Disadvantages and Advantages of Methylphenidate
I have been surprised by the number of patients referred to receive neuropsychological testing at my practicum site, are taking methylphenidate. Adding to my surprise if the fact that all of my patients have been under 12. This is something that is not uncommon to other sites, since the number of prescriptions written for methylphenidate in the United States has increased significantly in the past few years. Seeing how common it was for young children to be on methylphenidate an, I decided to take a closer look at some of the possible advantages and disadvantages of methylphenidate. Methylphenidate is most commonly used in the treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). ADHD …show more content…
Contrary to the previous study, researchers in this study note that abuse by oral administration is rare and that when abused methylphenidate is used intranasally or injected intravenously. One of the hypotheses is that clinical doses do not produce dopamine increases that are sufficient to elicit effects as those induced by cocaine and methamphetamine. As a result methylphenidate pills are crushed and then snorted. When looking at the review of the literature these authors found that oral methylphenidate at clinical does used to treat ADHD should not be considered a “weak” stimulant compared with intravenous methylphenidate or cocaine. They found that the peak level of dopamine transporter blockade for clinically relevant doses of methylphenidate, though delayed for 2 hours, were almost the same as with intravenous methylphenidate that produce reinforcing effects though not the experience of being …show more content…
Shafritz, Marchione, Gore, Shaywitz and Shaywitz, (2004) state that studies of ADHD have relied primarily upon cognitive tasks that reflect impulse control rather than attention mechanisms. The researchers in this study use functional resonance imaging to investigate the neural correlated of selective and divided attention in a randomized, double blind study to see the effects of methylphenidate on neural systems of attention. The participants included 15 adolescents with ADHD, eight adolescents with a reading disorder, and four adolescents with both a reading disorder and ADHD who were scanned using a session in which they had a dosage of methylphenidate and one where they were given a placebo. 14 healthy individuals who were not given methylphenidate were used as a comparison
I have been surprised by the number of patients referred to receive neuropsychological testing at my practicum site, are taking methylphenidate. Adding to my surprise if the fact that all of my patients have been under 12. This is something that is not uncommon to other sites, since the number of prescriptions written for methylphenidate in the United States has increased significantly in the past few years. Seeing how common it was for young children to be on methylphenidate an, I decided to take a closer look at some of the possible advantages and disadvantages of methylphenidate. Methylphenidate is most commonly used in the treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). ADHD …show more content…
Contrary to the previous study, researchers in this study note that abuse by oral administration is rare and that when abused methylphenidate is used intranasally or injected intravenously. One of the hypotheses is that clinical doses do not produce dopamine increases that are sufficient to elicit effects as those induced by cocaine and methamphetamine. As a result methylphenidate pills are crushed and then snorted. When looking at the review of the literature these authors found that oral methylphenidate at clinical does used to treat ADHD should not be considered a “weak” stimulant compared with intravenous methylphenidate or cocaine. They found that the peak level of dopamine transporter blockade for clinically relevant doses of methylphenidate, though delayed for 2 hours, were almost the same as with intravenous methylphenidate that produce reinforcing effects though not the experience of being …show more content…
Shafritz, Marchione, Gore, Shaywitz and Shaywitz, (2004) state that studies of ADHD have relied primarily upon cognitive tasks that reflect impulse control rather than attention mechanisms. The researchers in this study use functional resonance imaging to investigate the neural correlated of selective and divided attention in a randomized, double blind study to see the effects of methylphenidate on neural systems of attention. The participants included 15 adolescents with ADHD, eight adolescents with a reading disorder, and four adolescents with both a reading disorder and ADHD who were scanned using a session in which they had a dosage of methylphenidate and one where they were given a placebo. 14 healthy individuals who were not given methylphenidate were used as a comparison