I am not a professor, a doctor, a psychologist, a psychiatrist or a mental health professional. I am instead a registered addiction wellness counsellor specialising in addiction and a survivor - in remission of my disease of addiction for 40 years. I am dyslexic, and have ADHD (undiagnosed),
This is my personal perspective and observation on ADD and ADHD drugs prescribed as educational task-enhancing medication.
I have had to understand my disease, in order to live with it every day and understand those external factors that would trigger the disease, that might activate a relapse. I have employed my mind to listen, read, and observe, from a vantage point where I am able to identify and understand what addiction is, how it behaves, what it does and how I became an active addict.
With this insight, I have seen and recognised a growing frightening trend in schools, colleges and universities related to over prescribed and abuse of such education task-enhancing medication.
Ritalin is the brand name for the drug MethylphenidateI, which is similar to cocaine, is in a class of medications called central nervous system (CNS) stimulants. It works by changing the amounts of certain normal natural substances in the brain.
Methylphenidate and cocaine belong to the broad class of drugs called psychostimulants which also includes amphetamine and methylphenidate. The two drugs are often compared to each other because they produce similar mood-altering effects and have a high potential for abuse and dependence. Methamphetamine is man-made (synthetic) while cocaine is plant-derived.
"They don’t see normal, they see out of the box".
Have a look at a few known names who thought out of the box, and yet today we would try to keep them in the box by telling them they have a disorder to fall in line with what is seen to be “The Normal”.
ADD and ADHD for me is a raw brilliance throttled back by and stagnant education system worldwide unable to adapt to such an advanced intellectual capability. A forced fit for a round peg into a square hole by medication makes societal sense. However, the behaviour complexities associated with being disruptive and distracted are still there. The present school and college education system today is not able to accommodate such students unless they are medicated to help them achieve the expected academic results, yet the true brilliants are beyond these expected academic norms.
Ritalin is a miracle drug for students who struggle with ADD and ADHD, and one of the most effective methods of helping such students through a standard school curriculum.
At present, and whilst we acknowledge that there is a definite and realistic need for such a drug in certain cases, this cannot be viewed as a blanket approach, which addresses the matter for all afflicted youth. Ritalin is overprescribed, a quick fix, or a convenient solution to a round peg that does not fit into a square hole, and has the desired short-term and immediate effect for the student and the school.
Or does it?
Low self-esteem combined with a diagnosis of ADD/ADHD sets children up for failure, to add to this, such students are given a miracle drug that is sometimes perceived to help them be “clever” to succeed at school. The child now feels inadequate and stupid and has a possible interpretation that they need a drug to succeed.
It is generally not made clear that the drug does not make the child “clever” in order to get them through the school curriculum, that the child does not have a disorder, but rather a gift of raw brilliance.
We should discourage parents and related authorities from labelling the actions and behaviours of these children as simply “disorders”, but rather encourage them to acknowledge the true value of these children, and identify the reasons for why they do not function as other children due to their advanced intellectual capability, and to adapt to methods of teaching and progressing them within their unique paradigm.
The drug takes the student's brilliance and refines it down to a manageable acceptable normal, to help them get through a system that is not yet ready for that level of intellectual capability.
Do not allow the drug that makes a student to fit into accepted societal norms, make them feel inadequate, different, or dependent. Once they believe that they require the drug in order to function within society and its expectations, then, in fact, the drug owns them. Thereafter, the drug will fail to meet their evolving needs, and will proportionally require more, in order for them to remain abreast with the ever-moving target of “societal norm”.
Dialogue with doctors and parents, friends and relatives of an ADD or ADHD student on Ritalin or Concerta can change from: “how much better you are doing now that you are on Ritalin”, to that where a student may be judged upon his use of the drug, rather than his own ability. I believe the dialogue must be changed to: “you are gifted with brilliance, and the education system does not have the ability yet to identify, much less accommodate your advanced intellectual capability. The drug will help to narrow your brilliance to accommodate the education system. Once you have completed your schooling and college/university education, you can stop taking the drug, and release your brilliance”
Why?
Because in the first example the drug owns the student's brilliance, in the second example the student owns their brilliance.
If the drug owns the student's brilliance they will never necessarily believe that they can achieve without it. If the student understands his advanced intellectual capability as a gift, he will continue in his own self-belief which is the truth, they are actually brilliant and will go on to do brilliant things, not the drug.
Accept and acknowledge their brilliance. Don’t accept at any time, or for any reason, that they are dysfunctional, stupid, different, or odd, when they have something so amazing normal can not explain it. They may well be ahead of their time but are here for a reason, and that reason will only become apparent to them once they release the floodgates of their raw brilliance and find cures for the diseases that haven’t yet manifested. Explore beyond the normal, invent the impossible and maybe discover the theory of general relativity! Oh, wait a moment, one of us has already done that.
“There are people who are generic. They make generic responses and they expect generic answers. They live inside a box and they think people who don't fit into their box are weird. But I'll tell you what, generic people are the weird people. They are like genetically-manipulated plants growing inside a laboratory, like indistinguishable faces, like droids. Like ignorance.”
C. JoyBell. - ADHD
I do understand the need for the prescribed and controlled use of Ritalin and Concerta, but only after a thorough assessment has been completed by a child psychologist specialising in ADD and ADHD, and most importantly the school that the student is attending. The administration of such drugs must be strictly monitored and regulated and the day-to-day prescribed dose regularly assessed. There is a defiant requirement and case for Ritalin in the diagnosis of ADD and ADHD students and could be considered for such medication, but not all!
Firstly, any student considered for said medications must have their family's medical history reviewed. If there exists a past or present family history of addiction, even the slightest indication that such a condition is indicated, then Ritalin or Concerta may not be prescribed. Ritalin is a mind-altering drug that can be prescribed after an in-depth investigation into the individual and what they might be susceptible to. The slightest Indication of susceptibility to the disease of addiction, an alternative approach must be considered.
Oversight of such an in-depth investigation and or ignoring the possible presents of the disease of addiction and prescribing Ritalin is effectively akin to prescribing sugar to a Diabetic, and will eventually, and almost always cause irreparable harm to them.
Secondly, the drug is overprescribed. The long-term effect of using such a prescribed drug is slow but life-changing. Such drugs have become the norm for any student who is assumed to have ADD or ADHD with little or no regard to why the student is disruptive and distracted due to other reasons not yet investigated. Stress, fear, trauma as well as events and negative experiences can present such behaviour, not necessarily ADD or ADHD. It has become well-known boys in particular up to the age of fifteen are generally unable to keep still or concentrate for long periods of time, this once again does not mean they have ADD or ADHD.
Suggested articles to read about Ritalin "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly"
News24 article:
Possible alternative solutions that can be considered:
Diet with fruit and vegetables. A natural nutrition booster is a product called Ambrotose:
National Library of Medicine - Aloe vera main ingredient - Ambrotose:
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