The ease of prescription
According to Rolison and Bloch from the department of psychiatry, “In March 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Drug Enforcement Agency declared a public health emergency and suspended the in-person evaluation requirement…Between 2020-2021 there was a 15% increase in Adderall prescriptions for adults aged 22-24” (Rolison & Bloch 2023).
An Introduction
ADHD is a mental disorder that plagues many people across the world. With so many distractions in the age of the world we are in, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. There are many distractions in the world, making people feel like they can’t get anything done. The question poses itself; is this attention disorder innate in peoples genetic code? Or is it caused and fueled by extraneous factors. There are drugs prescribed and proven to help with this disorder, but could it just be masking the root cause? It is a very difficult topic as there isn’t one thing you can pinpoint as the cause of this disorder. Everything in our society can affect our attention spans (e.g., social media and video games). According to the CDC, the percentage of children aged 4 through 17 diagnosed with ADHD increased from just below 6% in 1997 to just below 10% in 2018. Was this merely an increase in diagnosis? Or is it an increase in the external factors that contribute to shorter nationwide attention spans.
The diagnosis and treatment of ADHD in children
As soon as a child over the age of 6 is suspected of having ADHD, they are prescribed Adderall. Adderall is a combination of amphetamine and dextroamphetamine and acts like a stimulant on the nervous system. It increases dopamine and norepinephrine levels. All it takes is one doctor’s visit for them to diagnose a child and prescribe them this mind-altering drug. It’s the easy fix; you don’t have to investigate the child’s life and find a root cause for attention issues. Simply replacing the chemicals children lack seems to be the answer nowadays. According to a study on the challenges to determining adolescent medication response to Adderall for ADHD, only 46% of teens had an optimal response to Adderall. Should this be the go-to medication to treat ADHD when it doesn’t even work over half the time? There are people that need this drug, but people can have the symptoms of ADHD without having ADHD. Regular use of this drug will lead to decreased levels of dopamine and norepinephrine as Adderall acts as an agonist of these chemicals. If your brain receives chemicals, it doesn’t produce it will stop producing that chemical. This can cause severe withdrawal if the patient ever decides to quit taking Adderall.
The new age of online diagnosis
​Another problem with the modern-age treatment of Adderall is the ease of getting the drug. The study mentioned earlier that the increased diagnosis of ADHD may be partially caused by the prevalence of online diagnosis. According to Rolison and Bloch from the department of Psychiatry, “In March 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Drug Enforcement Agency declared a public health emergency and suspended the in-person evaluation requirement…Between 2020-2021 there was a 15% increase in Adderall prescriptions for adults aged 22-24” (Rolison & Bloch 2023). This is an astounding increase in prescriptions, exponentially more than previously stated. With the ability to go online and get a prescription for the drug, how many of these people have ADHD and how many just show symptoms? Everyone has issues paying attention and being productive, especially in a classroom setting. If all it takes is a 15-minute Zoom call to be prescribed an amphetamine, maybe the process for diagnosing and treating ADHD needs to be reevaluated.
Who should really be getting Adderall?
With ADHD diagnosis steadily on the rise in children and teens, as well as Adderall prescription as a whole being on the rise: the question poses itself. What should the qualifications be to be prescribed Adderall? Surely it should be more than a teledoc visit. When you prescribe children Adderall without trying any other non-medicated treatment first, there’s no going back. It permanently alters the child’s brain, and they may never be able to function properly without the drug again. Adderall should not be prescribed lightly. It should be the last course of action. Things like behavior therapy and other non-mind-altering treatments should be the first treatment after diagnosis.
Non-medicated treatment for ADHD
When you prescribe children Adderall without trying any other non-medicated treatment first, there’s no going back. It permanently alters the child’s brain, and they may never be able to function properly without the drug again. ADHD used to be hesitantly diagnosed after many observations, but now it is diagnosed much more liberally. In a Washington Post article, the author states, “…ADHD – a neurodevelopmental issue that may cause children to be overly active, have trouble focusing or be unable to control their actions – was something that many providers hesitated to diagnose before the early years…Many experts argued that it can be impossible to distinguish the normal behavior of a boundlessly energetic preschooler…from one who has a medical condition” (Ariana Eunjung Cha, 2016). Kids are supposed to be full of energy. That is one of the best parts about childhood. Kids aren’t dragged down by the stresses of life like adults are. So to set a line where a kid has “too much energy” can be a very hard thing to do. If you diagnose a kid with ADHD and prescribe them Adderall, you are setting that kid up to take the drug for the rest of their life. I don’t believe Adderall should be the go-to answer to kids having trouble paying attention in class, especially in this time period where our society is built around quick mindless entertainment. The long-term use of Adderall can have devastating effects. An article on WebMD states the long-term use of Adderall can lead to heart disease, high blood pressure, seizures, irregular heartbeat, and abuse and addiction (Robinson and Begum MD, 2023). There are people who genuinely need to take medication for their attention disorder, this paper is not arguing against that, but it needs to be the last resort. Subjecting young children to a drug as addictive as Adderall, without trying other forms of treatment first, should not be the norm.