Word: ritalin
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Treatment for hyperactivity includes psychological counseling, special diets that restrict artificial flavorings and preservatives and, most typically, medication with such amphetamines as Ritalin and Dexedrine. For unexplained reasons, these drugs, which usually act as stimulants, dampen impulsive behavior in hyperactive youngsters and enable them to concentrate longer. Up to 750,000 American children now take drugs to control ADHD; that figure is expected to reach 1 million by the early 1990s...
...alarming fact is that many children whose symptoms have been misdiagnosed are being given Ritalin and other powerful drugs. Since 1987, parents around the country have filed more than a dozen Ritalin-related lawsuits against doctors, teachers and school districts. In one such suit, a Washington woman claimed that the drug led her six-year-old son to attempt suicide. Complaints about depression, listlessness and insomnia in medicated % children are common. Valerie Jesson, of Derry, N.H., says her son Casey, 10, became a zombie while on Ritalin: "It knocked him into next week. His eyes would glaze, and he would...
Many physicians defend the use of Ritalin, citing studies indicating that the drug is generally safe and is effective in about 80% of cases of hyperactive children. Adverse effects are usually limited to temporary appetite loss and insomnia. "Ritalin is not a panacea," says researcher Howard Abikoff of the Long Island Jewish Medical Center, "but without medication we'd be up against the wall...
...some medical experts acknowledge that Ritalin is being overprescribed. In Georgia, Michigan, Utah and Maryland use of the drug is two or three times the national average. Says Andrew Watry, executive director of Georgia's medical board: "It's seen by some as a quick fix for behavior problems." The blame belongs not only to doctors, who sometimes give little more than cursory examinations before reaching for the prescription pad, and teachers, who want their classrooms to be peaceful. It also rests on parents, who often expect their children to be stellar performers. ADHD is most commonly diagnosed in prosperous...