(Note: Compelling new evidence shows conclusively that large income inequalities within societies damage the social fabric and the quality of life for everyone. See the massive accumulation of evidence at this site.)
In summary, the child's brain development depends on the presence of non-stressed, emotionally available parents. And in this country, over the past 30 years, such parents are ever less available to children. For that reason you've got burgeoning rates of autism in this country, which has risen nearly 30-fold in the last 30 years.
Autism
Autism is a whole spectrum of disorders, but the essential quality of it is emotional disconnect. These children are living in a world of their own. They don't respond appropriately to emotional cues. They withdraw. They act out in an aggressive and sometimes unpredictable fashion. There's no clear sense of emotional connection and no sense of peace inside them.
In general, the rates of anxiety amongst children are increasing. The numbers of kids on antidepressant medications has increased tremendously. The number of kids being diagnosed with bipolar disorder has gone up dramatically. Then too there's the bullying, the precocious sexuality, and the teenage pregnancies. There's now even a program on TV, a so-called "reality show," that focuses on teenage mothers. All indications of a society that has somehow got off on the wrong track and that is spiraling downward.
Post-industrial capitalism and the disintegration of the modern American family
It never used to be that so many children grew up in a stressed nuclear family. That simply was not the normal basis for child development. The normal basis for child development has always been the clan, the tribe, the community, the neighborhood, the extended family. But post-industrial capitalism has completely destroyed those conditions. People no longer live in communities that are interconnected. They don't work where they live. They don't shop where they live. Often the kids don't go to school where they live. The parents are away most of the day. For the first time in history, children are not spending most of their time around the nurturing adults in their lives. Instead, they're spending their childhoods largely separated from the nurturing adults they absolutely need for healthy brain development.
In ADD, as already stated, there's an essential brain chemical, necessary for incentive and motivation, that seems to be lacking. It's called dopamine. Dopamine is an essential life chemical for all mammals. Without it, there's no life. Mice in a laboratory, that have been chemically deprived of dopamine, will starve themselves to death. Why? Because they have no incentive to eat. Even though they're hungry, and even though their life is in danger, they will not eat, because there's no motivation or incentive. So, one way to look at ADD is as a massive problem of motivation, because dopamine is lacking in the brain. Now, the stimulant medications do elevate dopamine levels, and these kids do then become more motivated. They can then focus and pay attention.
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