"Whilst there is no doubt biochemical interventions are the most immediate method of altering behaviour and that ADHD type behaviours can be problematic, medication simply masks symptoms and does nothing to address underlying causes."
Dangerous Drugs
The most commonly used ADHD drugs are the amphetamine based psycho-stimulants, dexamphetamine and methylphenidate (Ritalin). Responses to psycho-stimulants vary, however in most people they temporarily sharpen focus and the majority of children become more compliant. Some parents welcome this. Others become concerned about the loss of spontaneity and creativity in their child. Whatever the attitude of parents, the reality is that in allowing their children to be chemically altered with amphetamines they risk a host of side effects. These range from the common and relatively mild side effects like insomnia and headaches to less common, life threatening side effects such as psychosis, strokes and suicide. Often the 'upper' side effects of stimulant amphetamines are balanced with prescribed 'downer' psychotropic drugs like Clonidine. With sustained prescription amphetamine use, children risk long term cardio-vascular damage and amphetamine dependence.
Another less commonly prescribed ADHD drug, Strattera, is not amphetamine based and has the advantage that it is not diverted for illicit abuse. However, Strattera carries the highest possible black box warning for suicidal ideation, as well as a warning for potentially fatal liver damage. Sometimes parents feel apprehensive and a little guilty about their decision to medicate their child, and it is only human to look for evidence that validates important decisions. Stimulants provide the evidence parents concerned about their decision to medicate their child are looking for. Put simply, amphetamine based stimulants stimulate virtually anyone. However, in the minds of parents their medicated ADHD child's biochemical imbalance has been balanced.
Even within the organisation that invented ADHD, the American Psychiatric Association, the indiscriminate effect of amphetamines has long been understood. In 1996 Dr. Debra Zarin, representing the American Psychiatric Association and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, testified to a US Congressional committee that, "It is a commonly held misconception that if a stimulant calms a child, that he must have ADHD; if he didn't have the disorder, the thinking goes, the medication would not have any effect. That is not true. Stimulants increase attention span in normal children as well as those with ADHD."[1]
Most often after the first dose parents and teachers see a more focused and compliant child. However, when the short-term stimulant effects of the drugs wear off there are often "bounce" or withdrawal effects that worsen ADHD type behaviours. This reinforces the parent's and the teacher's belief that the child is chemically imbalanced without the drug. These parents are given false comfort by the short-term improved attentiveness of their "stimulated" child.
Many parents take at face value the advice that ADHD is inheritable and become suspicious that they may share the "lifelong affliction" with their child. Their subsequent diagnosis of adult ADHD is, in their minds, confirmed when they become temporarily more focused after taking stimulants. Some of these newly medicated families then become enthusiastic public advocates for ADHD drugging through drug company sponsored consumer organisations like the Learning and Attentional Disorders Society (LADS) in Western Australia and Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder (CHADD) in the USA.