by CCHR International

A cursory look at the study purporting that “ADHD in Children Linked to Depression and Higher Suicide Risk” revealed its obvious and glaring flaws, and we are forced to ask why so-called medical websites such as WebMD or Medical News Today were unable to accomplish what took us about ½ hour to uncover—what was clearly omitted from this “study.”

The study claims that “Children who are diagnosed with ADHD (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) have a higher chance of developing  depression and/or attempting suicide during their teenage years, or 5 to 13 years after being diagnosed, say researchers in a new article published in Archives of General Psychiatry..”

Why none of the press or medical websites are questioning what drugs the “ADHD” children in this study were already taking and what effect this could have on developing depression or suicidality…. we leave to the reader.   But this is fact; the stimulant drugs such as  Ritalin, Concerta, Adderall, etc, that are prescribed to children diagnosed with  “ADHD” have been documented by the FDA to have side effects including hallucinations, delusional thinking, mania, psychosis, aggression, violence, hostility, drug dependence and suicide and depression. The documented side effects and international drug regulatory warnings on these drugs (including withdrawal) can be found here: https://www.cchrint.org/psychdrugdangers/drug_warnings.php

The study itself reveals that the “ADHD” children being studied were from Pittsburgh and Chicago—and this key fact; all the “ADHD” children from Chicago  were recruited from a child psychiatric clinic and  42% of the “ADHD” children from Pittsburgh were also recruited from a psychiatric clinic.

The fact that the children diagnosed ADHD were recruited from psychiatric clinics nearly guarantees they were already taking psychiatric drugs or minimally had been on these drugs at some point to “treat” their ADHD diagnoses.   Moreover,  those “ADHD” children in the study who the researchers claim “developed depression,” not only should we know whether they were already on stimulant drugs which caused these side effects, but also if they were subsequently prescribed antidepressants to “treat” the depression,  considering antidepressants carry black box warnings for suicidality and also are known to cause worsening depression.

The main issue here is why none of those publishing and thereby promoting the content of this study as factual bothered to pose these simple, logical questions, or read the study themselves before passing it on as factual, potentially influencing the public at large with something that could effect their lives or the lives of their children.

As a side note…Two of the listed study authors are:

Dr. Andrea Chronis-Tuscano,  has received research support and honoraria from McNeil Pediatrics.  McNeil Pediatrics  is a division of Ortho-McNeil Janssen pharmaceuticals Inc which sells Concerta.

Dr. William E.  Pelham has received research support from Eli Lilly and honoraria from Janssen Pharmaceuticals.

And that, is the story that isn’t being told.