Daily Mail – March 30, 2014
By Sophie Borland
A second world-renowned scientist has come forward to support claims that ADHD is not a real disease, but a description of symptoms.
Dr Bruce Perry said most people displayed signs of the condition at some point in their lives.
He also said psychostimulant drugs, such as Ritalin, used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder may have long-term adverse effects.
It comes after US neurologist Dr Richard Saul claimed ADHD did not exist, in a book serialised by the Daily Mail.
He said treating children’s hyperactivity with drugs was similar to giving a heart attack patient painkillers – it ignores the cause of the problem, which could be as simple as an iron deficiency.
Dr Perry, a neuroscientist at the ChildTrauma Academy in Houston, Texas, will meet Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith today at a lecture he is giving, hosted by charity the Early Intervention Foundation.
Some 2 to 5 per cent of children are thought to have ADHD. Symptoms include short attention span, restlessness and fidgeting.
Dr Perry said: ‘It is best thought of as a description . . . any one of us at any given time would fit at least a couple of those criteria.’
He said ADHD was a label for a set of symptoms, adding: ‘It’s a description rather than a real disease.’
Read the rest of the article here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2592641/Expert-claims-ADHD-not-real-disease-fits-two-criteria.html
