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Is Ritalin Over Prescribed?

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Become a Patron! The experts agree, ADHD medication is over prescribed, but that’s only half the story.. Transcript – Partial Dr Laura Muggli   MARGARET WEISS  I think that the difficulty with that statement is that it implies that medication is either over-prescribed or under prescribed.  And in the case of Ritalin, my clinical experience is definitely both. DR. VINCENT Well, you’re talking about the use of Ritalin as a treatment for ADHD and the question is do we prescribe it too often.  The real question is, are those who need that kind of medication, do they get them. MARGARET WEISS And in the case of Ritalin, my clinical experience is definitely both.  There are children and families who come to see me where the expectations for achievement where self-control really exists to be beyond what is natural for childhood. If you drop a child off at daycare at 5:30 in the morning, if you give him three hours of homework, if he goes from play date to play date or activity to activity or if good enough achievement isn’t good enough for that family and so they want to hyperfunction, yes, it’s possible in some of those circumstances the definition of impairment is relative to a standard that is not realistic, especially in some of our current classrooms. On the other hand, it is also equally true, and in this particular case have epidemiologically more true that stimulant medication is also under prescribed. Steven Kurtz DR. VINCENT certainly not right now 5 percent of the children get treated for their ADHD.  The problem is, are we able to detect early enough those who have ADHD?  Do we have access to good medication to treat them?  And are we able to detect those who look like ADHD but do not have ADHD? MARGARET WEISS If you look at the people who actually get to the doctor and then the people who form enough of a relationship with the doctor that they can go through the psychological process of understanding the place of medication, that it’s a tool, not a cure, and then if you look at the people who then manage to stay on medication so that they obtain enduring benefit, I actually think that the percentage of patients that are currently being adequately treated with medication is a small subset of the total population. Steven Kurtz  
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7 Comments

  1. myjob2007 March 11, 2013 at 3:50 pm

    What happened to this site. I was able to get a lot of information for my clients and to view the videos and understand ADD. I need to sign in now and the video does not work. i just suggested to an adult to go check out this site and it’s all complicated without the information that was so useful; I wanted to view the 5 medications video given by Dr jain as he wanted to understand why a certain medication and not another. can you help me

  2. Myzee June 21, 2013 at 3:33 am

    Maybe a lot of
    I find it’s a good opportunity for me to find and use my words when I find something on the site that’s frustrating.
    My motivation for constructive input is an awareness of that I would never(at this point) be brave enuf to ‘put myself out there’ re responsibility for a site like this……
    I can relate to your frustration tho….lived with it all my life….and I’m becoming very grateful for this site because it feels like home…not a perfect home but a loving one…it is my sincere wish that all those who come here will experience that aroma of love and acceptance and won’t mind opening the window if something on the stove occasionally gets burned or worse yet…somebody forgets to turn on the stove in the first place

  3. briand362 November 7, 2013 at 1:02 am

    is there any natural I can take vitiams to help me focus instead of Ritalin thank you Brian DuPont

  4. iopsychologist April 22, 2020 at 12:20 pm

    Interesting. Especially about the prescription dose. I am just inquisitive about the low doses of marjuana that can contribute to any healing?

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