The debate for wether we should stop medicating child is truly a complex situation. It has become truly so common to treat young kids for ADHD right off the bat. I believe we should honestly reconsider this approach for multiple reasons. These reasons include potential side effects, alternative solutions and treatments, the root cause of ADHD, as well as the false diagnosing.

First off, I feel as if this should should be the main concern, the side effects that come with medicating children for adhd. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, “Common medications, such as stimulants, can lead to a range of issues.” The passage goies on listing effects such as sleep disturbances, appetite suppresions, and increased anxiety. These side effects can be long term. These effects can lead to the child’s over all health and well being. Children are going to be hyper, why automatically assume we should medicate them? Are we not subjecting children to unnecessary risks?!

Next, alternative solutions. I believe there will always be another way. there are ways that don’t even involve medicating children at such a young age. We could be teaching children coping strategies and skills to mannage their symptoms that could relate to “adhd” that doctors would automatically prescribe medication for. there are also lifestyle changes that we could take action on. Such as regulary exercise, improves diet, and healthy routines. if we prioritize this alternative solution and provide helpful tools towards children, we could change the results of taking action with ADHD.

Lastly, lets talk about false diagnosis with adhd. According to NBC news, “ADHD cases have risen considerably in the U.S. As of 2022, around 1 in 9 children had been diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder at some point in their lifetimes, according to a study published Wednesday.” why is this so? I will use a real life example. Every friend I’ve had; the majority people I talk to, have atleast once in their life pointed out that they might have ADHD. I’ve heard a billion times the exact sentence, “I swear I have ADHD” or ” I must have ADHD or something.” Why is adhd becoming so common? If you truly believe you have ADHD then we need to start shifting our focus to comprehensive care from medication. According to ncbl, ” Social media has also propelled ADHD into popular awareness, as it has taken over platforms like TikTok and Twitter. ” is it a trend to have ADHD now?

In conclusion, while mediaction has been a common approach to managing and responding to ADHD sympotoms, there are several significant and important reasons and evidence to reconsider this result and solution. Such as, the side effects of medicating young, varius alternative solution, and false diagnosing. In other words, finding the true symptoms and showings of having ADHD. I believe we should explore other solutions. I’ve seen the numbers of young children having “ADHD” and getting medicated for it increasing. we need to take care of the health and well-being of children.

Written by

Lil

Hi i’m Lillian.