Ritalin
The most widely used treatment for the disease Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is the stimulant Ritalin. Use of the drug in the United States has been growing at an alarming rate since it was first prescribed for ADHD in 1981. Of the 8.5 million tons produced, over 90% of Ritalin consumption occurs in the United States. The number of children taking the drug has risen from 900,000 in 1990, to over 2.5 million today (Russell, 9). According to Jeanie Russell, author of the Good Housekeeping article, 'The Pill that Teachers Push,' "Experts say that about five percent of American kids actually suffer from ADHD, yet as many as fifteen percent of children in some grades in some school districts have been on Ritalin" (par. 11). These figures contribute to growing concerns that the American society is over-drugging its children. Teachers and schools play a leading role in labeling ADHD children. In 'The Pill that Teachers Push,' Russell points out that teachers have become more adept at identifying ADHD, than in "figuring out how to invigorate their classrooms" (par. 26). In an age of television, game boy, computers, and the Internet, the students of America are being taught in overcrowded classrooms that "focus on bo
Gibbs reports that most children diagnosed with ADHD would receive more benefits by integrating treatment of both medication and behavior modification (25). Some children on R!italin do not have ADHD, and are just being kids, while others who are suffering from problems such as depression, anxiety, or a learning disability, are misdiagnosed. **Bibliography**Works CitedDiller, Lawrence H. Those most influential to a child-parents, teachers, doctors-may be harming his or her well being. While behavior modification therapy should be an essential portion of an ADHD child's medication, many children are "rarely recommended anything more than pills" (Hancock, 10). While most of the short-term effects of Ritalin, such as weight loss, headaches, nausea, and mood swings are known, experts are unsure of the long term effects the drug has on children. When [he] won't give it to them, they switch doctors" (qtd. He explains that "many Americans are so worried about their jobs, the marketplace, and their children's chances for success that they place impossible pressures on children to perform, at younger and younger ages" (qtd.
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