Re: The Age of Autism: Pox -- Part 1 - learned helplessness

[Guest guest]

Haleh,

A citizenry broken by toxins is indeed impaired. Hereinbelow is an old

post about a finding we won't hear much about. Let's see, CDC found

that ADHD was associated with thimerosal injections. Conclusion: alter

the data, hide the findings. Later, researchers found that an ADHD med

induced learned helplessness. Wow! The ADHD epidemic becomes a Ritalin

epidemic becomes pharmaceutical induced increases in learned helplessness.

Here are two oldie-but-goodie posts:

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The more that children and young adults use methylphenidate or similar

tho' illegal molecules, the more that our nation and its voters will be

increasingly mindless (Diebold e-tallies notwithstanding). Recent

research demonstrated that ADHD drugs induce " learned helplessness " ,

children and young adults will be likelier to accept the divinely

inspired wisdom of psychiatrists, school officials who prescribe,

pharmaceutial companies, and their willing servants within " regulatory

agencies " and media.

Here's an ancient (2003) post about the induction of learned helplessness.

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1. A recent news release described Harvard researchers' findings: drugs

like and including Ritalin induce depresssion-like traits and

learned helplessness (A-.

A. Attention Deficit Drugs May Have Long-Term Effects

http://www.abcnews.go.com/wire/US/reuters20031208_12.html

Dec. 8 -- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Drugs given to children to treat

attention deficit hyperactivity disorder could have long-term effects

on their growing brains, studies on rats suggest.

Several studies published on Monday show that rats given a popular

ADHD drug were less likely to want to use cocaine later in life, but

also often acted clinically depressed and behaved differently from

rats give dummy injections.

While rats are different from humans, the studies suggest that

doctors should watch children for long-term effects, too.

In the United States between 3 percent and 5 percent of children are

diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, marked by reduced ability

to concentrate, difficulty in organizing and impulsive behavior.

Patients are commonly prescribed stimulants but the practice is

sometimes controversial.

Carlezon of McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School in

Boston and colleagues raised two groups of rats. One was given

Ritalin, known generically as methylphenidate, during the rat

equivalent of pre-adolescence, while the other was given a salt water

injection.

When they matured, the rats were tested for " learned helplessness " --

how quickly they gave up on behavioral tasks under stress.

" Rats exposed to Ritalin as juveniles showed large increases in

learned-helplessness behavior during adulthood, suggesting a tendency

toward depression, " Carlezon said in a statement.

But rats, which generally like cocaine, were less likely to eat it if

they had been give Ritalin.

Carlezon said he did not believe the effects were specific to

Ritalin, made by Swiss drug giant Novartis. It could instead be a

general effect of stimulant drugs, many of which act by increasing

the activity of a key message-carrying chemical called dopamine.

Higher dopamine levels could affect the way brain cells cement their

connections during development, Carlezon wrote in the Dec. 15 issue

of the journal Biological Psychiatry.

A team at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at

Dallas found that adult rats were less responsive to rewarding

stimuli and reacted more to stress if they had been given

methylphenidate as youngsters.

A third study done by a team at Finch University of Health

Sciences/The Chicago Medical School found changes in how dopamine

neurons responded to methylphenidate.

" These three studies remind us how limited our knowledge is of the

neurochemical and functional characteristics of the human brain

during childhood and adolescence and on the effects of psychotropic

drugs on brain development, " Dr. Insel, Director of the

National Institute of Mental Health, wrote in a commentary.

B. Biol Psychiatry. 2003 Dec 15;54(12):1330-7.

Enduring behavioral effects of early exposure to methylphenidate in rats.

Carlezon WA Jr, Mague SD, Andersen SL.

Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, McLean Hospital, Belmont,

Massachusetts 02478, USA.

BACKGROUND: Methylphenidate (MPH) is a stimulant prescribed for the

treatment of

attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Stimulant drugs can cause

enduring behavioral adaptations, including altered drug sensitivity, in

laboratory animals. We examined how early developmental exposure to

stimulants

affects behavior in several rodent models. METHODS: Rats received MPH or

cocaine

during preadolescence (P20-35). Behavioral studies began during

adulthood (P60).

We compared how early exposure to MPH and cocaine affects sensitivity to

the

rewarding and aversive properties of cocaine using place conditioning.

We also

examined the effects of early exposure to MPH on depressive-like signs

using the

forced swim test, and habituation of spontaneous locomotion, within

activity

chambers. RESULTS: In place-conditioning tests, early exposure to MPH or

cocaine

each made moderate doses of cocaine aversive and high doses less rewarding.

Early MPH exposure also caused depressive-like effects in the forced

swim test,

and it attenuated habituation to the activity chambers.CONCLUSIONS: Early

exposure to MPH causes behavioral changes in rats that endure into

adulthood.

Some changes (reduced sensitivity to cocaine reward) may be beneficial,

whereas

others (increases in depressive-like signs, reduced habituation) may be

detrimental...

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Influence of Methylphenidate on brain development - an update of recent

animal experiments

Thorsten Grund , Konrad Lehmann , Nathalie Bock , Aribert Rothenberger

and Gertraud Teuchert-Noodt

Behavioral and Brain Functions 2006, 2:2 doi:10.1186/1744-9081-2-2

Published 10 January 2006

Abstract (provisional)

Methylphenidate (MPH) is the most commonly used drug to treat attention

deficit / hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children effectively and

safely. In spite of its widespread application throughout one of the

most plastic and sensitive phases of brain development, very little is

known to date about its long-term effects on brain structure and

function. Hence, this short review updates the influence of MPH on brain

development, since recent human and animal studies suggest that MPH

alters the dopaminergic system with long-term effects beyond the

termination of treatment. Animal studies imply that the effects of MPH

may depend on the neural responder system: Whereas structural and

functional parameters are improved by MPH in animals with psychomotor

impairments, they remain unaltered or get worse in healthy controls.

While recent behavioural studies do not fully support such a

differential effect of MPH in ADHD, the animal studies certainly prompt

for further investigation of this issue. Furthermore, the abuse of MPH,

when (rarely) intravenously applied, may even impair the maturation of

dopaminergic fibres in subcortical brain areas. This argues for careful

clinical assessment and diagnostics of ADHD symptomatology not only in

conjunction with the prescription of MPH. Hence, one should be assured

that MPH is only given to children with clear ADHD symptomatology

leading to psychosocial impairment. The animal data suggest that under

these conditions MPH is supportive for brain development and the related

behaviour in children with ADHD.

http://www.behavioralandbrainfunctions.com/content/2/1/2/abstract

http://www.behavioralandbrainfunctions.com/content/pdf/1744-9081-2-2.pdf

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