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ADHD and Medicating Children

by Sandra Williams

School Bus: Pam RothI watched an interesting film today on Pbs.org about ADHD and medicating kids. It attempted to address why two or three kids in every U.S. classroom are diagnosed with ADHD.

Part of the reason is because some doctors who specialize in ADHD also receive money from drug companies for promoting ADHD awareness. Some of the drug companies create presentations and lectures that include incentives and prizes.

They boost their sales through these promotional events since advertising psychiatric drugs or stimulants directly to consumers is prohibited by the DEA.

Since teachers see children every day, they are frequently in the position of making the suggestion for medication as well. They’re not qualified to give the diagnosis so should they be suggesting medication?

Who is qualified to make the diagnosis? If drug companies are paying off doctors who specialize in ADHD, how do you know which doctors diagnosis to trust?

  • Noelle and Alex are two of the children on the film that seem happier on the medication than off. They say they feel better and their concentration improves.
  • Robin stopped taking the medication saying it made him jittery and didn’t help. He was put on several medications until he finally refused any more and was angry with his mother for trying to force it on him.
  • Nicholas was only three when his parents were told he had ADHD and medication was suggested. They refused and decided to take him out of preschool and spend more time with him instead.

Medication such as Ritalin and Aderol has helped some people. I think ADHD is being over diagnosed, which means some children are on medications that don’t need it.

If you haven’t seen the film Medicating Kids, it expands on the issue. It’s about an hour long and is broken into five parts.


Posted in ADHD, General on February 7th, 2008

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  1. Environmental Talk » Blog Archive » Art for Art’s Sake Says:
    February 10th, 2008 at 3:08 pm

    […] around in endangered species robes is more likely to generate conversations about the status of mental health care in this country. Among the endangered species Clara might want to ponder are people who wear […]

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