I could have written this two days ago, but I wanted to wait and make sure I got as many of the facts as possible. As everyone in Houston knows, Brian Cushing (linebacker for the Houston Texans) is claiming he has overtrained athlete syndrome (or OAS). Since he has this OAS, his levels of HGC (a hormone mostly found in women that are pregnant) were elevated enough for him to fail a drug test last season. Now, he will sit out the first four games of the season.
Sitting out the two days really helped give me some background, but it didn't help Cushing. Cushing actually failed three drug tests. He failed one in September, but the second sample came back negative. When two samples have different results, they side with the player. In November, both samples failed. He went through his appeals and all of those appeals failed. Now, he is claiming OAS. The world turns.
As many of you know, I delve into the sports world every now and then we I see parallels with the real world. The parallels are overwhelming in this case. You have someone that has clearly done something wrong, but is trying to cover it up with some psuedoscience. I have seen folks on the blogosphere claim that the folks arguing against Cushing are similar to the "debate" over global warming. Hilarious.
I see this weekly at work. A student is acting out somehow and we have a meeting. In the meeting, the principal or another teacher suggests that the student might have ADHD. If the parent trusts the school then they go to the doctor (which is free on the island) and get a perscription. They take the drug for awhile. Either the behavior goes away or they go back for another drug. Eventually they find something that works. The break down in logic is easy. Any drug is going to change human behavior, so there will always be a drug that "works". The question is exactly what is going on.
Some people thought that we had alphabet soup back in the days of Roosevelt, but the psychiatric community really has a bunch of them. Now, professional athletes are getting in on the fun. Look up OAS and none of the symptoms match Brian Cushing. That shouldn't matter though right. Look up OAS and you will find no links between that and HGC. That shouldn't matter either I suppose.
Social conservatives are fond of saying that the traditional family values are slipping away. I say they are alive and well. Kids know stealing is wrong. They know hurting other people is wrong. They know cheating is wrong. They know all of these things. Unfortunately, some children (and adults) need to suffer consequences before they get it. Maybe they are testing the limits or maybe they don't care about rules. What they do care about is consequences and that is always true. Heck some people are deterred simply by watching someone else face consequences. Unfortunately, consequences today are fewer and further between. Parents either deny that it happened, threaten to sue the school, or give their children a pretty little pill to make it go away.
The same is true for adults. We see others get away with it, so we learn to do the same. As for me, I know I may be subject to a drug test at work soon. I just got back to work, but I better not work too hard. I may get that overtrained athlete syndrome and fail the test.
I am very nervous everytime my supervisors push this. I know enough about school law to know that teachers should never suggest such a thing. We are supposed to report the behavior we are witnessing and let the parent decide. That is how science is supposed to work anyway. ADD and ADHD comes with specific symptoms and behaviors. It most certainly exists, but not in nearly as many children as are being diagnosed.
The problem is the subtle message we are sending. When you have a problem you can take a pill to fix it. Life doesn't always work that way. You can't take a pill when you don't get the A or don't get that job. You can't take a pill when you breakup with your girlfriend or boyfriend. Well, I suppose you could, but you shouldn't.
He's a girl...obviously!
I know this isn't really isn't the theme of your post, Scott, but I have to give you Kudos. I haven't run across another educator yet that will admit that there is a problem with educators attempting to diagnose children with ADHD. My son's first grade teacher informed me that he suffered from ADHD. Oddly enough, she didn't have an answer when I asked her where she went to medical school. After spending a significant amount of money at Texas Children's to find out he did not suffer from this disorder and then applying consistent discipline, he is a pretty well behaved 4th grader.