Add And Ritalin example essay topic

Ritalin remains the leading drug prescribed in the United States for the treatment of Attention deficit disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Since the debut of Ritalin in 1956, numerous doctors began prescribing it because of its calming effect on hyperactive children. ADD and Ritalin continue to rise each year and now the United States consumes ninety percent of the world's Ritalin. In fact, today, more than two million kids take Ritalin on a daily basis. Could the US be plagued by ADD or has our society's insatiable desire for success pushed for a quick fix to an ambiguous unproven disorder? In order to examine the deluge of Ritalin into the United States, one needs to understand ADD or ADHD.

Symptoms of ADD include, lack of attention, forgetfulness, lack in listening, and disorganization. Imagine a fourth-grader in class, trying to read along with the book but simply looks outside and sees someone mowing the lawn. Instead of reading, he finds the mowing much more enjoyable and diverts his attention outside the window. A teacher looks over, and sees the student looking out the window. Instead of trying to get his attention, he wonders if he could be ADD or ADHD. Lack of concentration, which everyone has at some point, has led to the assessment of these disorders.

But does ADD or ADHD actually exist? In fact, is no actual empirical evidence to support that ADD actually exists. For instance, imagine a child of about ten years old named Eric growing up in today's society. Eric comes home from an average day at school and wants to relax.

He grabs a snack after a tiring day at school. As he eats the snack he sits down to watch some television. After watching some type of program Eric eventually gets bored. Instead of trying to do something constructive such as reading or exercising, Eric decides to put in a play station game and indulge for the next two hours. Nothing can divert Eric from the sensory stimulating game.

Time progresses until finally it becomes homework time. After Eric has dinner he goes to his room to attempt to do some homework. By no surprise, the child takes no interest in his science book or arithmetic problems. Instead of making a better attempt to focus, he decides to sneak down to the basement to play another game. Eric doesn't complete his assignments and goes to bed for the night. After two months, Eric's parents are notified that their son continues to show no effort in school.

His parents decide that Eric should be tested for ADD. It's cases like Eric's that have led to abundance of Ritalin in the US. Could it be possible that Eric doesn't have ADD but just shows no interest in school because of mere laziness? Could it be possible that Television and video games have contributed highly to Eric's distractions? Doesn't every kid exhibit signs of lack of concentration or forgetfulness?

If kids like Eric eventually receive Ritalin, the problem may lie in the diagnosing of ADD. If there's no scientific or biological evidence that ADD actually exists, then how do we assess if a child or an adult actually has ADD? Experts suggest that a comprehensive test should be administered to assess ADHD. Before the patient consults a doctor, he or she must be closely assessed by parents. Then a clinician should do extensive testing. This testing should include a "complete developmental, medical, and family history".

The clinician should look for other mental disorders associated with the patient such as hallucinations or depression. The patient should also be tested for sensory problems that could cause symptoms of ADD such as poor hearing or eye sight. The patient should then take achievement tests and finally evaluate surveys taken by parents and teachers. Unfortunately, this is rarely practiced with the assessment of ADD.

In fact, in a recent survey taken, "more than fifty percent of doctors admitted that they spent an hour or less with the patient before prescribing them medication". The ambiguity associated with the assessment completely exacerbates the situation. Not only are doctors not spending ample time to detect this disorder, but it's still a diagnosis based on opinions. The behavioral ratings done by teachers and parents still represent forms of opinion. Even the doctor's analysis represents some form of opinion. In addition to the doctor's subjective diagnosis, the assessment of Ritalin becomes even more gray when you look at how kids are being diagnosed in the half an hour that they are in the physicians office.

Simply put, it is far too difficult to assess a person's behavior in a half hour. A study done by "Pediatrics" found that 80 percent of the children thought to be hyperactive, according to home and school reports showed "exemplary behavior and no sign of hyperactivity in the office". Clearly, the child demonstrates behavior atypical of what he / she normally does. Thus, it's virtually impossible to make accurate assessments to administer Ritalin on a consistent basis. This necessitates the child to act completely normal in a totally unfamiliar atmosphere and a perfectly accurate opinion administered by the physician. Assessments done by teachers and parents can also be subject to fallibility, leaving the diagnosis of Ritalin and ADD completely ambiguous.

Proof lies in actual inconsistent assessments with ADD. Starting in late middle school, my brother showed a lack of interest in school and produced bad grades. One of his best friends who showed a similar attitude and work ethic went on Ritalin. Immediately, his friend showed amazing change in organization and study skills. After witnessing this miraculous turnaround by this miracle drug, my parents decided that my brother needed Ritalin.

Immediately my parents took my brother for assessment of ADD. After some supposed extensive testing, UMASS hospital diagnosed my brother with having symptoms of ADD, but not enough for a written prescription of Ritalin. Rather than accepting the diagnosis, my father pushed to get a second opinion. Later that month, my brother went for more testing, this time with a different doctor, and was prescribed Ritalin.

Clearly, this type of assessment explicitly identifies the ambiguity associated with diagnosing ADD and prescribing Ritalin. There's not telling how many kids receive Ritalin that otherwise wouldn't if they happened to be diagnosed by a different doctor. I realize that my brother is not an accurate example for all ADD candidates, but nonetheless his diagnosis indicates the flaws in assessing ADD. People may not also realize the faultiness of assessments of parents and teachers of ADD.

Picture a teacher with a struggling student in her classroom. The teacher constantly needs to tell her student to calm down or be quiet. The child may elicit some forms of inappropriate behavior and rude comments. The teacher can't stand her student sometimes although she does want to help.

It just so happens that teachers can play a role in assessing the children's behavior for the diagnosis of ADD. Even if the child could be borderline ADD in the classroom, it's clearly up to the teacher of how to assess her students performance in class. She knows that if she does give him horrible ratings in every area of assessment, then more than likely her student will be administered Ritalin and no longer be a nuisance. This may have led many teachers to assessing a children's behavior poorly to make sure her student receives the "calming" drug. The same holds true for parents.

There's no telling how many parents jump to the quick fix of Ritalin before they patiently attempt to cope with their children's struggles. Of course there are many other methods besides Ritalin to change a child's habits but today's society pushes for the quick fix to see immediate results, regardless if their child is a product of a behavioral changing drug. A main reason why Ritalin probably has survived the scrutiny as a biological disorder is due to the calming affects of Ritalin. Ritalin survives because of the "paradoxical" effect that it gives off to kids with ADD or ADHD.

Richard DeGrandpre puts it appropriately, "that is, we assume that the effects of the drug prove the existence of a biological disorder because we believe that a stimulant drug would not normal decrease hyperactivity or increase attention". (pg. 42) This way, when a patient struggles with his or her disorder and sees great results with Ritalin, it implies that the patient found a way to cope with ADD. This is completely absurd because all studies associated with Ritalin prove that it elicits the same effects on most non-ADD children. I know many kids that have taken Ritalin that are unquestionably non-ADD. They all claim to feel the same effects of a calming more docile personality as people are supposed to feel that supposedly have ADD.

Scientists do not also exactly know why ADD is four to five times more likely to be prevalent in males than females. Simply, no one completely understands ADD and Ritalin. So what has caused the demand for Ritalin to sky so high in recent years? There's no doubt that Ritalin definitely works, but why does our society unequivocally consume more Ritalin than any other place in the world. Our culture more than likely has a great effect. Today, society is more fast paced than ever before.

A survey taken in 1971 said that 1 in 5 adults felt that they were being "rushed". Twenty-one years later, the same survey was taken in 1992, and this time 3 out of 5 adults felt that they were "rushed". A popular phrase of our decades entrepreneur "time is money" typifies the fast paced society. Obviously our generation feels the need to push everything faster and more efficient. Instead of waking up in the morning to relax to a morning newspaper, some people actually associate this as lost time to make money. As David Elkin d writes, "today's child has become the unwilling, unintended victim of overwhelming stress-the stress borne of rapid, bewildering social change and constantly rising expectations".

Today, society puts more pressure on kids to excel in every field. High school sports teams continue in increasing competitiveness and college admissions continue to get tougher and tougher each year. Kids constantly feel the need to do well and be successful. When a child isn't doing well in school, the "little white pill" offers help instantaneously. Take for example a junior in high school that desperately wants to get into a well respected college due to pressures of teachers and family. The student does well in school, but remains doubtful of getting into his dream college.

The next time he takes his SAT's, he resorts to Ritalin for the possibility of concentrating better and scoring higher. Also, college students that continue to be bombarded with overwhelming work sometimes resort to Ritalin. Procrastination is only habitual in human nature, and this breeds a great deal of work in a short period of time. It's only fitting that people choose the quick fix for an answer to the pressures of work.

Our country may have the best education in the world, but has it come at some expensive costs? In addition to the ever growing pressures of kids in America that probably have caused the need for Ritalin, our society today is more susceptible to distraction for more reasons than ADD. Unquestionably, technology has offered many distractions. Kids don't sit down and read a book today just because they can't focus, it's because technology hinders the desire for slower paced activities. At any second, when a child sits at home, he / she can surf the web, take a call, receive a call, listen to music, and watch television. No wonder kids aren't able to focus as well as they should.

It's what I'd like to call "effortless" entertainment that sits right at their fingertips constantly. Even when someone takes a routine walk into the city to purchase something at a store, they can't help but be plagued with advertisements every where they go. Big, bright billboards grab our attention and music pumps from cars that drive by. One can't help but be distracted in a variety of ways. It's only fitting that when we take a child of this culture and ask him to sit down and read a book, he can't help but want to do something else that's more stimulating. Also, when do you see kids wanting to sit down and play a game of chess?

Our society has developed an insatiable desire for speed. We all want fast cars, fast internet connections, fast answers to everything. No wonder why our society thrives on a drug that enhances all of our desires.