Why so many disorders in children?

[HydrogenBond]

I was wondering why there are so many new attention, learning and behavior disorders being found in children. I came up with a short list of possible reasons. Does anyone have an opinion?

1. A sudden rise in genetic defects in children
2. Spare the rod and spoil the child
3. Clever marketing by the drug manufacturers
4. The feminist movement
5. High rate of divorce
6. Over diagnosis for fun and profit
7. Too much drug use by the baby boomers
8. It is fashionable to take these prescribed drugs
9. Lazy parents
10. Loss of religious values
11. The feminization of culture

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by HydrogenBond

I was wondering why there are so many new attention, learning and behavior disorders being found in children. I came up with a short list of possible reasons. Does anyone have an opinion?

...2. Spare the rod and spoil the child

Most simply because as new "discoveries" are made, new questions are raised resulting in more discoveries which raise more questions...

I take issue with the cavalier mis-interpretative implication of #2. See:
Sacred Sayings & Their Unraveling

Originally Posted by Turtle

Spare the rod and spoil the child.

Found in the Septagent. The Bible. The Koran. Holy Scriptures...
Uniformally accepted to mean that one must punish a child or they will never learn.
First, the saying predates any & all of these works & is extant in Homer and/or Aristophenes. Therefore, the saying is repeated, or borrowed as it were.
Second, the saying is ubiquitously mis-interpreted; furthermore all these mis-interpretations stem from the definition or "rod".
Third, the "rod" is not a swithch, or a paddle, or a hand, or any such connotaion of a device for administering punishment. The "rod" is the Geo-Metric line. Period.
Fourth: Spare the rod & spoil the child, means that, if a person in charge of a child spares [withholds] the truth of the line from a child then the child suffers with a mis-representation of the world & their place in it.
Fifth: The truth of the line is the 'straight rod', or 'staff', or the 'needle'.
Sixth: Let those who have i see in their own i, in their own time.

[HappytheStripper]

Originally Posted by HydrogenBond

I was wondering why there are so many new attention, learning and behavior disorders being found in children. I came up with a short list of possible reasons. Does anyone have an opinion?

1. A sudden rise in genetic defects in children
2. Spare the rod and spoil the child
3. Clever marketing by the drug manufacturers
4. The feminist movement
5. High rate of divorce
6. Over diagnosis for fun and profit
7. Too much drug use by the baby boomers
8. It is fashionable to take these prescribed drugs
9. Lazy parents
10. Loss of religious values
11. The feminization of culture

Hi .. Im Ashley .. I work with a group of kids online with minor to severe problems such as those you have listed .. and rather than explain myself .. I urge you to have a look ..

I will answer your question once I have given it some thought ..

http://www.facetheissue.com/community/index.php?

Let me know what you think and should you have any other questions please ask .. thanks

Ashley

[Boerseun]

I suspect that any quality a child might have that might just differ slightly from the desired qualities of the Perfect Consumer, would be defined as some seriously debilitating syndrome that needs medication - and quickly.

[Cedars]

Part of it is the idea that these disorders are something that begins to develop before a child becomes an adult and the idea that we can minimize the delay in treatment in adults by recognising this in children and treating it at the begining, rather than long after it becomes cemented behavior that the adult has grown up with. Children have been historically ignored in this area for a few reasons, number one being alot of children who exihibit behaviors that could be diagnoised as HD, ADHD etc do grow out of it, or learn/take jobs that allow them to participate in society without being treated. Family doctors took a "lets wait and see" attitude towards these behaviors (partly due to stigmas with diagnosis).

That said, there are other parts you mention that have some role. Over diagnosis can be a problem and I know of some parents who have fought the 'classroom' diagnosis of a fustrated teacher dealing with a very active child. I have one friend who has a child with head problems and their fight hasnt been a denial of a problem it is fighting to get medications changed because they are seeing effects on the child which alarm them.

[KickAssClown]

My so called Disorders, are merely orders in my own locality, which work for me but are not nessessarily appreciated by those around me.

How they came about is many fold. Ranging from my parents to my life's journey. Question that were asked and answers that were given.

For instance I have been labeled with ODD, Oppositional Defiance Disorder. Which to me is merely proper form of the free individual as my mother taught me. My mom, as much of a headache this caused her, taught me and my siblings to question authority. The careful scrutiny of authority has revealed to me time and time again that often so called authority is no wiser, nor no more foolish than I am. That we are on equal terms. Now this works for me, but when Authority seeks to be higher than I and I deny that, Authority gets offended.

ADHD. This one makes me laugh. Once again it is a learned thing, and in good form of a intellegent individual. I split my time and focus up amongst a number of things, knowing that anyone task will not likely get done immediately. Good things come to those who wait. This makes me seem very scattered and indesive at times, but really it's just a slightly less linear manner of being which ultimately leads to good things. That I should have my undivide attention on a single thing is questionable, expecially when I am being examined by a psychologist. Few of the profession expect to be examined back, but I say do unto others as...

Obsessive Compulsive. Another one that makes me laugh. I call this drive and is simply what happens when I do decide to bring my focus down to a small set of things. Woe be that which gets my full attention, for it will never be the same again.

The list goes on and on, and many times It has been suggested, demanded and otherwise implied that I am not a good little consumer, nor a good little sheep. That I don't fit societies' little view of what it means to be a citizen does not concearn me. I am what I am, and that is what matters. Anyone whom would have me change that to fit their view sees me not as equal, nor as a person, but as something like a wax sculpture, to be shaped and manipulated as they please.

My mother sees me as person, always has, always will. She raised me to be a functioning individual capable of independent thought and action, whom could play nicely with society so long as society played nicely with me. She didn't teach me obediance, as that is obscene. My mom knows what a slave is, and what a master is. She knows that it is a choice of the individual to be in such a state.

Her criteria was that my siblings and I were capable of the three Rs. Reading, 'Righting, and 'rithmatic. That we are capable of individuation from the group. That we are Moral and Compassionate to our fellow beings. That we are Strong and Upstanding, even when others would think our actions wrong. That we are creative, thoughtful and contemplative, aware of ourselves and others.

"Children are ment to be children. Don't be any hurry to grow up, cause once you do you can't go back, and no matter what anyone says you are you and that is all you need to be." -My Mom.

-Mom was the Tattooed lady, Dad was the Strong man.
KickAssClown

[HydrogenBond]

A few things I forgot to add to the list were the internet, computer games and TV. Years back I enjoyed most computer games, even though they kept me in a constant state of stress and adreniline. I can see how this high energy neuro-chemical and body state may stick in younger children. The world becomes game play with focus stimulus randomly appearing in all directions just like in good computer game play. Many of these kids can focus themselves for hours in this game world of random stimulus.

Spare the rod, spoil the child, may also be applicable. Years back in schools when capital punishment was common (ruler to the hands), children who were disruptive would learn to control their impulses because of the risk of punishment. No drugs were required and a ten second treatment a couple a times a year was all that was typically required. Twenty years from now when secondary physical affects in young adults begin to increase, the young adults may have been better off with the hand or butt bruises that heal in a few days.

The down side of captial punishment in schools was over diagnosis (beat kids who don't deserve it) and over treatment (over target certain kids). Teachers could not always separate they own psychology from the genuine needs of the students. This is why it is no longer used.

[Boerseun]

Thank God they never applied 'capital' punishment when I was a kid!

I'm sure you meant 'corporal' punishment...?

[HydrogenBond]

My mistake, dah.

[Cedars]

Originally Posted by HydrogenBond

Spare the rod, spoil the child, may also be applicable. Years back in schools when capital punishment was common (ruler to the hands), children who were disruptive would learn to control their impulses because of the risk of punishment. No drugs were required and a ten second treatment a couple a times a year was all that was typically required. Twenty years from now when secondary physical affects in young adults begin to increase, the young adults may have been better off with the hand or butt bruises that heal in a few days.

The down side of captial punishment in schools was over diagnosis (beat kids who don't deserve it) and over treatment (over target certain kids). Teachers could not always separate they own psychology from the genuine needs of the students. This is why it is no longer used.

The other part of this is people could drop out of school at a younger age and go into the work force/work at home. I dont know that beating children resolved the issue as much as the one who struggled with school could simply walk away and begin a different life.