According to new data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 11 percent of school-age children have been diagnosed with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, and many doctors may become concerned that prescription stimulants like Ritalin or Adderall are being overused, the New York Times reported.
Results from the State and Local Area Integrated Telephone Survey, which polled more than 76,000 households across America between February 2011 and June 2012, are now being compiled, but the New York Times obtained raw data and compiled the results themselves.
Reporters suggested one possible cause of the increase in A.D.H.D. diagnoses may be the short-circuiting of the diagnosis process. There is no specific test for A.D.H.D., but rather, a diagnosis usually ensues after a series of interviews with the child, parents, teachers, and so on. If parents insist on giving their children stimulants to help them in school, the fear is that some doctors will perform less than a thorough workup for A.D.H.D. and just write prescriptions for the stimulants.
“We need to ensure balance,” the Times quoted C.D.C.’s director, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, as saying. “The right medications for A.D.H.D., given to the right people, can make a huge difference. Unfortunately, misuse appears to be growing at an alarming rate.”
If abused, stimulants can become addictive and promote a feeling in teens that they are unable to succeed in school without using stimulants or, perhaps, other drugs. They can also lead to addiction of other drugs.
Editorial
The diagnosis of A.D.H.D. now requires that symptoms be recognized by age 7, but those standards are set to be changed to age 12 in the fifth edition of the manual that sets those standards, known as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Other proposed changes would also make it easier to reach a diagnosis of A.D.H.D. than it has been in the past, but the final wording has not yet been released.
The disorder has historically been diagnosed in between 3 and 7 percent of school-age children, meaning that the 11 percent figure reported for 2011-12 is a dramatic increase. Following the increase in diagnoses, the number of prescriptions written for Ritalin and Adderall will likely increase as well.
We note that stimulants can improve school performance, just as they can improve work performance. However, these drugs are addictive, some of them highly addictive. They also carry side effects, which can persist for months or even years after kids stop taking the drugs. For Adderall, side effects include
- Aggression or hostility
- Peeling or blistering skin
- Hallucinations and other psychoses
- Seizures
- Sexual dysfunction
If these drugs are to be prescribed for a serious medical condition, such as A.D.H.D., that’s one thing. But using drugs to calm kids down or, in other words, turn them into miniature-sized adults instead of letting them explore their creativity and childhood, is a mistake. Prescribing stimulants for children who don’t need them sets them up for medical and psychological problems. The practice may be good for pharmaceutical companies, but it fails our doctors and our kids.
Doctors may not care, as many of them are beholden to the pharmaceutical companies, and kids may not be able to stand up for themselves. However, this is where we need to speak up for these two groups who can’t speak for themselves on this matter. We need to get a handle on this before too many kids lose their childhoods in the name of conformity.