ADHD Medication Is Not The Answer
A study obtained by the BBC’s Panorama programme shows that treating children who have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) with drugs such as Ritalin and Concerta is not effective in the long term. In fact these drugs are not better than therapy after three years of treatment.
The Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD has been monitoring the treatment of 600 children across the US since the 1990s.
In 1999, this American study concluded that the use of medication after one year worked better than behavioural therapy for ADHD. This finding influenced medical practice on both sides of the Atlantic, and prescription rates soared.
But now after longer-term analysis, the report’s co-author, Professor William Pelham of the University of Buffalo, said: “I think that we exaggerated the beneficial impact of medication in the first study. “The children had a substantial decrease in their rate of growth so they weren’t growing as much as other kids both in terms of their height and in terms of their weight,” he said.
The Panorama programme features disturbing footage of Craig Buxton, a 14-year-old from Stoke-on-Trent, who has been on ADHD medication for a decade.
He has self-harmed, suffers night terrors and is aggressive. His mother Sharon said things had gone from bad to worse.
Source: ” Drugs for ADHD ‘not the answer’” BBC News, 12 November 2007
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