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Medicating Kids: Pediatric Mental Health Policy and the Tipping Point for ADHD and Stimulants

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 April 2009

Rick Mayes  and
Jennifer Erkulwater
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Extract

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (adhd) holds the distinction of being both the most extensively studied pediatric mental disorder and one of the most controversial. This is partly due to the fact that it is also the most commonly diagnosed mental disorder among minors. Currently, almost 8 percent of youth from the ages of four to seventen have a diagnosis of ADHD, and slightly more than 4 percent both have the diagnosis and are taking medication for the disorder. In other words, on average one in every ten to fifteen children in the United States has been diagnosed with the disorder and one in every twenty to twenty-five uses a stimulant medication—often Ritalin, Adderall, or Concertaas treatment. The biggest increase in youth diagnosed with ADHD and prescribed a stimulant drug occurred during the early 1990s, when the prevalence of physician visits for stimulant pharmacotherapy increased fivefold. This unprecedented increase in U.S. children using psychotropic medication triggered an intense public debate.

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Articles
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Journal of Policy History , Volume 20 , Issue 3 , July 2008 , pp. 309 - 343
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Copyright © The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA. 2008

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References

Notes

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