“ADHD Is an Actual Condition. You Can’t Beat It Out of a Child.” (original) (raw)

U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), during a confirmation hearing for Health and Human Services Director nominee Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., last week said this: “We have an attention deficit problem in this country… When you and I were growing up, our parents didn’t use a drug, they used a belt and whipped our butt… Nowadays, we give them Adderall and Ritalin. They are like candy across college and high school campuses.”

Kennedy, in his response to Tuberville, falsely claimed that 15% of American children are taking Adderall or other ADHD medications, and that the U.S. is “overmedicating our children” with stimulants, SSRIs, and benzodiazepines for mental health conditions. This juxtaposition — criticizing the American pharmaceutical industry after suggesting corporal punishment as a healthier alternative — struck many in the ADHD community as toxic and dangerous.

The American Psychological Association (APA) passed a resolution in 2019 urging against physical discipline for children, citing research demonstrating that corporal punishment harms children’s mental health and increases the likelihood of aggressive behavior in the future. “Use of physical discipline predicts increases — not decreases — in children’s behavior problems over time,” the resolution said.

The clinical practice guidelines developed by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) recommend medication as the first-line treatment for ADHD in school-age children, citing a formal review of 78 studies on the treatment of ADHD, which “consistently supported the superiority of stimulant over the non-drug treatment.”

Tuberville’s comment comes just days after an interview with Nicole Shanahan, an attorney and Kennedy’s former 2024 running mate, in which he blamed mental health medications for a rise in American school shootings, despite a lack of research backing this claim.

ADHD Community Response

“The effects of ADHD crush families, multiply health burdens, sap worker productivity, and increase penal system costs,” said Oren Mason, M.D., a family physician in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and author of Reaching for a New Potential, in response to Kennedy’s statement at the confirmation hearing. “Life is remarkably harder with autism and depression, and every bit of support is welcome. People with ADHD and similar mental health challenges need affordable and available medications, psychosocial support, and education/work modifications. Parents need evidence-based guidance and training opportunities and respite. Teachers need evidence-based methodologies and the time to implement them. Therapists and coaches need training in the most beneficial interventions. Scientists and researchers need funding and priority-setting leadership. As Secretary of HHS, this is what I will provide the people of our great nation.”

“This is what RFK, Jr., might have said if he was familiar with the far-reaching complexities of providing hope and care for those with mental health challenges,” Mason continued. “Instead, he chose an Internet-chatter meme to spotlight his grasp of the needs of almost 30 million Americans with a complex disability. The mortality rate of ADHD is higher than asthma and nearly that of heart disease. If he was trying to signal that his approach to America’s mental health will be heartless and evidence-free, he nailed it.”

Many people took to BlueSky to respond to Tuberville’s and Kennedy’s comments at the confirmation hearing and to reflect on their own experiences with physical discipline as children with ADHD. Here are comments posted to BlueSky late last week during the confirmation hearings:

“Child abuse is a serious problem in this country and NOT a treatment for ADHD. In fact there is an association between ADHD and being a victim of abuse.” — @trm99.bsky.social

“We did get punished in every way, from spankings to standing in the corner at school for having (what we later learned) was ADHD. I was told how disappointing I was, how it was a shame that I had poor self-control since I was so smart, etc.” — @ritamelindared.bsky.social

“The belt/strap never helped my ADHD just made me angrier and more rebellious!” — @ginakh.bsky.social

“Late diagnosis and therapy ended decades of self-loathing no doubt brought about by teachers and other adults who berated me as a kid.” — @mexhistorian.bsky.social

[Read: Does Trauma Cause ADHD? And Vice Versa?]

“As a 65 year old with ADHD (and I had it as a child) I can attest that THE BELT was not the way to handle things. I’m still traumatized.” — @veryvaluable.bsky.social

“I was diagnosed when I was 41; my brother was 6. He was treated very differently and far less violently than I was and is doing well.” — @atticusdogsbody.bsky.social

“My mom used a belt, and her hands, and The Denver Post, and wooden spoons, etc… and I still have ADHD and also CPTSD.” — @quickbeam711.bsky.social

“Beating your child was never a treatment for ADHD. It was and always will be abuse.” — @ pednspy.bsky.social

“ADHD is an actual condition, and you can’t beat it out of a child.” — @ nrvschultz.bsky.social

“The belt doesn’t cure ADHD.” — @davidcouldbewrong.bsky.social

“As a parent watching a 4-year-old kid and wondering if he has ADHD, my first and only concern is making sure he had tools to succeed, not that we beat it out of him or hide it due to stigma.” — @ viamarsala18.bsky.social

These comments shed light on the need for proper treatment to combat the shame and stigma that tend to come with an ADHD diagnosis.

RFK Hearing, Discipline, and ADHD: Next Steps

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