The Medicated Child Frontline

“ADHD is the most extensively studied pediatric mental health disorder, yet controversy and public debate over the diagnosis and medication treatment of the disorder continue to exist.” (Connor D., P.1, 2011) Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is often a debated subject when the method of treatment is being discussed because it has become a trending issue to over medicate children with ADHD. A fitting label for the trend is the anesthetization of our youth, caused by government agency expansion and pharmaceutical allowances, and blame parents not advocating for their child better.

Ban’s article is about comparing the risk of injury between children who take attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) drug and children without ADHD drug use. The result shows that children using ADHD drugs are hospitalized due to injury almost two times higher than children who don’t take ADHD drugs. I am going to use this article to prove the ADHD medications create higher risk of injuries to children with instead of helping them.

In today's fast-paced society, it seems that prescription drugs are a more reasonable and reliable solution for children and adults than diet and exercise for the "disease" known as ADHD. Rather than take the time to play with their children, or institute a proper diet, it seems that increasing numbers of parents would rather treat their children's unexplained zest for life with pills and doctors. While there are some explanations and reasons for the diagnosis of this popular disease, most children are improperly diagnosed, and are therefore taking unneeded medication. This medication is costly and it can be argued those who benefit from the sale of these drugs most are the

A large percentage of Americans suffer from attention deficit disorder also known as ADHD. The news article I chose to write about is a U.S News article by Rachel Pomerance Berl titled Meds or No Meds? How to treat a child with ADHD. This article discusses ADHD and how many Americans are affected by this disorder but also when to treat or not treat a patient who claims to have ADHD. This disorder affects the way people focus, causes over activity and poor impulse control. ADHD can often begin to affect the individual’s life if the disorder is not properly treated.

Every parent who has a child suffering from a psychological disorder that affects their behavior dreads a new school year. This means new teachers not aware of the disorder, more parent-teacher conferences, and more pressure to medicate the child. The most common and well known behavioral disorders are Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

There are many medications that affect children’s health in today’s society. Doctors prescribe lots of medication which can be avoided, when children are properly diagnosed with certain health problems. Attention - deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has impacted many people with the danger of certain medications which is overprescribed to all ages each year. The hidden dangers of the medications these doctors are prescribing, is that our children are being misdiagnosed with ADHD at a very early age, and this is causing many different side effects. Long term use of these medications can cause severe side effects. The most commonly prescribed drugs, are Ritalin, Adderall and Concerta, which cause children to have nervousness, appetite suppression, insomnia and increased blood pressure and heart problems. Also pharmaceutical companies are well aware of the danger to children and adults that these drugs may cause.

Today’s children in America have become a primary source of pharmaceutical financial gain. Up until the 1990’s children who were restless just needed physical activity, and children who were not paying attention in class were daydreaming. Presently, however, these same children are being diagnosed with ADD or Depression. They are being treated for these imagined ill-states of mental health with medicine that they do not need. More children today suffer from the side effects of the medication more so than the ‘condition’ itself. A few things to consider before allowing a child to be prescribed behavioral medication are ensuring a true diagnosis, exploring safe non-drug alternatives, and knowing the risks of behavioral medication for our children.

In the United States, 79 million people live under the dependence to some sort of psychiatric drug (of which 1,080,168 are children in between zero and five years old). Some of the most commonly diagnoses being ADHD, depression, bipolar disorder, and ect. Drugs being taken for this disorders are Xanax, Celexa, Prozac, Amphetamine salts, Zyprexa, Zoloft, among others. The drugs side effects alone are far more harmful than the illness itself. The United States has a higher rate than any other country with diagnosing mental disorders and the consumption of psychiatric medication. In fact, in the last years it has only increased hand to hand to the release of new mental medication, rising 43 percent from 2001 to 2010, ( Hanekamp ). There are also huge gender and racial disparities among who gets diagnosed with ADD and ADHD: the CDC reports that 13 percent of boys are diagnosed with ADHD, compared with 5 percent of girls. And twice as many black boys are diagnosed with the disorder as white boys, ( Lewis ).

of therapy you would recommend. Be specific: Rather than recommending “a behavioral approach” state whether

Although we tend to think that drugs are here to comfort and heal people, we must also take into account that behind every drug, we have a drug company that is making millions of dollars off of consumers who by their products. Behind every consumer, we have a doctor that is recommending and prescribing the medication. In “The Medicated Child,” we learn that the researchers who advocate the use of psychiatric medications, receive enormous support from drug companies. Firsthand doctors inform us that theses drug industry funded studies influence their decisions on what drugs to “push” or prescribe. This is a major conflict of interest because the decisions and results of the studies are

According to Dr. Robert Epstein, Medco’s chief medical officer, seventeen percent of total drug cost spending last year was for behavior medicines; compared with sixteen percent for both asthma and antibiotics, eleven percent for skin disorders and six percent for allergy medicines. There was also a 369% increase in spending on ADHD drugs for kids under the age of five. A lot of children have been diagnosed with ADHD, and many of their parents have opted to give them behavioral drugs. Some parents give the drugs because they are not aware of the long term effects or the psychological dependency, and lastly because they are not aware of the alternatives. As parents we have to be more cognizant of what these disorders are and how they

There are various therapies that are being used by the therapists and counselors to deal with individuals

Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity (ADHD), the most common of the psychiatric disorders that appear in childhood, are often the subject of great concern on the

According to the video's statistic, the diagnosis of bipolar disorder increased to four thousand percent during the last decade. This labeling process seems to be almost a medical crime, where modern "Walter Freemans" easily manipulate and experiment the biochemical processes in the developing child's brain by using strong mood stabilizers and antipsychotic drugs. Nevertheless, it puzzled me why so many doctors do not want to start with a mild therapeutical approach. For example, in many other countries treating childhood's behavior problems with pharmaceutical substances is still almost a nonexistent practice. Instead of medications, other therapies are offered through special programs in school or kindergarten, where children learned to develop coping mechanisms.

There are many types of people who may have Attention Deficit Disorder, also known as ADD/ADHD, which is attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. ADD is defined as learning disorder affecting children, adolescents, and some adults. Common symptoms of ADD are learning and behavioral difficulties as well as the typical problem of ADHD, hyperactivity. Males are more likely to have ADD with many other symptoms, such as depression and anxiety. People as far back as the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries believed ADD was not a medical problem; they believed the children were misbehaving. Some research has convinced many medical personnel to prescribe medication as the correct treatment for ADD, but evidence shows medication is not always the best solution.