By: Shawn Cox
Submitted: 2010-04-06 13:22:21 | Word Count: 419
Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) can be a disabling learning disorder. For young children it can make school frustrating and incomprehensible and for the teachers and parents who attempt to help children with ADD, it can provide a huge obstacle. Attention Deficit Disorder is very much what it name suggests--a disability in which the ability to concentrate is jeopardised, causing learning and performing attention intensive activities difficult and at times, impossible. To help children who suffer from ADD, psychologists have suggested attention-increasing activities that attempt to help children with ADD by improving their attention spans through repetition and conditioning. These types of activities may offer some help however for severe ADD sufferers, they can only aggravate the condition and make the condition more frustrating. Because ADD is a disorder which comes chemical imbalances, doctors have utilized Ritalin, Methylphenidate, as a mild amphetamine drug to help especially children with ADD in school. Although Ritalin does provide relief for children and adults with ADD, it can also have damaging side-effects and the use of the drug for the treatment of ADD has come into close inspection in the last few years.
Methylphenidate is a prescription stimulant commonly used to treat Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD. Its brand name, Ritalin, works in the same ways that caffeine does--it increases heart rate, increases metabolism, heightens concentration--but in an exponen-tially more potent manner. Methylphenidate is a central nervous system (CNS) stimu-lant,[10][11][12] reducing impulsive behavior, and facilitating concentration on work and other tasks. Adults who have ADHD often report that methylphenidate increases their ability to focus on tasks and organize their lives. In children who are prescribed with the drug to help with their ADD, the drug is shown to provide relief and it does indeed aid in concentration. Children dis-play signs of increased attention, less irritability and higher information retention. However Rita-lin has a slight “feel-good” side-effect that makes it not addictive, but habit-forming. After long-term use of Ritalin, users find themselves dependent on the drug, using it even when not neces-sary or after their ADD has been controlled. This dependency has come into criticism and many opponents of Ritalin point to Ritalin as a pharmaceutical gateway drug, leading to stronger do-sages in later life or illegal drug experimentation.
Ritalin also
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causes substantial physiological side-effects. Reported methylphenidate abuse side effects include psychosis (abnormal thinking or hallucinations), difficulty sleeping, mood swings, mood changes, stomach aches, diarrhea, headaches, lack of hunger (leading to weight loss) and dry mouth.
