10-13-2005, 06:43 PM
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Unemployed Food Critic
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Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: San Diego, CA
Posts: 124
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another response
here I chime in as someone who has actually treated ADHD and other mental disorders.....
ADHD I believe is currently being diagnosed somewhere in the neighborhood of 25% of the population, but in fact studies estimate that only 3-5% of the population actually is truly medically ADHD.
In context of Ridilin and other ADHD drug stimulants, studies have proven conclusively that if you give such drugs to anyone, their attention and focus will increase. It is why currently ADHD drugs are so hot in colleges, med schools, and law schools....allows you to stay up longer with more focus and coming down off of it isn't that bad. So a lot of parents say, well my kid obviously has ADHD cause the meds work...the problem is anyone can say that. The meds truly are for those who need it to function, not just so they can perform better Would you put yourself on speed just so u could get more done in a day and have more energy? Same thing with using steroids for athletic performance. Sure your performance would improve, but it does have some negative effects because your body does not require speed to function.
Secondly, a sure fire way to tell if your kid has ADHD is ask observe your child by placing your kid in a situation where s/he enjoys what s/he is doing. Can s/he concentrate when s/he wants to? Is it simply a matter of focus or is it a matter of liking variety? Many kids have a limited attention span, that is called being a kid...it does not mean they cannot focus when they are desire to or are made to through proper discipline and a proper environment. In treating families and children myself, generally most of the problems I have seen that are symptomatic of ADHD or ODD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder which can look like ADHD) can generally be resolved through time in implenting consistent discipline and operant conditioning (reward/punishment systems).
So steps before putting your kids on medication:
See a behavioral therapist (kid individually and to look into operant conditioning for your own parenting style)
See a family therapist (with the whole family)
Take a parenting class
Observe your child at school yourself
Talk to the teachers, possibly work out a reward/punishment system with them that you can use at home
ADHD drugs are stimulants which have side effects and generally are not permanant solutions. At some point they will have to get off the drugs, the drugs do have side effects (both physical and psychological), sometimes they can be addictive, and generally allow you to avoid the real issues that might make that child out of control (whether they be in the family or with the kid itself).
Psychotropic medicines are meant to stablize the situation so someone can be more susceptible to therapy and learning. Psychological Drugs in general are NEVER permanant solutions, if anything they should only be used up to the point where you can learn not to need them anymore.
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