You can look at it like giving a two-year-old cocaine. Or opium. Or codeine. But, you can just call it Ritalin.

U.S. needs to get over ADD/ADHD

Ritalin, also known as methylphenidate, is a drug used to treat individuals with Attention Deficit Disorder or Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder and is one of the most widely prescribed drugs in America.

Ritalin is classified as a Schedule II controlled substance along with drugs like cocaine, opium and codeine because it has the potential to become addictive and to create dependence on the drug, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

It is also sold on the street as a form of speed. Sounds like a great drug for my future co-workers to grow up taking.

The problem does not rest with the ability for this drug to work, as the National Resource Center of AD/HD states that Ritalin works to pacify symptoms of 75 to 90 percent of children with ADD and ADHD.

The problem rests in the dangerous misdiagnosis and over diagnosis of behavioral disorders, thus leading to incredible increases in addictive stimulant usage. In the past decade, Ritalin production has increased by 700 percent. The United States consumes more Ritalin than the rest of the world combined, in correlation with the increasing numbers of diagnosed cases of ADD/ADHD.

Debby Burfeind, author of “The Ritalin Debate” estimated that the ADD diagnosis in the past decade has gone from under a million cases to nearly five million cases. Children are not changing drastically through the decades; the American society is just aiming for a quick fix to behavioral problems.

One in every 20 children will be taken to their doctor and will be diagnosed with a behavioral disorder and then put on medication, like Ritalin, to calm them down, according to a study released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2001.

Lacking energy and the ability to deal with extra energy in a child is a poor excuse to sedate a child with medication.

“There are many things that can appear to be behavior disorders, like not getting enough sleep and learning troubles,” said Dr. Julie Brockway of the Fort Collins Youth Clinic. “You want to make sure that you are diagnosing them correctly because you don't want to put kids on unnecessary medication: they don't grow well, they don't eat well, they are labeled as having a problem and they could be missing the diagnosis of something different.”

Misdiagnosis can be dangerous to a child physically and emotionally and parents need to rule out look-alike problems before their child is put on any medication.

Granted, there are children who do suffer from ADD/ADHD and need help, in the form of counseling or even prescription medication, but not all children who fidget deserve to be drugged up and labeled with a behavior disorder. Only medical professionals can conclude that a child has a behavior disorder, but the method of diagnosis can present several problems.

First, try to remember the last time your doctor had much time to sit and chat or research your symptoms beyond the examination room? If your doctor is like mine, it almost never happens.

Secondly, if the medical professional does have the time to look at the problem the medical criterion for diagnosing a behavioral disorder are vague and often misinterpreted.

For instance, some of the medical criteria for ADHD are that a child “often avoids, dislikes or is reluctant to engage in tasks that require sustained mental effort such as schoolwork or homework” and “often fidgets with hands or feet and squirms in seat,” according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Addition (DSM-IV).

Not only does the word “often” make you wonder how frequently a child has to engage in these behaviors before they are labeled with a behavioral disorder, but also the criterion are ridiculous. I know plenty of college students, let alone children, who do not enjoy homework or who fidget and click pens in class. I believe that a major cause of behavioral disorder over-diagnosis is due to broad criteria created by a society that wishes for a one-size-fits-all prognosis to problems.

Whatever the case may be, parents and professionals alike need to work to understand a child and discover if the behavior is truly the result of a disorder. When people are misdiagnosed with behavioral disorders it is a serious issue because the medications used to treat the conditions do have side effects. Although it is prescribed to children as young as two years old, Ritalin can cause confusion, depression, loss of appetite, rapid or irregular heartbeat and sleep problems.

There are enough problems in the world that we do not need to be introducing 5 percent of our nation's children to medication with dangerous side effects and possible addiction and dependence problems just because they are energetic or mischievous.

So, give the 2-year-old a teddy bear and leave the Schedule II controlled substance in the bottle.

By Christiana Nelson
18 November 2003

http://www.collegian.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2003/11/14/3fb454bc7a2ce

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