B.S., New York University, 1955; M.D., adult and child

neurology, New York University, 1960.

>

> Career accomplishments: American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology,

1968; fellow, American Academy of Neurology; medical adviser, National

Right to Read Foundation; member, Academic Review Panel, Research in

English Acquisition and Development (READ) Institute.

>

> Publications: " The Glioma-Polyosis Syndrome, " New England Journal of

Medicine, 1969; " Re-evaluation of CHANDS, " Journal of Medical

Genetics, 1979; " Treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity

Disorder, " Journal of the American Medical Association, 1995.

>

>

>

>

>

>

> Insight: You are among a small number of physicians publicly to

challenge the psychiatric community about this diagnosis. Why do you

think so many doctors are diagnosing ADHD when they, too, must know

there is no scientific data to support it?

>

> FAB: Most physicians, like the public, have bought into the whole

psychiatric line. The populace at large has been so brainwashed by

this " tyranny of the experts " that they cannot bring themselves to

believe things are other than what the psychiatric industry and the

pharmaceutical companies tell them. The population has been told again

and again that these " diseases " exist, despite the fact that there is

no scientific proof to back up their claims.

>

> People have been lied to so often that they can't disabuse

themselves of the notion that these so-called diseases are chemical

abnormalities of the brain. Psychiatry never has proved that ADHD, let

alone depression, anxiety or obsessive-compulsive disorder [OCD], even

exists. Yet this hasn't stopped doctors from diagnosing them. It

simply was decided during the early days of psychopharmacology — of

psychiatric drugs — that these were nice theories and they were fed to

the public as fact.

>

> Insight: With the diagnosis comes the " fix, " the prescription pills

that reportedly help control these diseases.

>

> FAB: Yes, that's right, and like the unscientific diagnosis no one

really knows how these drugs work on the brain. It's all just theory

at this point.

>

> But then this same psychiatric community says even depression is a

disease resulting from a chemical imbalance. They also say that OCD is

a disease with a known chemical abnormality of the brain. In neither

case is there proof to support either claim. Through the years,

though, they've gotten to fudging their line a bit, saying instead:

" Well, it's a psychiatric disorder. "

>

> Insight: You've testified before Congress on this issue, and several

of your papers on these matters have been published in medical

journals. Recently you traveled to France to address a committee of

the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of France as a counterweight

to ADHD advocates. What kind of response did you get?

>

> FAB: I was charged with presenting the argument against the

diagnosis and treatment of ADHD. I never expected it to go so well.

>

> Three European psychiatrists presented the case for the ADHD

diagnosis using the same old slide-show presentation, presumably

showing brain atrophy in the patients diagnosed with ADHD.

>

> I pointed out to them, as I've done numerous times here in the

states, that all the patients in the slides whose brains showed

atrophy also had been on stimulant therapy, so there was no way to

know that the atrophy was not, in fact, caused by the drugs rather

than the alleged brain disorder ADHD. A member of the council

committee summarized what had transpired during the day and basically

said they didn't believe what the psychiatrists had presented about

ADHD — that they were skeptical about the appropriateness of the drugs

recommended for the diagnosis.

>

> One of the psychiatrists was so intimidated by my argument that he

threatened to leave the meeting. It was just amazing to see this guy

get so frazzled. The council was terrific, and I couldn't have

imagined so favorable a response. It was so unlike a typical U.S.

response. I think the Europeans are trying to resist this whole ADHD

business.

>

> Insight: You set up a Website, www.adhdfraud.org, to help get

information out to parents who have been impacted by the ADHD

diagnosis. What kind of response are you getting from parents?

>

> FAB: I hear from many families who have been victimized by this

diagnosis. By the time they find me their eyes usually have been

opened and they realize the fraud of the diagnosis. But they also

realize how serious the diagnosis is for the child and the problems it

can create for families.

>

> On the other side of the coin, of course, are the perpetrators at

the National Institute of Mental Health [NIMH] and the academic

psychiatrists who put out the ADHD propaganda. These people also know

who I am and try not to respond to the letters and papers I write.

They don't want to see me at medical conferences and seminars because

they know that I have the facts, take no prisoners and am willing to

show that they are perpetrating a fraud. If they can keep the public

in the dark about the facts of this alleged " disease " then science is

beside the point.

>

> I'd love to debate the surgeon general or anyone in the hierarchy of

academic psychiatry, but I don't think any would agree. The surgeon

general wouldn't even respond to the letter I wrote to him about his

Report on Mental Illness, so I don't see him stepping up to the plate

anytime soon.

>

> Insight: You've testified in court for nearly two dozen families who

were fighting the ADHD diagnosis. What should parents do when their

child has been diagnosed?

>

> FAB: People are being told in no uncertain terms that this " disease "

exists and should be treated with drugs, so it's extremely difficult

to get the truth out. The essential first step of the perpetrators is

to label the child with ADHD. I've seen how these things turn out for

those who try to go up against the system, and it is very sad. Before

parents find themselves in a legal adversarial relationship with the

school system and county officials, they should get their child out of

that school and either homeschool them or put them into a parochial or

private school. I tell parents with children caught up in this fraud

that, for now, going against the system is a no-win situation.

>

> Insight: What will it take to turn the establishment crowd on this

issue?

>

> FAB: I'm trying to expose the medical fraud and to get just and

appropriate medical treatment for children when it is needed and,

where it isn't required, I'm trying to get appropriate education,

parenting, disciplining and training so these children can achieve

self-control. They all certainly are capable of it.

>

> We've got to do something because we're talking about 6 million to 8

million children who have been diagnosed with ADHD. This just can't

wait.

>

> O'Meara is an investigative reporter for Insight.

>

>

> email the author

> --------------------------

> Story Source: Insight on the News