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[quote=Anonymous]Wow, so much to read (and I did read it all).

As a 33-year-old chemistry undergrad (hooray for late diagnosis of ADD) the statements that the current generic is the same make sense to me.  The issue is that you have to look at it as not actually being generic; it just has a different sticker on the bottle.  It's like a lot of shampoos, actually.  One machine, one formulation many different bottles (I had a friend a few years ago that worked at a bottling plant. Same stuff that went into Pantene Pro-V bottles went into Suave Damage Control bottles (or whatever it was called)).

Anyway, I'm writing to address a few specific points:
[b]First[/b], even if the kid doesn't know that they have been switched to a different brand, the parent(s) do.  In a family home environment, the parents have a significant impact on the child's behavior.  Not only that but the parent's bias in favor or against the very concept of "generic drugs" could color their perception of their child's behavior.

Most scientific studies are double-blinded.  That is neither the test subjects nor clinicians know whether a person is getting an active product or a placebo.  Why would they do this?  Because the if the clinician knows whether the subject is on placebo or drug, they can inadvertently, subconsciously affect the results.

[b]Second[/b], almost nobody here has controlled for variables.  Seriously.  Your kid has been on Concerta from age 5 to age 13.  This new brand of Concerta comes out around the same time they start acting out.  Clearly it's the Concerta.  [b]Except not[/b].  It could just as easily be raging adolescent hormones, the realization of a crush on a schoolmate, making new friends from a trouble-maker crowd, losing friends who shifted out of their social circle, or any number of other things.  This is a well-known logical fallacy called "Post hoc, ergo propter hoc", or "After this, because of this."  Event B happens after event A, therefore event A CAUSED event B.  This is a VERY common mistake.

And don't tell me that your kid tells you everything about themselves and their lives.  That's just a lie you tell yourself to feel better.  I was very open with my mother and I didn't tell her everything.  ALL of my nieces and nephews talk to me about things that they don't feel comfortable talking to their parents about but they have great relationships with them.  And their parents think their kids tell them everything.  I keep the kids confidence until I think that they are at more than a mild risk of harming themselves or others.  I haven't had a situation yet where I couldn't help them reason themselves out of stupid behavior (not silly, but demonstrably stupid. Everybody needs a little silly sometimes).

[b]Third[/b], your sample size of 1 is laughably small.

[b]Fourth[/b], the plural of anecdote is not evidence.  Many of you will look at the third point and say, "But there's 6 pages of negative reports!"  That's true, there are six pages of single subject samples that aren't double-blinded, with no variable control and tons of bias.  The difference between 2 crap data points and 200 crap data points is nothing: it's still crap data.

[b]Fifth[/b], placebo is the single most powerful force in the human mind.  If it weren't for the litigation-happy nature of the US populace, I'd bet that doctors would have been pleased as punch to prescribe placebos instead of antibiotics while treating patients with viral infections.  As we know, antibiotics do nothing against viruses. If you took an antibiotic and it solved the problem, it was was either the placebo effect or your infection was bacterial in nature.

You want another awesome demonstration of how powerful placebo is?  Look at the wonderful scam known as Power Balance bracelets.  It's a little rubber bracelet, almost identical to those LiveStrong rubberband bracelets except that it has a spot for a hologram sticker.  Power Balance sells them for $30-$50 claiming that they will make you faster, stronger, better at sports and better at school.  Of course, this is BS.  It's a rubber bracelet with a hologram sticker on it.  A couple of guys in Australia managed to find the factory in China that makes the bracelets.  The factory said (paraphrasing), "Sure, we'll make you some bracelets with your own sticker on them.  They're $1 a piece."  (actual production cost is probably much lower, but I'm high-balling it).  Those guys sell their placebo bands for $4 a piece.  The only difference is the sticker on the band.

So, yah.  That's about it.  Just some things to think about.  I doubt any of this will sway any "true believers" out there but at least I tried to inject some rational sanity into the discussion.[/quote]

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