EDUCATED GUESSES ARE AT ROOT OF RITALIN USE

The most important statement about attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder
that I have seen in print is the last paragraph of your article
["hyperactivity overdiagnosed?", Health & Science, Sept.2].

In it, Dr. Louis H. McCormick is quoted as saying, "we don't have a blood
test to evaluate ADHD. ADHD is an educated guess."

Ritalin is a powerful psychoactive agent. Those who refer to it as "mild"
have probably never been forced to take it. If an educated guess is good
enough to start a lifetime dependency for up to 20 percent of a population,
parents would be well advised to get educated on their own about the
dangers of Ritalin and start out-guessing the questionable authorities who
created the diagnosis- the psychiatrists.

Alan Graham
Santa Ana