Frank Granett explained to Lon Woodbury, talk show host for the Struggling Teen's weekly L.A. Talk Radio show that the main reasons ADHD and depression symptoms have become an epidemic in this country include Environment, Nutrition, and Physiological causes. He believes that one causative factor behind this epidemic of neurotic children is that we are over medicating our youth.
Frank Granett's Background
Frank Granett is a Board Certified Pharmacist with over 25 years of consultative pharmacy experience, specializing in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and psychiatric medications. In his book "Over Medicating Our Youth: The Public Awareness Guide for A.D.D. and Psychiatric Medications", he outlines how careless prescriptions are creating harmful long-term effects on children. He is the founder of the Coalition Against Overmedicating Our Youth (CAOOY).
Why Are We Over Medicating Our Youth?
Granett talked about just how ADHD grew to such epidemic proportion. In the last five years alone, 12 million young people in the U.S.A. have actually been diagnosed as having ADHD. This is three times the rest of the kids in the world. Nonetheless, this higher number might be due to the very way ADHD is detected, which is based upon a behavioral analyses rather than looking at original biological factors. The outcome of this kind of quick assessment is that we are overmedicating our youth.
The response to this "epidemic" of ADHD has been overmedication, with millions of children being put on antianxiety, antidepressant, and antipsychotic drugs. Even those as young as 4 years are being put on these drugs. In addition, this overmedication has developed another troubling statistic: the number two cause of university student is suicide.
Granett talked about how the conditions for this perfect storm has been created over the past 40 years, when ADHD was first diagnosed. His research has led him to conclude that poor nutrition, as well as the hasty, often superficial diagnostic process. He talked in great depth about the best approach to empowering parents, educators, and counselors about the real causative factors behind ADHD as well as advising on the best alternative measures based on improving children's nutrition, including the use of enzymes and decreasing sugar and simple carbohydrates which cause hypoglycemia and behavior motivated by an upsurge in adrenalin.
Granett talked about the role of CAOOY, an organization he established which supplies medical professionals, parents, and teachers the knowledge they desperately need to make educated decisions about using psychiatric medicines on children. CAOOY gave parents, teachers, and physicians the factual information they need to lead this reform into alternative solutions.
Final Thoughts
The guests revealed to Lon how vital it is to do a bio-assessment of the causes for the symptoms before issuing a prescription instead of merely basing their decisions on behavior outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. Merely doing an assessment based on behavior has resulted in a great increase in premature drug therapy. While this may prove to be a short-term solution to arrest visibly disruptive behavior, research is beginning to show over medicating our youth has long-term negative effects on their development.
Frank Granett's Background
Frank Granett is a Board Certified Pharmacist with over 25 years of consultative pharmacy experience, specializing in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and psychiatric medications. In his book "Over Medicating Our Youth: The Public Awareness Guide for A.D.D. and Psychiatric Medications", he outlines how careless prescriptions are creating harmful long-term effects on children. He is the founder of the Coalition Against Overmedicating Our Youth (CAOOY).
Why Are We Over Medicating Our Youth?
Granett talked about just how ADHD grew to such epidemic proportion. In the last five years alone, 12 million young people in the U.S.A. have actually been diagnosed as having ADHD. This is three times the rest of the kids in the world. Nonetheless, this higher number might be due to the very way ADHD is detected, which is based upon a behavioral analyses rather than looking at original biological factors. The outcome of this kind of quick assessment is that we are overmedicating our youth.
The response to this "epidemic" of ADHD has been overmedication, with millions of children being put on antianxiety, antidepressant, and antipsychotic drugs. Even those as young as 4 years are being put on these drugs. In addition, this overmedication has developed another troubling statistic: the number two cause of university student is suicide.
Granett talked about how the conditions for this perfect storm has been created over the past 40 years, when ADHD was first diagnosed. His research has led him to conclude that poor nutrition, as well as the hasty, often superficial diagnostic process. He talked in great depth about the best approach to empowering parents, educators, and counselors about the real causative factors behind ADHD as well as advising on the best alternative measures based on improving children's nutrition, including the use of enzymes and decreasing sugar and simple carbohydrates which cause hypoglycemia and behavior motivated by an upsurge in adrenalin.
Granett talked about the role of CAOOY, an organization he established which supplies medical professionals, parents, and teachers the knowledge they desperately need to make educated decisions about using psychiatric medicines on children. CAOOY gave parents, teachers, and physicians the factual information they need to lead this reform into alternative solutions.
Final Thoughts
The guests revealed to Lon how vital it is to do a bio-assessment of the causes for the symptoms before issuing a prescription instead of merely basing their decisions on behavior outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. Merely doing an assessment based on behavior has resulted in a great increase in premature drug therapy. While this may prove to be a short-term solution to arrest visibly disruptive behavior, research is beginning to show over medicating our youth has long-term negative effects on their development.
About the Author:
Learn more about Lon Woodbury on Struggling Teens. He has recorded the entire interview on his weekly L.A. Talk Radio show for people to listen to at any time.
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