Add/adha Medication Abuse And What Parents Can Do

The New York Times recently published an article about rampant abuse of stimulants commonly prescribed to treat ADD and ADHD

. High school students who feel great pressure to perform academically often buy pills from students with legitimate prescriptions and use the pills to boost their energy and concentration for studying. What can parents do?

The first thing you can do as a parent is get a proper neuropsychological evaluation to determine if your child, in fact, has ADD or ADHD. Many people suspect such drugs may be overprescribed. Instead of recommending a thorough neuropsychological assessment, a doctor may write a prescription for stimulants and simply advise the family to see if the drugs help. The drugs may 'work' regardless of whether the student has the disorder but are not advised if the student does not, in fact, have ADD or ADHD any studies show that kids who do take stimulants who do not have ADD or ADHD do not do as well in the long run. They may see a short term boost in grades but ultimately in can lead to depression, a lack of motivation, and other problems. Many young adults who abuse prescription drugs and have to enter neuropsychology programs for addiction often start by taking common stimulants.

Meanwhile kids who do have ADD or ADHD who do not have access to drugs suffer from worse long term outcomes. They do more poorly in school and actually turn to alcohol and illegal drugs at higher rates to self-medicate. It's a scary prospect for parents who may feel they are walking a thin line. That is what makes proper diagnosis through neuropsychological testing so important.

If your child does have ADHD there are some simple, common sense steps you can take to make sure they use their medication properly. Make sure that you control and administer the pills. Watch them take their pills, only give them one at a time, and always count how many are in the bottle. This will stop the diversion.

If your child does not have ADD/ADHD you need to have a talk with them. Explain the drugs only offer a short term solution but can mask a larger problem. Tell them that taking the drugs when they don't have the disorder is not good for them. Just make sure they know achieving academic success by using drugs is not what you want for them.

by: Mark Etinger

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