ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER
Eddie was exceedingly distractible. He yelled out loud, tapped his
feet and fingers, squealed like an animal, ran wildly around the
classroom.
Attention deficit disorder, declared the school psychologists who
tested him. They advised medication. Mom balked.
It took child psychologist Richard Bromfield, Ph.D., almost two
years of play therapy to pinpoint Eddie's problem. But once he did, the
impulsivity and inattention faded.
Bromfield, who teaches at Harvard Medical School, deplores the
"psychiatric infatuation" with medication for problems that stem from a
child's frustration, anger, and uncertainty over deep emotional wounds.
Children who must continually scan the world for danger can ill afford to
lose themselves in a book, he says.
Still, most would have dosed Eddie with Ritalin, the "miracle drug"
for A.D.D. Sometimes it's appropriate, but Bromfield calls it "wildly
overprescribed." He objects to the rush to use drugs:
o No one has a clue on longterm effects. "The good news is bad news
so far."
o Central nervous system effects are unknown--a great risk for a
non-lifethreatening malady. It's unknown why a drug that speeds up
adults' metabolism slows down kids.
o Drugs treat the symptoms, not the causes; the emotional distress
causing hyper-activity remains untouched.
o Medication becomes a badge of helplessness. "How can a child
develop the capacity to control himself while the prescription's strong
message is he can't?"
For Eddie, life was an exercise in anxiety over the loss of his
father by divorce, exacerbated by the threatened emotional loss of his
mother by remarriage. Loss of attention is a rather typical reaction to
anxiety, observes Bromfield.
Unlike medication, play therapy is no overnight sensation. It takes
time to build trust between therapist and child. But once built, it can
solve emotional problems drugs never touch.
ILLUSTRATION
Tags:
ADD,
attention deficit disorder,
central nervous system,
child psychologist,
emotional distress,
emotional loss,
emotional problem,
emotional wounds,
harvard medical school,
helplessness,
hyper activity,
inattention,
infatuation,
malady,
medication,
miracle drug,
misdiagnosis,
overnight sensation,
play therapy,
richard bromfield,
school psychologists,
typical reaction
