The over-medication of the American Youth...

[Qdrop]

I had this debate with Jenny last night (her being a 6th grade teacher and having a ton of pill-popping "ADHD" students)...

Do you think the current BOOM in ADD and ADHD diagnosis and subsequent drug prescription is clinically accurate? Or just a symptom of our nations pharmacuetical/corporate trend to "a pill for everything"?...
as well as a comfortable scapegoat for childhood misbehaving due to natural genetics and shitty parenting?

I tend to fall on the latter side....
I just don't think the majority of these kids are true clinical cases of ADHD....and I think too many doctors are prescription happy when a parent complains that her kid talks in school too much and gets in trouble...

I mean, ADD and ADHD diagnosis is pretty subjective...there is no urine test per say to show it....like with diabetes, for example.
it's more an opinion...and a loose one at that.

shit, I was a textbook example of a ADHD kid in grade school: talked too much, always getting in trouble, "grades are good, but could be better if he focused and didn't talk so much", get's bored and fidgety....
yet I was never taken to the doctor or given pills....
I grew out of it just fine....

now, I'm not a teacher....I don't deal with school kids day in and day out like them (or Jenny)....so she definitely had a different take than me, and swears that many of her kids NEED their meds or they go "crazy"...
I just wonder how much of that could be suggestive/psychosematic?

I mean, a number of her kids regularly "forget" to take their meds in her class...then proceed to act-the-fool all day....while literally yelling "I didn't take my meds today!"....a comfortable scapegoat for them to do what they please....

[jabumbo]

its a product of the media


take a look at what kid's watch these days. everyone moves so fast, the kids get used to things like that and can't stand to wait a minute or too. i am suprised most kids can get through a movie anymore...


my guess would be that more kids take a pill than need it. but i would believe it if someone told me that a lot of their students probably needs the pill to keep calm.

the problem arises then on the whole dependency issue. if a kid can take this pill for however long, and then stop its use and be better off, then sure, thats great. but too often i'm sure kids stay on the thing too long and become dependent on that fix. its the whole reason i stopped taking sudafed for my sinuses, because my father practically has to take one or he will sneeze himself to death

[Qdrop]

the problem arises then on the whole dependency issue. if a kid can take this pill for however long, and then stop its use and be better off, then sure, thats great. but too often i'm sure kids stay on the thing too long and become dependent on that fix. its the whole reason i stopped taking sudafed for my sinuses, because my father practically has to take one or he will sneeze himself to death

but if the child doesn't have ADD or ADHD, taking one pill of Ritalin a day shouldn't have any effect on him in a biological/clinical sense....it's all in everybody's mind.

i'd love to see some of these kids switched to a placebo pill for a couple of weeks...just to see.

[jabumbo]

placebo test would be cool. some of the borderline kids would definetly make out.

i think some kids act that way to keep up with their friends as well. because its totally cool to be like one another

[Qdrop]

placebo test would be cool. some of the borderline kids would definetly make out.

i think some kids act that way to keep up with their friends as well. because its totally cool to be like one another

exactly..and to get attention.
alot of jenny's students come from big families in poor income areas....attention is at a premium...

[fucktopgirl]

So you are talkin about kids with hyperactivity,right!

I think that its a school system problem as well as lack of mental intelligence in the population!Add on top of that pharmaceutical company that take advantage of the situation.

My friend as a little boy"isaak"he is 10 years old ,usually he live in montreal with his mother and come all summer in b.c!So he is on ritalin when in the city!
The kid is a brain,really witty and physical.He had a lot of problems at school due to this fact .But i think that the degree of difficulty of the school was not high enough and not enough physical activities,thta is the main problem! The teacher make him and his mom go consult psychologue.The kid have no problem at all,he just have too much energy!So they give thoses kids pills,instead of developping school with more physical approach,and at the same time make the kid doubt himself in some ways!

When Isaak come in b.c,Tony(father)slack the pill slowly till he does'nt take it no more!The kid feel better but he as some kind of adjustement to make!The sad thing is that he does not need it,you see that he is better off that shit!

Not every kids fit in the school system as it is!Some kids are more physical,they cannot sit for 8 hours on a chair(if you think about it,its inhuman too).And thoses hyperactive kids are smarter then the teacher a lot of time too.

Anyway,maybe not all hyperactive kid are like Isaak,but there is a lot like him.They are punished(drugged) for beeing smart,energic and curious!

[Qdrop]

It's my understanding that if you don't need Ritalin and take it, that it will make you all jittery and shit. That's why it's a controlled substance. in larger amounts (shit, i used to blow it in college, along with Aderol...it was our party/study drug).

but just taking the prescribed amount daily, with no ADD or ADHD doesn't really have any effect.

it sure didn't for me...

i really don't know enough about that angle though...maybe it does.

[ms.peachy]

but if the child doesn't have ADD or ADHD, taking one pill of Ritalin a day shouldn't have any effect on him in a biological/clinical sense....it's all in everybody's mind.

i'd love to see some of these kids switched to a placebo pill for a couple of weeks...just to see.
It would have an effect though - the kid would seem more hyperactive. So then the doctor's would say "oh, the dosage is wrong" and give them more pils. Vicious cycle.

Can't test your placebo idea, because you can't do medical trials on children. For the obvious ethical reasons. Although the results probably would be interesting.

I think that there are definitely ADHD kids who need the drugs to control an inborn chemical imbalance. However I think there are far more kids who need a healthy diet that isn't chock full of sugary stuff, fillers and colourings, a hell of a lot more exercise and less X-box, more sleep and less TV, and a bit of discipline and structure.

[Qdrop]

Anyway,maybe not all hyperactive kid are like Isaak,but there is a lot like him.They are punished(drugged) for beeing smart,energic and curious!

*sniff*
i know I was....
*sniff*

[Qdrop]

However I think there are far more kids who need a healthy diet that isn't chock full of sugary stuff, fillers and colourings, a hell of a lot more exercise and less X-box, more sleep and less TV, and a bit of discipline and structure.

also knows as "good parenting".
exaclty.

i was waiting for you to chime in, peachy.

[ChrisLove]

I have a friend who works for as a salesman for a well know pharmaceuticals company, he says that some of the sales techniques employed are shocking – They are banned from offering straight bribes but they can say "If you subscribe our drug, we will invite you to our next conference, which is in the Caribbean, all expenses paid of course…."

Its all about the money and I guess sometimes to sell drugs you got to sell the illness first – that’s all

[Qdrop]

I have a friend who works for as a salesman for a well know pharmaceuticals company, he says that some of the sales techniques employed are shocking – They are banned from offering straight bribes but they can say "If you subscribe our drug, we will invite you to our next conference, which is in the Caribbean, all expenses paid of course…."

Its all about the money and I guess sometimes to sell drugs you got to sell the illness first – that’s all

yeah, dude.
it's disgusting....my best friend is a doctor, he can tell you stories.

that's why i say there is alot more at work here then actual clincial need....there's just money to be made....and blame to be passed.

[fucktopgirl]

However I think there are far more kids who need a healthy diet that isn't chock full of sugary stuff, fillers and colourings, a hell of a lot more exercise and less X-box, more sleep and less TV, and a bit of discipline and structure.


agree!

[ms.peachy]

Its all about the money and I guess sometimes to sell drugs you got to sell the illness first – that’s all
It's partly that, but it's also partly that people want the quick-fix. People would rather have a pill and continue on doing the same stupid stuff with their lives rather than make lifestyle changes. I'm not excusing the drug companies, because it's true, they're well invested in people being ill and buying their product. But if people can't be bothered to step back and say "for the good of our child's health, we need to make some big changes around here" and instead just want to drive to the CVS drive-thru pharmacy and pick up the bottle of pills so they can get home in time to sit in front of a lame sitcom with a box of pizza while the 8-year-old plays Grand Theft Auto, then, you know, there's enough blame to go around.

[mp-seventythree]

I agree with Qdrop on this one.

On a side note, it disturbed me how many drug adverts there are on American tv, for illnesses I had never even heard of....and the fact that they have to state all the possible side effects of the drug was quite funny. "Of those surveyed, only 49% reported vomiting up their stomach lining after taking this drug, and 98% of those didn't die after three weeks"

[monkey]

there was an article in yesterday's times... about indigo children, add and all that.

here it is. (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/12/fashion/thursdaystyles/12INDIGO.html)

anyways, yes they are over-prescribed. half those kids should just be allowed to play outside more.

[ChrisLove]

It's partly that, but it's also partly that people want the quick-fix. People would rather have a pill and continue on doing the same stupid stuff with their lives rather than make lifestyle changes. I'm not excusing the drug companies, because it's true, they're well invested in people being ill and buying their product. But if people can't be bothered to step back and say "for the good of our child's health, we need to make some big changes around here" and instead just want to drive to the CVS drive-thru pharmacy and pick up the bottle of pills so they can get home in time to sit in front of a lame sitcom with a box of pizza while the 8-year-old plays Grand Theft Auto, then, you know, there's enough blame to go around.

good point

[enree erzweglle]

To me, ADD diagnoses were vogue in the 1990s. A lot of those diagnoses started with teachers. If a kid was bored in class--if a teacher or the subject matter didn't hold the kid's attention--then something was probably clinically off with the kid. God help him if he was bored AND fidgety.

[DroppinScience]

While I don't doubt there are people who need these meds and that there are those who've benefited from taking them, I think there's a lot of overdiagnosis going down.

I've been skeptical of the whole: "Oh, just take a pill and you'll feel better" adage.

I actually know a fair amount of people who have (or had at one point) taken pills for depression or anxiety disorders. And I often wonder if it's truly effective and why it seemed like so many are taking these meds.

One friend I know was on some depression meds and it wasn't helping. If anything, he was feeling WORSE. When he told the doctor this, she just went: "Oh, we'll up your dosage then."

When I heard this, I kinda freaked ("Did she even listen to what you said?" I'd ask). I guess my main skepticism is that these meds just simply numbs them and prevents them from confronting their problems and simply, they just end up complacent.

I don't profess to be an expert... so can anyone tell me different?

[Planetary]

i'd love to see some of these kids switched to a placebo pill for a couple of weeks...just to see.

(y)

[Ace42X]

One friend I know was on some depression meds and it wasn't helping. If anything, he was feeling WORSE.

Some anti-depressants can cause heightened desire to self-harm.

[cj hood]

ADHD doesn't exist.........the real problem is NODAD........any problems after that can be solved with a boot to the ass!!!

[Documad]

When I worked in juvenile court, I became really troubled by this. I've heard from parents who swear that the drugs helped their kids stay on task in school, but I also saw parents who wanted to explore other options first and were basically forced to medicate their children.


This is off on a tangent, but somewhat related: I think that we need a little bit less of blaming something for your problems and a little bit more of pull yourself up by your own bootstraps in the US today. I want people who need help to get it, but I've also seen people wallow in excuses. The worst parents I saw were the ones who blamed the school, the government, their own parents, other kids at school, etc., for things their kids did when the kids needed to be held accountable. It's not good when kids in juvenile court for committing crimes have parents who help them avoid consequences.

[Ace42X]

The worst parents I saw were the ones who blamed the school

Incidently, there is a lot of research to show that ADHD is not infact a "disorder" and is infact a perfectly natural response to children being couped up like battery hens.

A "special" school which specialised with the 'problem' children did a lot of behavioural focused work on the children, including giving them better structured break-times (longer play times) and found that all the ADHD kids became perfectly normal when not being chained to a desk and bored out of their skulls.

And to me, at least, it makes sense. Children learn from playing, and expecting them to learn via a teacher standing at the front of the class with a blackboard is quite frankly idiotic. it robs children of their childhood and turns them off of learning, just so that a school can be a more intensive creche for busy parents.

The problems are the product of modern society's unrealistic expectations, and in typical fashion, modern society turns to mother's little helper for all the answers.

If it wasn't for TV, drugs and sex (the three vices of this day and age) everyone would commit suicide.

[Documad]

I also blame working parents and urban sprawl. This is a tough one and not a popular one.

Kids where I live spend at least an hour or two in the car everyday, strapped into a car seat, looking out the window, on the way to or from daycare. That's no way to grow up. I would have lost my mind.

[WhoMoi?]

I agree that ADHD is definitely being over-diagnosed. I work in a special ed. preschool and it really irritates me when parents and doctors instantly want to go the drug route rather than trying to find some other ways to help their kids attend. It is sad to see some of these kids' vibrant personalities diminished when they are on drugs that they don't really need.

That being said, ADHD does exist and in some cases does necessitate medical intervention, in my opinion. My ex-boyfriend is textbook hyperactive, I had him pegged before he even told me. Adderall really did help him focus and was really the only way he could even hold a conversation with someone at times. Some of my kids at school have also been extremely hyperactive and inattentive (keep in mind that I work with 3-4-year-olds with special needs, so for me to say that you know it is pretty bad) to an extent that accommodations in the classroom and at home really weren't enough, and drugs ended up helping them.
I would estimate, though, that for every 5 kids I know who are on an ADHD med, I only think that one of them should be.

[cj hood]

my buddy's a pharmacist and said you can give those kids placebo's and it'd have the same effect.......

those parents snort the pills themselves or sell them to other assholes....

while on the subject....those spec. ed. kids' parents get monthly checks for being spec. ed..........S-C-A-M!!!!

[WhoMoi?]

my buddy's a pharmacist and said you can give those kids placebo's and it'd have the same effect.......

Probably only if they don't actually have attention or hyperactivity problems. For example, Adderall is speed, which obviously makes the average, non-ADHD person hyper, but it balances people with ADHD so that they are actually calmer. The effect the drugs have depends on whether the person actually does have an imbalance of some type causing the A/H problems.




while on the subject....those spec. ed. kids' parents get monthly checks for being spec. ed..........S-C-A-M!!!!

Um...no they don't.

[Zonkie]

Do you think the current BOOM in ADD and ADHD diagnosis and subsequent drug prescription is clinically accurate?

I didn't know the BOOM in ADD and ADHD was really current. I thought it was the boom like 2 years ago.

I think half of the kids that are diagnosed with this don't have it, the ones that don't have it, are just stupid.

People think that just because you don't pay attention in school that you have ADD or ADHD *whatever the difference is, i don't care* ADD supposed to be like, you have trouble focusing on one thing for a long time, your mind shifts more eagerly than others. Those are my best words that I can use to describe it.

If your kid can't pay attention in school and is all hyper and jittery, tell them to stop taking crack or speed and turn off the Moby.

A kid not paying attention in school is a pretty normal thing. School is a very boring thing at times. Don't make all the kids pill poppers if they don't need them.

[Medellia]

while on the subject....those spec. ed. kids' parents get monthly checks for being spec. ed..........S-C-A-M!!!!
What the fuck are you talking about? Parents recieve money for having special education kids? O-kay.

[GreenEarthAl]

From my book: How to Care About Humans

Space Cadet
(Feb.23.2003)

I've got to rant for just a minute here. Something that I feel quite strongly about.

I got poor grades all throughout school. No, that's not what I feel strongly about. That's just some set up. I have always been a test taker. You can put the test in front of me and I will take it and I will score very high. I got poor grades throughout school because I didn't like to do homework. About the only arguments I ever had with my mother were over homework. She actually wanted me to do it.

I had more important things to do than homework. Playing with Star Wars toys or something probably. Through grade school I didn't even pay attention in class and I still got great test scores. In high school I found out I paid attention a lot better if I was drawing so I just drew comic book characters in class while the teacher spoke and while everyone else was taking notes. Then if it was a week later or something and a kid asked another kid a question about something that was covered the week before I would be the one that remembered what the teacher said and all the note takers would have... not a clue. So I came to think my system was pretty good.

In 1977 the movie Star Wars came out. That's still not what I feel strongly about, just be patient. Star Wars had a profound impact on my life. I wanted to be like George Lucas and tell a story that was so spectacular that everyone in the world would run to listen to it or see it. It was a movie that set my imagination on fire.

At the same time they started coming out with video games. There was Space Invaders and Asteroids at first later to be followed by PacMan and GORF! There was a PacMan machine at the pizza parlour on the corner of Elmwood and Delevan but it wasn't open in the morning before school. I had to go there and play it at night, but I didn't care about it that much so I only really played it when my mom sent me to pick up a pizza. Next door to the pizza parlour though there was a candy store and in the candy store they had GORF! Gorf was a great game with four screens to clear over and over again and test your reflexes. For a game that came out more than 20 years ago it was really great. And I think it had different levels you could get to and the beginners were called Space Cadets or something like that. Anyway I know the name Space Cadet came from the game Gorf. I never went in the candy store before they got Gorf. After they got Gorf I was in there quite often. My mother wondered how come she dropped me off at school so early every day and my report card still showed that I had been tardy sometimes. Well Gorf was the secret I was keeping from her.

Space Cadet was my nickname. It's what a lot of the kids called me in school to make me cry. It meant that I didn't pay attention in class. Okay, now, here's the part I feel strongly about. I am, and always will be so eternally grateful that they hadn't invented Attention Deficit Disorder back then and that they weren't paying doctors back then to pick out the kids who had it and drug them all up. I am quite sure that I'd have been one of the kids picked to have ADD and I'd have been on some sedatives or whatever whack bullshit they put you on and I'd have paid attention in class instead of daydreaming and I'd be a whole different person now. A person that I'm glad I am not. My life and the things I have made were centered around imagination and my imagination was cultivated during all of those completely boring classes in grade school.

And yeah, that's another thing. Why does it have to be the student who has an Attention Deficit? Why can't it be the teacher who has an Interestingness Deficit? There were some classes that I liked to pay more attention to. Because they were actually interesting. Why don't we start putting all the teachers on drugs to make them more interesting then?

My own personal variety of not paying attention was not bothersome to anyone. I was in class. What more did they want from me? They gave me their stupid tests and I passed them. That should be enough. Teachers would call on me to give an answer because they could see me off in space not paying attention. So I would be embarrassed but I would go right back to not paying attention. I had dreams to dream. I was trying to think of my own story that would be interesting enough that people would go see it. I was working on the beginnings of some great ideas and I wouldn't do it any differently.

[The Notorious LOL]

every single person has ADHD in some format...its easy not to focus on what you could give two shits less about, its just a scapegoat for tossing pills at problems.


Ive dealt with on and off depression all my life. Who hasnt though as a teenager or young adult? I took a few different SSRIs throughout high school and my early 20s and found that they just sort of made me numb. I think the diagnosis of depression is too clinical...too much association to serotonin levels and brain chemistry and shit when in reality I think it has a lot to do with environmental/social issues. No pill can fix those problems, they can just numb it like illicit substances can. Tossing Celexa at some deep rooted trust issue or whatever whatever is just a more socially acceptable means of filtering shit out when in reality its no different than getting drunk every night to numb yourself. I dont necessarily think that a pill will help undo dealing with your problems, but I think in certain instances it can help people cope with depression.


Sometimes I wonder if its not a westernized phenomenon. I think in a lot of ways, we are granted the luxury of being mopey...and if you think about it it really is a "luxury" so to speak because it requires much less work than true happiness would require. In many instances we're all so confused out of what we want in life and what would be required to actually acheive happiness that those feelings drown out the ability to really focus on bettering ourselves. Its kind of a catch-22, so to speak. We dont know what will make us happy, and that makes us unhappy, which makes being happy harder.

Westerinized medicine is flawed and it always will be as long as its a cash cow. Medicine and capitalism cannot properly mix because the bigger issue will always be "what will profit us more?" rather than "whats most beneficial to the patient?". Its never evaulated what the root of the problem is, just ways to alleviate the symptoms of the problem and sort of keep the issue at bay. Arthritis is probably one of the most common ailments in the country, yet if it was to be out and out cured, there is billions of dollars lost in treatment.

[ms.peachy]

there was an article in yesterday's times... about indigo children, add and all that.

here it is. (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/12/fashion/thursdaystyles/12INDIGO.html)

anyways, yes they are over-prescribed. half those kids should just be allowed to play outside more.
I can't buy into that "indigo children" bollocks any more than I can the ADHD rates. What a bunch of mushy headed New Age garbage. Honestly, it's just the opposite end of the same stick. It's natural for parents to believe that their child is in some way special, different, marked out from the rest for special treatment, somehow more deserving of particular attention, but it's like no one had eny persepctive on what it is to be a regular kid anymore. It's like no one can possibly accept that their kid is just NORMAL, with normal inteeligence, normal sensitivity, normal levels of kid energy, normal levels of attentiveness or distractibility. No no no, everybody's got to be either exceptionally gifted, or in need of special education.

[yeahwho]

I was a n0rmel kids. My self medicating from age 13 to 26 was to help me with my Stark Raving Reality disorder.

[cj hood]

What the fuck are you talking about? Parents recieve money for having special education kids? O-kay.


in PA they get paid!

[WhoMoi?]

in PA they get paid!

Clarify what you mean by "paid." I know that in some states, parents of kids with certain types of disabilities are allotted a specific amount of money they can put toward respite care, tutoring, or therapeutic activities for the kids (i.e. therapeutic horseback riding, swimming, etc.). However, this money can only be used for those purposes, and I'm not sure that the parents ever even have their hands on it, so it's not like they could use it for anything else. I believe that the disability has to be of a certain nature (i.e. autism, cerebral palsy, brain injury) that would necessitate this. I don't think every kid with a special ed. identification qualifies for this, like kids who only have articulation disorders or ADHD. I could be wrong though. The people I know who get this have kids with pretty severe disabilities.

My state does not have this benefit, parents get nothing.

[cj hood]

they get a monthly check...

[ms.peachy]

they get a monthly check...
I think you must be mistaken about this; I could find no statute in Pennsylvania law that provides direct monthly payments to parents on the basis of special educational needs. I found stuff about the right to independent IEP's, tax deductions, and care allowances, but nothing anywhere that says they are entitled to a direct monthly payment. If you can find it, I'm happy to look at it, but if you can't (or just plain don't want to) find evidence of this, I have to assume you are passing along misinformation, wittingly or unwittingly.

[Medellia]

they get a monthly check...
Well until you provide some real evidence, forgive me for thinking that you've just pulled this out of your ass.

[Daisy]

my buddy's a pharmacist and said you can give those kids placebo's and it'd have the same effect.......

those parents snort the pills themselves or sell them to other assholes....

while on the subject....those spec. ed. kids' parents get monthly checks for being spec. ed..........S-C-A-M!!!!

No they don't. Not all of them.

You guys generalize so much. When you have children that are school age pray to GOD that they are perfect and that you are the perfect parenting role model.

:)

[Qdrop]

No they don't. Not all of them.

You guys generalize so much. When you have children that are school age pray to GOD that they are perfect and that you are the perfect parenting role model.

:)

perfection isn't required....just some personal responsibility all around.

[Daisy]

perfection isn't required....just some personal responsibility all around.

You can be an extremely responsible parent. Sometimes you get dealt what you get dealt. I'm just saying...

[cj hood]

perfection isn't required....just some personal responsibility all around.


gotta agree with q here...

[ms.peachy]

gotta agree with q here...
I don't think anybody here is disagreeing with that. No one has said that parents need not assume any personal responsibility for kid's behaviour. All Daisy's saying, I believe, is that sometimes kids really do have behaviour problems that are nothing to do with feckless parenting. For those kids, meds can be a great thing. The problem, I think we can generally all agree, is that it seems that with increasing frequency, parents and doctors want to bypass all other routes and go directly to pills.

[Qdrop]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10965522/site/newsweek/

^goes with the topic pretty well. very interesting read.

"In the last 10 years, thanks in part to activist parents concerned about their children's success, school performance has been measured in two simple ways: how many students are enrolled in accelerated courses and whether test scores stay high. Standardized assessments have become commonplace for kids as young as 6. Curricula have become more rigid. Instead of allowing teachers to instruct kids in the manner and pace that suit each class, some states now tell teachers what, when and how to teach. At the same time, student-teacher ratios have risen, physical education and sports programs have been cut and recess is a distant memory. These new pressures are undermining the strengths and underscoring the limitations of what psychologists call the "boy brain"—the kinetic, disorganized, maddening and sometimes brilliant behaviors that scientists now believe are not learned but hard-wired."

"When Cris Messler of Mountainside, N.J., brought her 3-year-old son Sam to a pediatrician to get him checked for ADHD, she was acknowledging the desperation parents can feel. He's a high-energy kid, and Messler found herself hoping for a positive diagnosis. "If I could get a diagnosis from the doctor, I could get him on medicine," she says. The doctor said Sam is a normal boy. School has been tough, though. Sam's reading teacher said he was hopeless. His first-grade teacher complains he's antsy, and Sam, now 7, has been referring to himself as "stupid." Messler's glad her son doesn't need medication, but what, she wonders, can she do now to help her boy in school?"

"Primatologists have long observed that juvenile male chimps battle each other not just for food and females, but to establish and maintain their place in the hierarchy of the tribe. Primates face off against each other rather than appear weak. That same evolutionary imperative, psychologists say, can make it hard for boys to thrive in middle school—and difficult for boys who are failing to accept the help they need. The transition to middle school is rarely easy, but like the juvenile primates they are, middle-school boys will do almost anything to avoid admitting that they're overwhelmed. "Boys measure everything they do or say by a single yardstick: does this make me look weak?" says Thompson. "And if it does, he isn't going to do it." That's part of the reason that videogames have such a powerful hold on boys: the action is constant, they can calibrate just how hard the challenges will be and, when they lose, the defeat is private."