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Acupuncture and the Treatment of Attention
Deficit Disorder Attention deficit disorder (ADD) and attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and a variety of other psychological
diagnoses are made with increasing frequency in this country at
a younger and younger age. Our office is in a rather affluent area
of the Silicon Valley in northern California and I have been told
by teachers from the middle grades of some of the better private
schools that they have classrooms where almost 1 in every 6 children
is on Ritalin or some other powerful psychologically active medication.
This is extremely alarming. Dr. Miller's training in pediatric acupuncture
was with Julian Scott who is without doubt the world's authority
on the treatment of ADD and ADHD in children using the techniques
of acupuncture. Dr. Miller admits that he was skeptical that acupuncture
could have any meaningful effect on such difficult diseases as these
but in his experience in the clinics with Julian Scott and in his
own subsequent experience in treating children, he has been amazed
at the results. There is no particular disease in the language of
Oriental medicine that is the equivalent of what we would call ADD
or ADHD. One of the beauties of Oriental medicine is that it looks
at problems from a totally different perspective that Western medicine.
A Western physician looks at a child who has difficulty concentrating
and who has problems in their relationships with their peers and
problems in the structured setting of a classroom and it makes the
diagnosis attention deficit disorder. Oriental medicine looks at
the same child and sees the same behaviors but talks about the problem
with a completely different language, and from this very different
way of looking at the problem comes up with treatments and interventions
that are often quite effective. For Oriental medicine, the body
and the mind are inseparable, both part of a single package. Imbalances
that in one child might lead to problems with the digestive system
or the lungs can in a different child lead to problems with the
mind, with the mood and with behavior. The goal is to identify and
treat the imbalances and when this is done, the symptoms abate,
be they symptoms in the body or symptoms in the mind. This is not
just a nice theory. These techniques work. There is often a need
for treatment that extends over several months, but there is tremendous
gratification in watching a child change in a way that their need
for Ritalin or other medications is significantly reduced or eliminated. Acupuncture for the treatment of attention deficit
disorder and other childhood diseases is remarkably safe. It is
Dr. Miller's practice to leave the child on whatever medication
they are on as the treatment begins and to coordinate any attempts
to reduce or eliminate the medication with the physician that had
originally prescribed the drugs. If a child is extremely phobic
and fearful of needles, there are ways that the necessary acupuncture
points can be effectively stimulated using minimal or even no needles.
Even for those children who have conditions requiring months of
treatment to bring about a significant improvement, the prospect
of several months of acupuncture is far better than the possibility
of a lifetime of medication. For a more thorough discussion of the use of acupuncture
in the treatment of attention deficit disorder, please see the book
by Julian Scott and Teresa Barlow from Eastland Press: Return to Acupuncture Home Page
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