ADHD: Should Parents Say no to Drugs?

1. ADHD: Should Parents Say no to Drugs? Rhetorical Devices

2. Summary – ADHD Parents should say no to drugs Perhaps not all children diagnosed with ADHD are suffering from a genuine treatable disorder. Granted that some children do have ADHD, the drugs prescribed may do more harm than good. We should consider whether there are other explanations for the apparent 'plague' of ADHD diagnoses before we prescribe these children with drugs. There other explanations for the plague of ADHD diagnoses. We should be more cautious about prescribing drugs to children diagnosed with ADHD.

3. Persuasive language is used in throughout this text. Some examples of the purposes to which such uses of language are put are: (i) words such as “real” and “genuine” are used repeatedly throughout the text, to downplay the significance of ADHD by contrasting it with ‘real diseases’. For example “genuine neurological basis”, "genuine condition”, “a genuine treatable disorder”; and “more like a social trend than a real disease”. The repetition of these words reinforces the impression, without good evidence, that ADHD is not genuine. Between the third and fifth paragraphs the author slips from the weaker claim that ADHD might not be a "genuine treatable disorder" to the stronger claim that it may not be a "genuine condition" at all.

4. (ii) Emotionally charged language is used to convey the view that children are being treated badly, for example "drugs we are pumping them with", and the idea that drugs are used to "tame the wildness of youth". Even the use of hyperbole in the reference to "millions and millions of young children" has a slanting effect. The repetition makes the number seem more overwhelming. (iii) Loaded words are used to describe the medical profession in its treatment of ADHD, for example “growth industry”, and “the ADHD industry”. This emphasises the alleged profit motive behind diagnoses of ADHD. It is loaded because it presupposes that the medical and pharmaceutical professions are just businesses motivated by profit. The use of inverted commas when the doctors are described as "ADHD 'experts' " casts doubt on their qualification or trustworthiness.

5. (iv) A contrast is also emphasised throughout the text between families and the drug companies and psychiatrists, with families presented as victims of a large powerful industry. For example "For families of children diagnosed with ADHD, there is stress, and sadness, and pain. For the psychiatrists and drug companies, however, every diagnosis means a nice little profit", and the contrast between "concerned parents" and "billion-dollar multinational drug companies and psychiatrists". The author makes use of rhetorical questions such as "Are we being manipulated ... to believe the ADHD hype?" This has the effect of suggesting this possibility to the audience without having to provide evidence for it as might be required if the claim were stated explicitly.