Psyche, Science, and Society

June 6, 2007

Interrogation Abuses

To the Editor:

Re “Advisers Fault Harsh Methods in Interrogation” (front page, May 30):

The abusive interrogation methods reverse-engineered from the military’s Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape torture-resistance program cause enormous psychological harm ranging from psychosis and suicidal ideation to post-traumatic stress disorder. They are not only unreliable and immoral; they constitute torture and violate the United States’ commitment to respect the most basic human rights.

Yet according to the Pentagon’s inspector general, psychologists, under the guise of behavioral science, have used their credentials to develop and carry out these highly abusive techniques at Guantánamo, in Iraq and Afghanistan, and elsewhere. The abuses are a direct result of trying to rely on science and scientists to break down detainees.

The only appropriate response, for the profession and for the government, is to end the direct participation of psychologists, who have an ethical obligation to minimize harm, in interrogations.

Leonard S. Rubenstein
Stephen N. Xenakis, M.D.
Washington, May 30, 2007
The writers are, respectively, executive director, Physicians for Human Rights; and a retired Army brigadier general who is a former commander of the Southeast Medical Command

Ritalin use doubles after divorce, study finds

By Scott Anderson Tue Jun 5, 9:47 AM ET

TORONTO (Reuters) - Children from broken marriages are twice as likely to be prescribed attention-deficit drugs as children whose parents stay together, a Canadian researcher said on Monday, and she said the reasons should be investigated.

More than 6 percent of 633 children from divorced families were prescribed Ritalin, compared with 3.3 percent of children whose parents stayed together, University of Alberta professor Lisa Strohschein reported in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

The study of more than 4,700 children started in 1994, while all the families were intact, Strohschein said. They followed the children’s progress to see what happened to their families and to see what drugs were prescribed.

“It shows clearly that divorce is a risk factor for kids to be prescribed Ritalin,” Strohschein said.

Other studies have shown that children of single parents are more likely to get prescribed drugs such as Ritalin. But is the problem caused by being born to a never-married mother, or some other factor?

“So the question was, ‘is it possible that divorce acts a stressful life event that creates adjustment problems for children, which might increase acting out behavior, leading to a prescription for Ritalin?”‘ Strohschein said in a statement.

“On the other hand, there is also the very public perception that divorce is always bad for kids and so when children of divorce come to the attention of the health-care system — possibly because parents anticipate their child must be going through adjustment problems — doctors may be more likely to diagnose a problem and prescribe Ritalin.”

Ritalin, known generically as methylphenidate, is a psychostimulant drug most commonly prescribed for the treatment of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in children.

There is a big debate in much of the developed world over whether it may be over-prescribed — given to children who do not really need it. In March, a University of California, Berkeley study found that the use of drugs to treat ADHD has more than tripled worldwide since 1993.

Strohschein said it is possible that some mental health problems pre-date the divorce, so “it is possible that these kids had these problems before, but are only being identified afterward.”

Her study was not designed to find out why the children were prescribed the drug.

“I might be finished with the survey, but I am not necessarily finished with the question,” she said in a telephone interview.