Children are full of energy naturally, but there are some people who determined this to be a problem. According to Julian Haber, “More than 90 percent of methylphenidate (Ritalin) is produced and prescribed for children and adolescents with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder” (2). Doctors, teachers, and parents who support this medication claim that it helps children focus their energy and stay task oriented. However, they should also take a close look at possible long term effects this type of medication may have mentally and physically. Children today are tomorrow’s adults so it is critical to make the right choices when dealing with the future. American children are being prescribed medication for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) more than ever before because this is a relatively new disease, which contributes to the lack of options available for treatment and creates a greater chance of not only being over diagnosed but also misdiagnosed. ADHD is a name that is becoming more relevant in households across America. The characteristics that define ADHD have been around as long as mankind. This disease is defined as: “a childhood mental disorder with onset before 7 years of age and involving impaired or diminished attention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity” (Mosby’s Medical Dictionary 166). There have always been differences in people that allow some to be more/less outgoing, more/less focused, or more/less impulsive. The change is not the actions of people with these differences, rather, the change comes from the perception of society as a whole and whether this behavior is acceptable or not. A child that is accompanied with erratic behavior is viewed as a problem and the assumption is occasionally made ... ... middle of paper ... ...cine were not available and this gives most people an open mind about taking medication but there must be extreme caution used when dealing with something as potent as certain medications. The main goal is to prepare future generations for success and provide a clear understanding to children about when it is necessary to take medication and when it is not. Doing the right thing starts with the leaders of today. Works Cited Breggin, Peter R. Talking Back To Ritalin. Revised ed. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publishing, 2001. 5, 6, 64. Print. Haber, Julian S. The Great Misdiagnosis ADHD. Dallas, Texas: Taylor Publishing Company, 2000. 2, 22. Print. "ADHD." Mosby's Medical Dictionary. 8th ed. 2009. 165-66. Print. Taylor, John F. The Hyperactive Child And The Family The Complete What-To-Do Handbook. Pickering, Ontario, Canada: Beaverbooks, 1980. 17, 61. Print.
A central nervous system (CNS) stimulant, methylphenidate—more commonly known as Ritalin—is drug prescribed in the treatment of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD) ((1)). AD/HD, by definition, is "developmentally inappropriate behavior, including poor attention skills, impulsivity, and hyperactivity" sustained for more than 6 months, appearing usually during childhood2 ((2)). Figures estimate an approximate 3-5% of children are affected by the disorder. Differing views, however, exist about the legitimacy of the majority of these diagnoses. In light of this, the object of this assessment is to examine the bodily and societal implications of methylphenidate.
Like Jason, more and more children are being diagnosed with ADHD or its less hyperactive cousin, attention deficit disorder (ADD). And, correspondingly, during the past decade the production of stimulants used to treat ADD has risen dramatically, (see Graph 1.). However, an increasing number of parents, doctors, and public health officials are becoming alarmed about the jump in the use of Ritalin and amphetamines to treat ADD. In the last year, at least three prestigious medical journals published articles examining whether the condition is being overdiagnosed and American children are being drugged unnecessarily, (N...
Stolzer, PhD, J. M. (2007). The ADHD Epidemic in America. Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry, 9, 109-116.
National Institute of Mental Health (1999). Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Retrieved April 2, 2003 from www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/adhd.cfm#adhd3
U.S. Heath News reported (2013) that 6.4 million children ages 4 to 17 have been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Since 2007, the utilization of stimulant medication to treat ADHD has jumped 11% nationally as a whole. It was also reported that the U.S. spends more on prescription drugs to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder than it does for all but six other medical conditions (U.S. News Health, 2013). The number of ADHD diagnosed teens prescribed stimulants, such as Ritalin and Adderall, will be increasing over time as the new guidelines set by the American Academy of Pediatrics now recognizes physicians prescribing ADHD stimulant medications to childre...
Have you ever suffered or known anyone that has suffered from attention deficit disorder? A.D.D. is a biologically based condition causing a persistent pattern of difficulties, which includes three types of behavior. These three types are difficulty attending or focusing on a specific task, difficulty inhibiting behavior, and difficulty controlling impulses. In 1950 the prescription drug Ritalin was patented and manufactured by the CIBA-Geigy Corporation. This drug stimulates the central nervous system, with effects similar to but less potent than amphetamines and more potent than caffeine (Bailey 1). Several million children are being treated with Ritalin on the grounds that they have attention deficit disorder and are suffering from there inattention, hyperactivity, or impulsivity. In the past decade, there has been growing evidence that Ritalin has had negative effects on a child’s mind and behavior leading to such disorders like psychosis, mania, drug abuse, and addiction. It suppresses creative and spontaneous activity making them more docile and obedient because of the way that Ritalin produces malfunctions in their brain rather than improving its function (Breggin 124). Prescribing Ritalin to children with diagnosed attention deficit disorder brings more negative side effects than solutions and leads to addiction.
Berne, Samuel A. Without Ritalin: A Natural Approach to ADD. 2002. Google Book Search Web 21 April 2011. http://books.google.com/books?id=M7hPTQhe3FoC&printsec=frontcover&dq=without+ritalin&hl=en&ei=l32wTbLFKYiUtwf17LTfCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
ADHD (Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) is a psychological disorder prone to ethical issues within its treatments through the use of Methylphenidate otherwise known as Ritalin, Ritalin is the current leading form of pharmacological treatment for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and there has seen a dramatic increase in prescription rate over the past ten years, which have raised some ethical issues with its prescription. There are no present biological basis for ADHD diagnosis results in physicians making their diagnoses based on behavioural symptoms such as hyperactivity and inability to focus. Considering that these symptoms are behaviours that anyone may express at one point in their life, the risk of over-diagnosis of the disease increases. This may subsequently lead to over-prescription of Ritalin. Diagnosing ADHD is particularly difficult in young children as its symptoms are based on judgements of behaviour relative to other children who portray ‘normal behaviour’, however the symptoms of ADHD can be seen as normal behaviour for children as it normal for some children to be hyperactive. A review of prescription data for 300,000 children ages 19 and younger showed that, for the first time in history, spending for medications for childhood behaviour problems was more than the expenditure on any other child drug category, including drug like antibiotics. This evidence raises concerns over the possibility of Ritalin and its over-prescription for ADHD, especially in children as the disorder is mainly seen in childhood. Defining ADHD is still subjected to debate, and it has been observed that diagnosis of the disease is increasing as the diagnostic criteria changes, thereby leading to an over-diagnosis ...
While the DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition (DSM-IV) of the American Psychiatric Association) put forth a list of behaviors which predominantly fall in the category of ADD and/or ADHD, many researchers still maintain that there is no set way to diagnosis or develop a treatment program to these disorders which will be guaranteed to work. At the same time there is another set of researchers who maintain that these disorders actually do not exist at all. However, in the real world, parents and educators still continue to struggle with the task of coping with children who are hyperactive and who have very low attention span and whose behavior often interferes with schooling and family life. [Armstrong, 1997]
Sinha,, G. (2001, June). New evidence about Ritalin: What every parent should know. Popular Science, 48-52.
Recent media coverage might lead one to believe that ADHD is something new, a nineties thing, some vogue malady that somehow explains our disaffected modern youth. Yet the hyperactive child has always been around. He was class clown, the kid in the back row who never shut up. He was the kid whom the teacher constantly sent out of the room or to the office. In the past, these were the children...
“Some say that this explosion of childhood ADHD is indicative of what’s wrong with our society and education system. They blame parents and an educator for choosing quick fixes for what they say is a behavioral problem, not a brain-based disorder.”
In 1902, a physician by the name of Sir George F. published a series of lectures to the Royal College of Physicians in England in which he described a group of impulsive children with significant behavioral problems, caused by a genetic dysfunction and not by poor child rearing?children who today would be easily recognized as having ADHD (NIMH 1). Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder or (ADHD) is a developmental disorder characterized by distractibility, hyperactivity, impulsivity, and an inability to remain focused on tasks or activities. ADHD afflicts an estimated 3-9% of children, with symptoms usually appearing by the age of seven. Some key characteristics of the disorder include a person who:
Wigal, Sharon B. "Efficacy and Safety Limitations of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Pharmacotherapy in Children and Adults." CNS Drugs 23.(2009): 21-31. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 27 Mar. 2011. Helmke Library, Fort Wayne IN.