Psychiatrist stands by attention deficit drug Bath Chronicle 19/08/2000
Edition Bath Chronicle
Page 3
Record Number 702482 A BATH psychiatrist has shrugged off complaints by Scientologists about his work. Dr Patrick Cosgrove, 55, who lives in Bath and practises in Bristol, has been targeted by the Citizen's Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), established by the "Church" of Scientology in 1969. It has made complaints to the General Medical Council about his treatment of children and prescription of the drug Ritalin. Dr Cosgrove said that while the complaints worried him at first, now they were an "irritation" and said the group was fighting a losing battle in its opposition to Ritalin. His expertise is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder which leaves sufferers with difficulties concentrating, poorly motivation and hyperactivity. For youngsters, this can lead to problems at school and Ritalin has been used as treatment for a decade. The CCHR claims ADHD is a bogus condition perpetuated to allow expensive drug prescriptions. Brian Daniels, spokesman for the CCHR, said: "If this psychiatrist had the ability to really help someone and to eradicate whatever they are suffering from, he'd be out of business. "He has a vested interest since labelling children with these disorders is big business for psychiatrists." However, research by Eric Taylor, professor of child psychiatry at the Medical Research Council, showed that children with ADHD symptoms did have underactive parts of their brain associated with decision-making, thinking and planning. Dr Cosgrove left the then Bath Mental Health Care Trust in 1994 and says he was not allowed to prescribe the amphetamine-derived drug Ritalin as widely as he wanted. He now sees two or three new patients a week from across the country and treats up to 35 existing patients a week, mostly on the telephone as follow-up consultations. He prescribes the drug to all ages and has treated children as young as three. Dr Cosgrove said that there was still something of a cultural barrier about treating children with brain malfunctions with drugs when people were happy to see them prescribed for other organs that failed. "I guess there will always be some people who cannot cope with that, " he said. "The Scientologists have a religious[sic] position to stand up for. "They have been beavering away on this for decades." Scientology is a religious[sic] system based on self-knowledge[sic] through courses of study[sic]. 'Ritalin changed our lives' ALLISON Purves set up a support group for parents in the west with children who have ADHD. Her son, Matthew, who is now ten, was diagnosed with the condition in 1993 and was five when he was prescribed Ritalin. Although the drug has a side effect for Matthew of producing facial ticks, these are treated with another drug and Mrs Purves said that the benefits of Ritalin far outweighed the negatives. "His condition is so much better, " she said. "There are still bad days, of course. "Ritalin does not work on its own. You also have to change your attitude towards the child. You have to be really, really strict. "It has made a considerable difference. In the first few years it was dreadful and he was always in trouble." Mrs Purves, from Shaftesbury in Dorset, said that parents should talk first to their GPs if worried about their child. The ADHD Family Support Group can be contacted on 01373 826045.

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