Stick to the day job, Rory – and stop peddling fake science
LUDICROUS sight of the week was the mimic Rory Bremner, his head adorned with wires and electrodes, making propaganda for the non-existent complaint ‘ADHD’ on the BBC.
I stress here, there is not now, and never has been, any objective test for the presence of this complaint in the human frame. Yet it is ‘treated’ with very objective and powerful drugs, which are sold on the black market as stimulants and in some cases would be illegal if not prescribed.
Mr Bremner is as good at journalism as I am at mimicry. Perhaps less good. He fell for it all, the claim that ‘ADHD’, a modern invention, was first discovered centuries ago, the comic pseudo-science which has sprung up to serve the needs of pharmaceutical companies who have pills to sell, and the need to create illnesses for which they can be prescribed.
The BBC programme involved ended with Mr Bremner and a doctor concluding he probably suffers from ‘ADHD’. Astute viewers may have noticed just how vague and subjective this so-called ‘diagnosis’ was. They may even have noticed the careful mentions, from time to time, of the awkward fact (yes, once more, it can’t be said too often) that there is no specific test for ‘ADHD’.
He then took a pill and went on stage, where apparently all went well. What was the point of all this? The wealthy lobby, which has successfully persuaded millions of American and British parents to drug their healthy children with worrying and expensive pills, has stalled a bit in recent years.
But some genius has now come up with the idea of ‘Adult ADHD’. If this new fantasy can take hold, there’s an almost limitless market to be exploited. For, if you think you’ve got it, you won’t find it hard to discover a doctor who will agree with you.
After all, there is – I say it yet again – no objective test for the presence of this complaint, and doctors are bombarded by drug companies with propaganda and blandishments, to persuade them to join in the game.
In the USA, you’ll actually be prescribed an amphetamine. Here, you’ll get a drug so like amphetamine that it’s hard to say what the difference is.
Amphetamine is very bad for you. That’s why it’s illegal without a prescription. Nasty effects include mood swings, insomnia, hypertension and increased heart rate, nausea and blurred vision.
I’d be reluctant to undergo that for a real objective disease, let alone an imaginary one.
Jesters such as Mr Bremner are valuable for our society. But it isn’t very funny when they start taking themselves seriously.