I LOVE a good conspiracy story ...

Attorney Richard Scruggs, who rang up $400 million in legal fees (cha-ching!) with class-action lawsuits against the tobacco companies, says adhd is bunk.

I guess he's still lookin' for more money.

The story about lawsuit was brought to my attention by another great adhd blog, "Adders World".  I highly recommend visiting Adders World, starting with "The ADHD SchEmE".

The following is a few snippets from the article "Got ADHD?" from the Daily Journal, along with my commentary to add balance and rational thought.  Okay ... an adders thoughts ...

Scruggs, who led the settlement between U.S. states and the tobacco industry in 1998, leads a lawyers group alleging in two lawsuits that the makers of the drug Ritalin conspired with psychiatrists to "create" the condition ADHD.

Typical of conspiracy theories, this one has been going on for at least 70 years, undetected of course, until now!  It's always amazing to me how "diabolical" these conspiracies are, yet they take so long to develop.  Over 70 years ... how many people working at the many pharmaceutical companies, psychiatrists and psychologists would have had to be in on this conspiracy?  Hundreds of thousands?  More?

Adders may not be the best organizers, but NOBODY could keep organized a conspiracy so large for so long.  This is just another attorney looking to cash in on the Big Bucks by arbitrarily forcing a "settlement".

Dr. Rosemond, whose column runs in the Daily Journal, has no stake in the lawsuit but is writing a book about what he calls "the ADHD scheme" with a nationally known pediatrician, who Rosemond says "has seen the light."

Sounds more like a marketing campaign to me.

The suits seek class action status and billions of dollars in damages. The allegations are denied by both the company and the APA.

"The suits seek class action status and billions of dollars in damages."  $$$ BILLIONS $$$!!! Are you starting to follow the money trail?

Scruggs, who tallied up $400 million in legal fees from the settlement with the tobacco industry, said public health was the main motivator in the Ritalin case, and the ultimate goal of the lawsuit is to change the way the drug is prescribed.

Sure ... and monkey's are going to fly out of my butt.  "Just doing it for the kids ... " to the tune of MILLIONS (in his pocket).

"They are exploiting the fears of parents for the welfare of children to gain inappropriately, and I think that is very reprehensible and it can have a widespread effect on the health of American kids."

The above quote from Scruggs says it all!

John Rosemond has a new BOOK TO SELL called "The Diseasing of America's Children: Exposing the ADHD Fiasco and Empowering Parents to Take Back Control".  The title of Rosemond's book is PURE SCARE TACTIC COPY!

Scare Tactics - coercing a favorable response by preying upon the audience's fears.

Nice, uh?  Yeah ... he "cares" all right ... about his wallet.

So ... I wanted to find out more about these guys.  Who are they?  Scruggs is a class-action attorney.  What more do you really need to know?  Alright, alright ... some of them serve a purpose, so to google I go ... and what do I find?

Civil-suit attorney Richard Scruggs gets 5 years for bribery!

Ahem, I rest my case.  You can read even more about it in the Wall Street Journal by clicking on his picture.

That was too easy, what about Rosemond?

Well ... he isn't a criminal like Scruggs ...

The traveling salesman, who's contemplating running for the House of Representatives, has only a couple minor scrapes with trouble.  In 1987, the North Carolina Psychology Board issued a reprimand after a complaint was brought against him for writing in a column that there was no evidence supporting child therapy. And in 1995, he voluntarily entered into a consent order after advising the family of an 18-month-old who had been sexually abused to skip therapy, since she wouldn't remember the incident anyways.  Also worthy of note, this so-called "family therapist" hasn't spoken his mother in over 10 years (The Disciples of Discipline - New York Times).

Rosemond, no longer practicing psychology, travels most the year doing seminars, selling books and t-shirts to desperate parents.  He claims, "There is no such thing as having ADHD. It is not a biological condition. It is not a disease. It is a lifestyle condition."

"It requires a lifestyle change in the family. One of the things I tell parents who are dealing with this type of child is you have to get the child off, completely off, video games, TV, Internet, computers" (Up Close with John Rosemond).

Dr. W. Joseph Wyatt, on the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies website, has a debate with John Rosemond about his advice.  Dr. Wyatt agrees with much of what Rosemond says, but Rosemond simply goes on the attack anyway (a defensive posture indeed).  I end this post today with a couple snippets from the debate.

In my first snippet, Dr. Wyatt notes that Rosemond claims that adhd is caused by the "flicker" of the television, to which Rosemond responds claiming Wyatt as misrepresenting him.  Dr. Wyatt then replies with the following:

" ... I had written that Rosemond blames the flicker of the TV screen for ADHD. He felt that was a misrepresentation. But here is what Rosemond wrote about ADHD in one of his columns: "Since 1978 I've been saying that television is a primary culprit. The constant ‘flicker' of television compromises the brain's ability to properly develop the structures necessary to a long attention span." The reader can decide whether I have taken Rosemond out of context, as Rosemond claimed I had done."

And in the last paragraph of his final response, Rosemond sums it up by stating the following (highlights by me):

Wyatt says I paint the "post-modern psychological child-parenting field as monolithic." He obviously doesn't understand the term post-modern. Psychology is a secular religion. One believes in it by faith. I don't have any such faith. Wyatt reveals his misunderstanding of my pre-modern worldview when he says that he and I agree that feeling better (self esteem) is a matter of doing better.

Yeah ... all of our biology - organs, skin, bones, etc - can have biological dysfunction of one sort or another, but not our brain.  It takes faith for all the neurotransmitters, synapses, chemicals and what not in our brain to dysfunction ...

It appears to me that John Rosemond is selling good folks nothing but viles of snake oil.  He's not very good at psychiatry, but he sure is a good copywriter!

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