By Lynette Fleming

What do you think would happen if childhood leukemia increased by more than 4,000 percent in children and adolescents over an eight-year period?  I imagine medical experts everywhere would be scrambling to find out why.  Yet diagnoses of bipolar disorder did just that in a recent eight-year period, mostly in boys, and no one is asking why. 

Boys at younger ages than ever before are being labeled with ADHD, Asperger’s (autism), and bipolar disorder at alarming rates.  Medication begins, often for behaviors which are simply a part of normal boy development.  The criteria listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, provided by the American Psychiatric Association to help physicians diagnose ADHD, make it very easy to hand out this diagnosis and the medication which accompanies the condition.  The checklist of symptoms applies not just to kids who do have ADHD, but also to many who do not.  Since no adjustment is made for a child’s age, younger and younger kids who are active and inquisitive are stuck with a tag and medication which may follow them the rest of their lives.  Many of these “symptoms” given time and parental guidance would soon dissipate on their own and be forgotten.  But in today’s “pill” mentality, we are medicating (mostly boys) at younger and younger ages with common side effects of stomach upsets, weight loss, and insomnia.

Bipolar disorder is even more difficult to diagnose and to control.  When my daughter was a teen, one of her “boy” friends sat on his parents' bed and shot himself in the mouth with his father’s shotgun.  Popular, a great football player, and handsome, this young man seemingly had everything going for him.  My daughter and I stood in line three hours at his visitation, waiting to give our sympathy to his brother (who had found him) and parents.  We later learned that he had been diagnosed with a bipolar disorder, for which he was taking medication.  Dr. Rao tells us, “Pills are not the only treatment for behavioral problems, let alone developmental challenges.  Nor are they always the best treatment.  Many boys respond extremely well to shifting their environment, tutoring, coaching, behavioral therapy, and changes in diet and nutrition.”

I really like Dr. Rao’s integration of cases from his clinical practice into the body of the book, as well as useful suggestions for behavior modification.  Concerned about your boy?  Before you go running to the doctor to find out whether he has ADHD, like most of his friends, read this book.  You just might find the magic pill is not a pill at all.

Anthony Rao, Ph.D., has more than twenty years of experience working with young boys from all over the country, both at Harvard Medical School and in his own practice, Behavioral Solutions. He holds a doctorate in psychology from Vanderbilt University and has trained medical residents and interns at Children's Hospital in Boston. Dr. Rao lectures nationally on topics related to kids and parents. You'll find the author online at www.anthonyrao.com

The Way of Boys by Anthony Rao, Ph.D. and Michelle Seaton

Lynette Fleming Is Coauthor of Lunch Buddies: Buddy Up for a Better Diet

Youth Suicide: 4,500 Preventable Deaths; 149,000 Self-Inflicted Injuries

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