Damaging Young Brains

Dr. Fred Baughman, Jr., child neurologist and Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology The effects of heavy psychiatric drugs on the brain are known. According to Dr. Fred Baughman, Jr., a pediatric neurologist and Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology, "stimulant therapy, not ADHD, is the likely cause of the brain atrophy [shrinkage]."

• The effects of heavy psychiatric drugs on the brain are known. Dr. Valenstein, Ph.D. says, "it is well established that the drugs used to treat a mental disorder, for example, may induce long-lasting biochemical and even structural changes, which in the past were claimed to be the cause of the disorder, but may actually be an effect of the treatment."¹⁸ He states: "It is now difficult to find mental patients who have not had a history of drug treatment, and as a result many of the brain abnormalities found in these patients are probably iatrogenic, that is, produced by the treatment rather than being the cause of the disorder."¹⁹ [Emphasis added]

• In 1998, Dr. James Swanson asserted that the brains of ADHD subjects were, on average, 10% atrophic (smaller) compared to normal control subjects. However, there are no ADHD studies to date in which the subjects were drug-naive—virtually all ADHD subjects had been on stimulant therapy. According to Dr. Fred Baughman, Jr., "This being the case, stimulant therapy, not ADHD, is the likely cause of the brain atrophy (shrinkage)."

• Dr. Baughman observes: "Once methylphenidate hydrochloride or any psychotropic drug courses through [a child's] brain and body, they are, for the first time, physically, neurologically, and biologically abnormal."

• As early as 1986, Henry A. Nasrallah and colleagues performed CT scans on 24 young men who had been treated for "hyperactivity" since childhood, and found "a significantly greater frequency of cerebral atrophy" in the hyperactive group than in controls. Noting that all of the hyperactive patients had been treated with psychostimulants, the researchers suggested, "Cortical atrophy may be a long-term adverse effect of this treatment."