The Attention Deficit Disorder Blog is a Fraud

I intended to post this as a comment on the Attention Deficit Disorder blog, but they limit comments to ‘team members’ only. What a crock. Anyway, here’s her incorrect statement:

Spending on ADHD drugs soared from $759 million in 2000 to $3.1 billion in 2004 yet there are no studies that prove the long-term effectiveness of amphetamine drugs in helping people adapt or adjust to life with ADHD.

Here’s my response to ‘Jeannine Virtue’, the author of the post linked above:

Jeannine, you’re incorrect. There are studies which prove that medications, combined with behavior therapy, do provide effective treatment for ADHD while minimizing the dosage of medication needed. here’s a link to an article about it. Here’s the punchline:

“It is clear that in most children with severe symptoms, behavioral therapy alone is usually not sufficient,” he says. “But children and their parents and teachers also need to learn management skills to help cope with the ADHD. Many kids have problems that medication doesn’t address.”

The actual study reference is:

Pelham, W. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, May, 2005; vol 13, issue 2. William E. Pelham Jr., PhD, University at Buffalo Distinguished Professor, department of psychology; director, Center for Children and Families, University at Buffalo. Howard Abikoff, PhD, director, Institute for ADHD and Related Disorders, New York University Child Study Center.

Jeannine’s blog is clearly anti-medication, but there’s no profile and she has no credentials listed that give special weight to what she’s writing, so if you’re reading that blog for ADHD advice, factor in the bias. I did, however, see in the description of the blog that she is associated with the so-called Attention Deficit Help Center. If you click on their “About Us” link, you find an advertisement for “Attend”, a so-called herbal remedy for ADHD that includes caffeine, Ginkgo Biloba (potentially dangerous if combined with other medications), and other easily-attainable supplements. There have been NO scientific studies proving that this supplement is effective for treating ADHD.

Frankly, creating a blog on Blogspot which gives the impression that it’s giving worthwhile advice about ADHD while really being used to covertly advertise your product by creating bias in your readers is slimy, dishonest, and speaks to the obvious weakness of the product itself. Anyone reading this blog should be aware that it’s just an expanded infomercial for this person to sell their snake oil.

Technorati Tags: Attend, ADD, Jeannine Virtue, snake oil

Tagged as: ADHD