ADD and Ritalin ...
Is there an alternative?
Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) is the most common childhood psychiatric disorder. It is so common that some argue that it is a normal part of childhood. Don’t believe it. Anyone who has faced the daunting task of caring for an ADD child knows that it is a bigger-than-life problem! The child may be pleasant and well-intentioned on the surface, but inability to focus and organize tasks and settle into everyday home and social situations means that adult authority is constantly tested. Parents know that their ADD children are unable to play, study and learn independently, and the increased risk of accident and injury to themselves and friends, means that family life is fraught with stress for everyone.
Attention deficit is a symptom that interferes with learning. It is a thought disorder, not just misbehavior, and it prevents these children from succeeding at school and developing interests, skills and friendships. Motivation plays a role, of course, but there is also an organic impairment of brain function affecting both attention and memory, especially immediate short term memory, which seems to be fragmentary, disorganized, and fraught with errors, even though the total intelligence of the child measures within the normal range. ADD children often give up on learning unless it just comes all by itself. They gravitate to TV, video games, art projects, collecting things, and getting into mischief. They develop routines and resist interruptions once they are engaged. Attention is impaired, but curiosity is usually intact, and so the child is driven to explore, but taking only small ‘bites’ out of any new item. This leads to boredom, but not before family and teachers are exasperated by the constant need for supervision to cope with the hyperactivity and aggressiveness of the ADD child, and to protect his peers, and property from mindless mishaps.
ADD affects 3 to 9 percent of school-age children, the number has been increasing in the past decade. This amounts to over 2.5 million children in the United States whose educational experiences are marred by frustration and whose peer relationships are strained by conflict and misunderstanding. Eventually, such children are more likely to resort to antisocial and delinquent behaviors, including drug dependency in their teen years. Contrary to earlier opinion, children do not usually outgrow this disorder and may need lifelong medication, in order to be able to develop a skill, find a job, and maintain a stable and productive lifestyle. A follow-up study of ADD children found 80 percent still impaired after 8 years, i.e. in their late teens and early 20’s; and over half had actually worsened by becoming more defiant and unruly.[1] In the language of the professions, this is called “oppositional” and “conduct disorder” respectively. There have been no measurable differences between those treated with medication and those not. There is no doubt that the epidemic of ADD children is a major part of the epidemic of teen-age violence, suicide, drug abuse, and criminality that is having such a disturbing effect on our country.
Amphetamine-like drugs, such as Ritalin (methylphenidate), dexedrine, and desoxyn, are the medical drugs-of-choice for the ADD child. Cylert (magnesium pemoline) is a different type of amine that is also helpful. These drugs are so entrenched in medical practice and in the expectations of the education bureaucracy, that it is almost mandatory for the office-based physician to prescribe them. To not do so can be challenged as “unprofessional.” It is ironic that these same drugs are absolutely illegal when used by teen-agers as their preferred street drug. The point is that the drugs do accomplish a perceived benefit—but at some degree of risk, albeit less so under medical supervision than on the streets.