We live in a culture where prescription drugs run rampant.
In today’s society, Americans seek a fix-all in the form of a bottle of pills. From problems with anxiety, sleep issues and “attention deficit,” Americans believe pills are the solution. Indeed, there are people who benefit and actually need these prescriptions, but many of whom drugs are prescribed to do not.
ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) and ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) are two of the most commonly diagnosed disorders in the U.S.
Might I add, misdiagnosed?
A startlingly large amount of people diagnosed with these disorders do not actually have it.
There are rigorous, thorough psychological evaluations that must be performed before a person should be diagnosed as having an attention deficit disorder. Simply experiencing bouts of not being able to focus does not qualify one as having ADHD – this is simply normal behavior, especially in children.
In turn, the misdiagnosis of ADHD leads to abuse and dependency of the medication associated with the disorder.
As students across the country gear up to take finals, many will illegally acquire and abuse ADHD medication because our culture dictates that they need it. This category of drugs was designed to help people with attention problems focus better. It would follow that these drugs would help anyone focus.
More and more concerns are being raised about the diagnoses of ADHD as the number of children diagnosed continues to increase.
An article that appeared in the New York Times last year raised growing concerns from doctors who feel like the astronomical rates of ADHD diagnoses are startling. While medication does help those who have ADHD, it can also cause addiction, anxiety, and even some psychosis, the article said.
It is estimated that ADHD affects about 3 to 7 percent of children. As of last year, approximately 11 percent of children had been diagnosed with ADHD. This high number of children being diagnosed with this disorder is astounding, at least to me.
Many doctors feel pressure from parents to push a diagnosis onto their children, and the necessary tests and ruling out process is circumvented.
As American culture continues become more and more pharmaceutical-obsessed, abuse and addiction rates skyrocket.
I see this as a major problem rooted in the stigmatization of mental disorders.
Since American society does not take mental disorders seriously, there is a carelessness to which ADHD diagnoses are approached that is crippling American youth, many of whom are learning addictive behaviors from these medications.
Carl Case is a senior double major in psychology and Spanish from Brookhaven.
