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Concerns About Medication

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The Controversy of Medicating Kids

Colette Sims

AED/222

April 22, 2012
Monica Santiago

The Controversy of Medicating Kids

There are some benefits of taking medications such as Ritalin, Adderall and Effexor for Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) and for children with Emotional Behavior Disorders (EBD), as well as some concerns. Some of the benefits include the improvement of a child’s attention span for longer lengths of time, trouble with depression and for the purpose of focusing on their lessons in class which results in the child improvement in their grades. Some of the concerns include giving children medication not really knowing if they need it. After watching the video, “Medicating Kids,” I could form an opinion about how the different medications can affect the children. In some it had an affect and it seemed to have a positive affect on most of the children in the video, According to Dr. Xavier Castellanos of the National Institute of mental health who states, “There is no known reason of what causes ADHD and there is no known reason as to why stimulants are effective.” After viewing the video, I have to wonder if the effects of the drugs were psychological in the children. With the exception of Nicholas, all the other children were aware that they were taking these drugs and shoed an improvement. I have to side with the psychologists who say children do not need to take medication for what is normal behavior in children. The video about medicating kids on PBS (2001) explores “The debate in 1999 about weather or not children with supposedly psychological problems should be medicated” speaks of how there are four times the number of children in the U.S. then any where else. Parents were told their children need to be on medication for ADHD and EBD according to psychologist studies (PBS 2001), and state that

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