Boys Organization Calls New York Times Article “Profoundly Disturbing”
Washington, DC – October 9, 2012 – Today The Boys Initiative, a Washington, DC-based nonprofit organization, characterized an October 9 article appearing in the New York Times as “profoundly disturbing”. The article examines the widening diagnosis of ADHD in children and the use of prescription drugs to treat symptoms that may or may not be related to that diagnosis. Studies show that boys are diagnosed with ADHD at two and a half times the rate of girls.
“It has been apparent for some time now that there is widespread confusion on the subject of ADHD diagnosis among parents as well as health care providers”, said Dennis Barbour, Co-Founder and Executive Vice President of The Boys Initiative. “The damage we are inflicting on young brains may well be life-long as well as unnecessary,” he said, “in the end we may be creating a largely male cohort of robots”.
The Boys Initiative is calling on national organizations that serve the interests of children and adolescents to begin advocating for use of more coherent treatment guidelines based on sound science, such as those of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Such guidelines are neither well understood nor applied uniformly.
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The mission of The Boys Initiative is to draw attention to the growing problem of underachievement among boys and young men, to provide resources to address it, and to facilitate collaborative efforts to promote achievement and health among young males.
The organization is guided by an Advisory Board composed of nationally known professionals and individuals who are dedicated to improving the lives of boys and young men. Contact information for these individuals can be obtained by inquiring through dbarbour@theboysinitiative.org.
CONTACT:
Dennis J. Barbour
dbarbour@theboysinitiative.org
cell: 202-841-7475
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