Taking America Off Drugs: Why Behavioral Therapy is More Effective for Treating ADHD, OCD, Depression, and Other Psychological Problems

2. The Behavioral Balance

Chapter 2 The Behavioral Balance THE BEHAVIORAL SOLUTION Fortunately, in addition to bringing to light the excessive practice of drugging America’s children, a U.S. News & World Report’s article (Shute et al., 2000) pointed to the behavioral solution: All too often, children get drugs with none of the behavior modification, counseling, and long-term follow-up that mental health experts say are essential....But even the pharmaceutical companies say it is inappropriate to prescribe antidepressants for children without exploring other methods of treatment, particularly behavioral therapy...in elevating [presumed ] biological causes of mental disorders, society risks ignoring other key factors: family, environment, culture. If a child behaves badly because the parents’ marriage is in turmoil , is the problem with the child or with the family? Are today’s parents too busy to give difficult children the one-onone attention and patience they need? Do teachers demand that children be drugged rather than accept a rambunctious classroom? (pp. 48–50) The behavioral treatment is basic but very effective, as reporter Susan Brink (2000) notes: Behavioral therapy can help when a child, even a preschooler, has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder....The therapy is 17 a consistent system of rewards and consequences. “You catch them being good, you praise them and give lots of rewards,” said Bruce Black, a child psychiatrist in Wellesley, Mass. If they’re bad, a parent gives them a timeout or takes away a toy. Children with obsessive-compulsive disorder can benefit from behavioral therapy as well as exposure therapy. If a girl feels a need to constantly wash after touching a toy that she fears is dirty, or just plain yucky, she might be led to touch the toy and taught relaxation techniques to ease anxiety. (p. 49) Comparisons The superiority of the behavioral approach over the drug approach for behavioral problems can best be seen by taking major behavioral problems and comparing the two approaches on a problem-by-problem basis. The use and abuse of muscle-building steroids serve as a useful introduction to the comparative approach this book will take. Questions that athletes and millions of normal teenage boys ask include: How strong is strong enough? How fast is fast enough? How long a recovery is long enough? How far from average must one’s strength, speed, and recovery time be until it is “abnormal”? How far from average must strength, speed, and recovery be before medical intervention is acceptable? How far from elite performance must one be before medical intervention is acceptable? Is it ever? Anabolic steroids, natural or synthetic androgenic (male) hormones, increase muscle size, strength, speed, and aggression and decrease recovery time following workouts. In some cases, such as severe atrophy following an accident, steroids are medically useful and perhaps life saving. But the vast majority of steroid use and abuse occurs simply to improve athletic performance or one’s looks. “The appetite for these drugs is a product of our culture’s obsession with muscularity and athletic success for males,” according to Pennsylvania State University’s Charles E. Yesalis. Furthermore, states Yesalis, “The steroid problem has been known about in professional sports for at least two decades, and in high school for at least one decade...young people’s appetite for steroids actually increased after Ben Johnston got caught in 1988. They saw that Johnston blew [U.S. sprinter] Carl Lewis away when Johnson was on steroids” (quoted in Bower, 1991, p. 31). While drugs can improve perfromance , changing behaviors also can improve athletic performance and 18 TAKING AMERICA OFF DRUGS one’s looks as well. What are the differences between steroids (i.e., drugs) and behavior modification? Ease Increases in muscle speed, strength, and size are only a pill or an injection away with steroids. Behaviors necessary for increases in muscle speed, strength, and size include regular, often intense, training and changes in eating, sleeping, and drinking habits. All are difficult to accomplish. Speed of Results Steroid drugs produce results almost immediately. Results from behavior modification to improve performance may not be noticed for months or even years. But there is a steep price for easy, quick, and performance-and look-enhancing steroid drug use. The price includes male breasts, acne, and shriveled testicles for starters. Unless one remains on steroids for life (a very unwise course of action), because the drug injections give the body its testosterone, the testes may stop producing hormones of their own...