by James Lynne

Created on: January 04, 2009   Last Updated: January 29, 2009

"Whether to medicate or not to medicate?" That is the question. Forget Hamlet and Shakespeare! The question is not, "Whether to be or not to be?" It is "How do we survive?" Having an ADHD child can tax parents' resources to the maximum, making them feel like Hamlet when he asked his famously quoted question about taking his own life. When your child has ADHD it is a family problem. I often joked about taking my child's ADHD medication myself as a defense against the struggles of coping with his issues.

ADHD is a developmental disorder with a neurological base that affects the ability of a child to focus, follow through, gather information, and quite frankly, behave, among other things. Popular literature is riddled with articles discussing whether to medicate the ADHD child or not to medicate him. Self-proclaimed experts vow the schools are too eager to medicate students suspected of having ADHD because it is easier to manage their behavior with medication. Those opposed to medicating children with ADHD claim that administering medication changes personalities and creates a foundation for later drug addiction.

Research supports that anywhere from 25 to 70 percent of the prison population can be diagnosed with untreated ADHD and its accompanying behavioral and addiction disorders. The question, though, that remains to be answered, is which came first, the proverbial chicken or the egg. Did untreated ADHD symptoms develop into more serious anti-social disorders within the prison population or were the anti-social disorders there in the first place, masquerading as ADHD. I don't know that the answer to that question is any more important than it is to the chicken and egg question. The base line issue is that we know that ADHD can be successfully treated, that there are a number of effective treatment modalities, and that untreated it CAN lead to serious anti-social behavior and developmental disorders. It is, above all, a learning disability that keeps its victims from gathering proper social information and educational information, complicating their lives and the lives of their loved ones in innumerable ways.

My younger son, Jason, now twenty-three, who is serving in the US Marine Corps, has struggled with ADHD seemingly from the moment he was born. There is an upside to raising a child with ADHD. When you are the parent of an ADHD child there is rarely ever a dull moment in life. While other parents are relaxing, working at being sedentary, playing golf, attending

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• Next Page >>