USADA states that its mission is "To be the guardian of the values and lessons learned through true sport." However, their pursuit of fairness implicitly assumes that the lack thereof is orchestrated by the athlete and/or coach against his/her competitors. Today's youth share are being exposed to messages that solutions, to intangible "health" problems (i.e. mental health), are pharmaceutical. The "problem" may be to other individuals, with the patient not even being consulted. One need not look any further than the National Institute of Mental Health website to see what kind of "epidemics" are growing.
Use of the DSM, as a platform for medical decisions, glosses over genuine health issues, such as nutritional deficiencies, which could have neurological manifestations. The correlation between socioeconomic status (which affects state-sanctioned mental diagnosis) and nutritional status warrants examination, considering today's obesity statistics. To bypass medical evaluation and go directly to psychiatry may miss simple solutions conducive to the wellbeing of the individual, the effectiveness of our educational systems, and the growth of our economy. The DSM is culturally based. The DSM-IV, for instance, details Asperger's Syndrome as including "failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level" and "the disturbance causes clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning."[1] Unquestionably a good example of failed biological homeostatis, especially if the "patients" are content. Where was an anti-left-handed drug when we needed it decades ago? I don't know how the arbitrary pharmaceutical impetus for mental can fall under the same auspices of algorithms used to diagnose and treat congestive heart failure and diabetic ketoacidosis.
Some "therapeutic" drugs such as SSRIs are prescribed for a variety of mental imperfections, sometimes off-label with impunity. SSRIs attenuate pituitary activity, which is needed for growth and development [2,3,4]. Effectively thyroid hormones, androgen, and estrogen levels are at risk. Theoretical analytes, such as serotonin and its metabolites, are generally not measured at all. Leading reference laboratories have not established reference ranges for psychopathology, only for more concrete disciplines such as oncology. Psychiatrists make a subjective diagnosis purportedly based on direct questioning and questionnaires, or rather just commit forgery to expedite the diagnostic process, as a recent New York Times article illustrates.[5] Next, they will see if any extraordinary sequelae develop. What nature has in store for a developing brain/body is not revealed by a shrink who tampers with the hypothalamus/pituitary axis. Correlations with antipsychotic use have included obesity and type II diabetes, neither of which are conducive to optimal performance.[6] I can see that a system for mental diagnostics is apt to be window dressing, while the drug agenda is preexisting. Some young victims may not even receive an evaluation.[7] Revelation of the individual's extraordinary potential may otherwise be forthcoming and unprecedented. Do athletes benefit from thyroid and steroid hormone activity? Are they getting bonus points for attenuating these functions? Why are professionals and lay people trying to convince people that the solution to life's minor problems are pharmaceutical? A preexisting agenda of drugging young people is not conducive to the health and development of their bodies.
Public campaigns of the past few decades have aimed to dissuade people from use of exogenous chemicals due to risk of acute toxicity or other problems. The nutrition campaigns of the same era underscore the importance of long-range optimal performance. What is absent from the knee-jerk repertoire of drug-centric gurus is exercise, meditation and other measures of internal control, and time, which brings wisdom and developmental milestones. Inasmuch the education model of staring at the front of a room for most of the day is ingenious, the victims of the decrepit school systems need a fair chance to show what they are capable of. Drugs appear to be cheaper than infrastructure. If the school systems become more decrepit and the general population becomes more unscholarly and paranoid one can only wonder where pharmaceutical practices will go. If you want to raise something that stares silently for long periods you raise a python; but, it won't act like it has a four-chambered heart.
World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has created a biological passport system; more or less a delta check system on an individual athlete's biochemistry. In the case of minors, chemical levels are especially subject to change. Psychiatry makes no effort towards a biological passport, nor its impact on biological development. Other than the International Normalization Ratio (INR) for oral anticoagulant monitoring, clinical laboratories are not operating support at the biological passport level. In the event that something profound measures analysis in a clinical laboratory, test results will be matched against population-based intervals rather than the patient's own normal values. From a clinical standpoint, if a drug made sub-4:00 Alan Webb run a mile in 5:30, he is asymptomatic (unless he complains maybe). Clinical laboratory science does not necessarily detect loss to an individual, especially when methodology is subject to change. To reach their potential young people need to learn to keep an open mind and be allowed to discover nature's blessings, not that they need to be drugged for everything and effectively be stunted. It seems counterintuitive that someone would be happier because they did not receive nature's blessings. In order to cultivate milestones for humankind third party distress should be handled separately.
The priorities should be not just cleanness of competition but cleanness of health. For those who already have predilections towards health they need to be free from siege and brainwashing towards pill-popping solutions to immaterial problems. Cleanness of competition also necessitates that people be allowed to be human and discover and reach their potential.
True fairness involves being neither doped nor duped against performance. Fairness in sport stands a chance when professionals quit acting as mercenaries waging chemical warfare masked as medicine.
1. Atwood, T. The Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers; 2007.
2. Gen Hosp Psychiatry. 2010 Sep-Oct;32(5):559.e5-7. Epub 2010 Apr 27.
3. Pediatr Res. 2009 Feb;65(2):236-41.
4. Demers, PhD, DABCC, LM. Pituitary Function. In: Burtis CA, Ashwood ER, editors. Tietz Fundamentals of Clinical Chemistry. 2nd ed. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders Company, 2001.
5. Wilson D. Child's ordeal reveals risks of psychiatric drugs in young. The New York Times. 2010 September 2; Health.
6. NIMH. Significant weight gain, metabolic changes associated with antipsychotic use in children. 2009 October 27. Science Update.
Available at:
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/science-news/2009/significant-weight-gain-metabolic-changes-associated-with-antipsychotic-use-in-children.shtml
7. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Antipsychotic use doubles for very young children, while mental health visits are few. 2011 March. Child Adolescent Health. Available at:
http://www.ahrq.gov/research/mar11/0311RA16.htm
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment