Misdiagnosis Of Ritalin And ADHD

Superior Essays
Even though many individuals in today’s society utilize Ritalin in a very effective manner, unfortunately, there are cases where it is taken incorrectly and abused. Ritalin is a methylphenidate and is mainly taken for those who have ADHD, which is short for Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. In order to delve into what Ritalin is one must understand what ADHD and ADD are exactly. ADHD is a chronic condition that includes attention difficulty, hyperactivity, and impulsiveness. Children diagnosed with this condition often lose and forget things, they are unorganized, they have a difficulty staying seated, and they often interrupt others. According to a journal of Pediatric Pharmacology and Therapeutics, “ADHD is one of the most common neurobehavioral disorders in childhood. ADHD can impact not only school performance, but also social interaction. If untreated this could lead to delinquent behavior.” (Briars, 2016, p.2) ADD is similar in the sense that the individual has a hard time paying attention, but the main difference is that those with ADD are not hyperactive and ADD is technically a type of ADHD. In …show more content…
While there are no figures on exactly how many children have misdiagnosed it is enough to cause concern. One example that seemingly shows misdiagnosis is in the case of children who enter school right at the cut off age. These children are younger than many of their classmates and are therefore often times more immature. There should be no link in cutoff age children and higher ADHD rates, yet large jumps in ADHD rates among these children are found. Hannes Schwandt explains that these jumps occur at different months across states in accordance with the different cutoff dates, indicating that the jumps in prevalence rates represent misdiagnosed rather than actual differences in children 's health which are unlikely to be spuriously correlated with the different cutoff dates across states (Schwandt,

Related Documents

  • Great Essays

    Is ADHD a real medical problem? ADHD has been one of the most controversial topics in the medical field till this day. Many believe it may or may not be an actual medical disorder. Even though many people believe that this isn’t a medical disorder there is thousands of research projects, studies and reports that state otherwise and numerous medical organizations that help advocate this reasoning. While many may still try to rebut this idea research has proven that ADHD is an actual disorder.…

    • 1883 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    One type of treatment is medication. Pat Walters says that the most common medications used to treat ADHD are stimulant medications. Some name brands of stimulant medications are Adderall, Vyvanse, Ritalin, and Concerta. Amphetamine is the active ingredient in Adderall, Vyvanse has lisdexamfetamine, and Ritalin and Concerta both contain methylphenidates (Walters). Edmund S. Higgins has found that methylphenidates have been found to have a similar chemical structure to cocaine.…

    • 1138 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A recent study from the University of South Carolina found that 17 percent of college kids, or 1 in 6, misuses ADHD drugs(Williams, P.). ADHD meds are believed to improve academic performance; inversely however, there are no studies that show an increase in academic progress while abusing the medication without a prescription. “I think it’s easy for people to assume that ADHD medication gives my kid an unfair advantage, but what it gives him is a fighting chance.” says Ariel McGovern, a Florida mother of two children diagnosed with ADHD(Williams, P.). Stimulant meds such as Ritalin(Methylin) and Adderall(Amphetamine salts) are used in the treatment of ADHD in youths in elementary school all the way into adulthood, but it isn’t until adolescense that abuse becomes a major problem. Currently 8% of youths are diagnosed with ADHD and receive years of medications from their doctors and many end up abusing them.…

    • 1342 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Unit 2 Clinical Journal Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the familiar developmental and childhood disorders learned in this unit. As a neurological-psychiatric disorder, ADHD is manifested by a continual display of reduced attention and/or intensified hyperactivity or impulsivity that interferes with the performance of the daily activities of people across the life span. Even though, reduce attention, intensified hyperactivity and impulsivity are the main attributes of ADHD, some patients may have difficulty with one of the behaviors. However, some people may have issues with inattentiveness and distractibility unlike the patients with ADHD; these conducts occur more often with increased severity, thereby changing the way they function in school, job and the community at large (Sadock, Sadock, & Ruiz, 2014).…

    • 502 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hidden Dangers of ADHD Medication There are mixed emotions when it comes to the topic of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and treatment plans. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2016) stated, “ADHD is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders of childhood” (“Facts about ADHD,” para. 1). One would think taking any medication over an extended time period would cause some kind of health problems, however, that is further from the truth. There are various types of ADHD pharmacological treatments but they general fall under two categories, stimulant and non-stimulant medications (Martinez-Raga, Knecht, Szerman & Martinez, 2013). There are no hidden dangers associated with ADHD patients taking pharmacological for…

    • 717 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The ADHD Debate. Retrieved April 13, 2016, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/abcs-child-psychiatry/201401/the-adhd-debate Sasser, T. R., Kalvin, C. B., & Bierman, K. L. (2016). Developmental trajectories of clinically significant attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms from grade 3 through 12 in a high-risk sample: Predictors and outcomes. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 125(2), 207-219.…

    • 816 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I believe that ADHD is Overdiagnosed because of one main reason. Diagnosis is way too broad. What i mean by this is that the way they diagnose ADHD could include people that don't have ADHD. A good example of his would be the DSM-IV Outlines, these out lines have 3 sets of indicators for ADHD these include inattention , hyperactivity and impulsivity.…

    • 334 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    ADHD is a psychiatric disorder usually diagnosed during childhood. Children with ADHD are often hyperactive (overactive) and have difficulty paying attention and staying focused on tasks. They may interrupt other people's conversations or be impulsive and impatient. ADHD symptoms can cause problems at home and at school, and often will last into adulthood. When taking this medication you can take it as a stimulant or a non-stimulant.…

    • 887 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    ADHD (attention deficit hyperactive disorder) is one of many common childhood disorders that can continue through adolescence and adulthood. Difficulty paying attention, following instructions, sitting still, managing time, organizing and controlling hyper active behavior are the symptoms of ADHD. Equally affecting both genders, more and more children, adults and adolescents are being diagnosed with ADHD today. Behavioral observations determine being diagnosed with ADHD or not. ADHD being a lifelong condition can be over diagnosed and medications can also be misused.…

    • 723 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The first new thing I learned from this article was that Ritalin and Cocaine are extremely similar. Second being the main reason why Ritalin is not highly addictive is because you swallow it in pill form which makes it you absorb it slower; causing you not to get an instant high like you would with cocaine. The third is that there are around six million children in the United States currently prescribed Ritalin. The fourth being that a significant portion of the prescriptions were not actually prescribed by a psychiatrist but family physicians. The fifth is that Americas education system is the main reason all these kids are being prescribed Ritalin, the schools create a curriculum around trying to increase test scores so they increase the reading writing and math classes, but decrease classes like art and PE.…

    • 343 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Many studies have taken place on whether Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is an actually disorder or not. Although many have been diagnosed with ADHD and we have science and evidence to back it up many people still believe that ADHD is not a disorder. ADHD is very prominent in todays children. “Approximately 2 million children in the united states have ADHD…that means in a classroom of 25 to 30 children its is likely that 1 student will have ADHD (Gantt and Slife, 2006, p. 3.)” ADHD being the controversial topic because there are may competing theories on whether ADHD is just a natural occurring behavior in which some have a higher functioning of the disorder and others have it lower.…

    • 753 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Despite modern knowledge, technology, and science, doctors still prescribe drugs identical to cocaine, alcohol, cigarettes, caffeine, and heroine (Khosh and Beneda). The medication ritalin is a stimulant that works the same way those harmful drugs do. In 1993, 2,500,000 prescriptions were written for ritalin (Khosh and Beneda). As is commonly known, all prescription drugs have side effects, but imagine the side effects of drugs identical to heroin and cocaine. Ritalin is a stimulant prescribed for ADHD.…

    • 1852 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Complications Of ADHD

    • 2160 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder otherwise known as ADHD is the most common behavioral disorder in children in the United States affecting about 4.7 million children ages 3-17. The most common treatment children with ADHD is drug therapy, a prescribed stimulant narcotic. The number of children in the United States who are treated with prescription drugs for ADHD has increased significantly. The concern between doctors, parents, and child advocates are that too many children are unnecessarily taking ADHD medications. There are many accounts to understand, one of them being the complications that ADHD drug therapy can cause such as insomnia and irritability, the abuse of the drugs taken by patients and non-patients, and the effects…

    • 2160 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ritalin is a prescription drug that is used to treat children, adolescents, and adults with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Ritalin is…

    • 1591 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    ADHD In Classroom

    • 1181 Words
    • 5 Pages

    ADHD can be a difficult disorder to live with for people who have this diagnosis, this can even impact the people who interact with these individuals every day. Families can have the largest impact and it can affect their way of life in many different ways especially in young children and adolescent’s school settings. “Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with poor grades, poor reading and math standardized test scores, and increased grade retention. ADHD is also associated with increased use of school-based services, increased rates of detention and expulsion, and ultimately with relatively low rates of high school graduation and postsecondary education,” says the Academic and Educational Outcomes of Children with…

    • 1181 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays