Here is a discusion of the ADHD ADD research and some walking back of claims about Ritalin type drugs.
Apparently some of the original researchers are having some regrets.
http://politichicks.tv/column/experts-question-adhd-drug-study-late-children/
An eloquent statement.
The treatment of ADHD is just one symptom of a massive, convoluted problem with society. There was a time not that long ago when not every child was expected to be a cookie cutter replica of his peers. Studying books and other intellectual pursuits was largely relegated to sickly children that were incapable of playing outside. Public schools pressured parents to force their children to sit in a building for the brightest parts of the day. Pop psychologists demonized multi thousand year old forms of discipline. Colleges and universities, once a destination for fewer than 1 in a thousand children, sold parents the idea that no one could be successful without their approval.
In a startlingly short time we have gone from children working and playing outside during the day with their education coming from their parents or books after the work was done to children being shoved into a communal group as early as one year old. They spend the better part of their days in uncomfortable desks in dimly lit rooms being told over and over that if they don’t get into a great college their life might as will be over.
Even still, those children that couldn’t be forced into the academic mold created for them were given outlets. Those whose interest was not caught by athletics or trade shops were eventually dealt with by discipline. Today, athletics are condemned for being dangerous, violent, or unfair. Shop classes are dropped for fear of the legal liability that comes with letting teenagers near power tools, and discipline has been thrown out because it’s “bad for self-esteem”. The last junior high my son went to didn’t even have recess, just the best nine hours of the day in a nearly windowless, brick building. In winter he went to school in the dark, left school at dusk, and had homework until bedtime. The link between mental well-being and exposure to sunlight (or at least sufficiently bright light) is well-documented. Just that alone could account for a number of children diagnosed with ADHD.
Along comes a new miracle drug that makes kids “smarter” by chemically altering their developing brain and it seemed like a miracle to the parents who were told their child was hopeless because he couldn’t fit in to the new dynamic. Who cares what the list of side-effects says, the expert says it’s okay. After a few parents of children with real problem saw improvements, other parents naturally wanted their children to have the same advantage. It wasn’t long after that medicating children became a booming business that makes way too much money to be analyzed rationally. Meanwhile, we’re teaching a generation of children that popping a pill can solve their self-discipline problems. The unintended consequences of this fiasco are just getting started.