DEFINITION OF ADD AND HISTORY OF RITALINWhen Jason was five, his mother, Cathy, had to take him out of preschool because of his temper tantrums. She tried behavior management and parenting courses, to no avail. Eventually, Jason was diagnosed with ADHD and given the stimulant Ritalin, which controlled his outbursts. “It was like Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde,” Cathy said. Jason flourished for the next six years, even winning his fifth-grade citizenship award. In sixth grade, however, his medication stopped working, and he became aggressive again. But Jason’s teachers did not believe he had a disability and refused to allow any special “accommodations,” like extra time to take tests. At Christmas, Jason was so depressed that he threatened to kill himself. After three weeks’ treatment at a psychiatric hospital, he was put on Adderall, another stimulant, which helped him recover. Now he is back at school, this time with a full time teacher’s aide and other accommodations for his disability. “He just had a midterm evaluation,” Cathy said, “and his teachers all said that he was a delight to have in class.”Like Jason, more and more children are being diagnosed with ADHD or its less hyperactive cousin, attention deficit disorder (ADD). And, correspondingly, during the past decade the production of stimulants used to treat ADD has risen dramatically, (see Graph 1.). However, an increasing number of parents, doctors, and public health officials are becoming alarmed about the jump in the use of Ritalin and amphetamines to treat ADD. In the last year, at least three prestigious medical journals published articles examining whether the condition is being overdiagnosed and American children are being drugged unnecessarily, (NEA Today, 25).Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and attention deficit disorder (ADD) are generally characterized by abnormal levels of hype...
