[Mar 07, 98 - 16:00] Logan Rich of 1:133/8003 wrote to Mark Probert:
LR>  causes involved. As "evidence", I can tell you that my friend pointed 
out 
LR>  that over the years it has become increasingly common for medication to 
be
LR>  recommended over counseling or more traditional types of therapy. 
Speaking
LR>  with a counselor used to be the first thing *anyone* suggested, but now 
it
LR>  seems that Ritalin etc is the first thing that gets mentioned or 
LR> discussed.
That could be due to a foolish eagerness to use medications when a good 
talking-to would do, or it could be due to a growing recognition that 
traditional types of therapy accomplish nothing for a condition which can be 
treated with medication.  The anecdotal evidence you cited, and I don't 
question your friend's veracity, can't prove the matter either way.
There are always psychologists around who oppose the use of medication from 
some mixture of sincere belief and fear of competition.  Just the other day 
one of them went on a rampage in a letter to the editor, essentially claiming 
that anything other than talk therapy was criminally abusive.
We had my son evaluated at great length (and great expense, unfortunately) 
just before ADHD became popularly recognized; I don't know what a standard 
diagnostic process is at this point, but it certainly isn't just a note from 
a teacher.
It is also true, however, that once you become familiar with the symptoms it 
isn't all that hard to spot others who are candidates for evaluation; and 
teachers are in a good position to do the spotting.  I, as a parent, 
certainly wasn't because my experience with other children wasn't that 
extensive and because it never occurred to me that there could be anything 
wrong with my child.
Jerry Schwartz
--- Msged/386 4.00
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