Straight Talk on ADHD Drugs

MSNBC has a scare story out about how suburban moms are pushing doctors to diagnose their kids with ADHD and prescribe them drugs like Ritalin.

I have some experience in this area so please hear me out. (Or skip this item entirely and buy the book Driven to Distraction. Wow, there’s a sequel? Guess what I want for Christmas.)

I was diagnosed with ADHD in 1963. My mother refused to give me medication for it. My son was similarly diagnosed in 1997. I chose medicine, along with psychological counseling.

My way worked better. My son is far ahead of where I was, emotionally, at the same age. He is now 15 and completely off medication. He has a lot of deep psychological knowledge about what sets him off, about how to combat ADHD symptoms, and his natural intelligence is blossoming. He is taking classes I could never have taken, due to his deeper knowledge of himself. And he’s doing well.

John has also taken his therapy into his own hands. He chose the church he goes to. He goes every week. He participates in their youth group. He gets a lot out of it. He is empowered by it. Empowering your kid is good. Watching your kid empower himself is better.

Moms are confused because ADHD often accompanies high intelligence.
Among males, it often displays with bad behavior, fidgeting, fighting,
arguing, and thus it may be overdiagnosed.

Among females it often
displays with dyslexia and other learning disabilities. Behaviorally,
however, female ADHD patients are often daydreaming, lost in their own
worlds. They don’t act out, they are not noticed, and the syndrome is
often underdiagnosed.

ADHD can be mild, moderate, severe, or anywhere along that scale. It can even go off the scale into Asperger’s Disorder or Autism.

But as ADD it is a positive boon. (You take the H out when hyperactivity is no longer a major symptom.) My ADD allows me to hyper-concentrate
on things I’m interested in (like this blog item) and get an awful lot
done in what seems (to me) an awfully short time. To call it a
disability, in my view, is to mislabel it. It’s a habit of mind which,
like any other habit, can be harnessed and put to good use.

It’s because ADHD mostly affects smart kids that moms are getting
confused. They see smart kids getting Ritalin and think that if their
kids take Ritalin they will become smart. This is false. Ritalin is a
form of speed, and in kids without ADHD speed will process as speed. In
ADHD kids, on the other hand, the same effect gets their mind onto the
same wavelength as the rest of the class, and appears to slow them
down.  Drugs like Ritalin also have a depressive effect on children,
and that’s why an anti-depressant, like Prozac, may be prescribed
alongside it.

Ritalin is a behavioral drug. It is not a learning drug.

Ritalin, and other drugs which act on the mind, should never be
prescribed without accompanying psychotherapy. Ever. With ADHD kids
this therapy should be of a different type than it is with other
problems. That is, you need a coaching style, where the therapist is
making active suggestions for behavioral change. A lot of these
suggestions are simple ideas for organizing time, organizing stuff, and
organizing thoughts.

What the MSNBC story misses is that "academic doping" does not work.
If you give a drug like Ritalin to a kid without ADHD, you’re hampering
them, not helping them. If you want to give an adult speed, be like the
big boys and open a meth lab. (Just joking.) You’ll get the same
results, and the same side-effects.

There are lots of reasons why some kids don’t do well at school. Their
parents may be at fault, setting bad examples on spending their time or
money. Before you pass drugs to your kids, please, look in the mirror.
I did. I got help. You can too.