Try to think back to the days of sitting in elementary school for hours on end. Now try to imagine yourself fidgeting and unable to concentrate. You hear everything that is being said to you, but none of it seems to make sense. Your legs start to bounce up and down and your eyes wander around the room in search of something more fun and exciting. You continue to fidget and daze off and you are often told you are unmotivated. You become very frustrated and nervous all the time. These are just a few things people with ADHD have to deal with on a daily basis.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or better known as ADHD, is the most common psychiatric disorder among children. It can be defined as a pattern of thought and behavior associated with distress and impairment of functioning resulting from some dysfunction within the individual (Livingston 3). Yet, it is mishandled in every conceivable way, with thousands of children, adolescents, and adults incorrectly diagnosed and thus denied the benefits of correct treatment (Taylor 9). Although this is a hard disorder to diagnose, the number of diagnoses has actually risen throughout the past decade. The reason for thi

s rise is because it is becoming more known about worldwide.

David, a foster brother, was living with my family a few years ago and although he was living in our home, his psychiatrist made all of the decisions regarding medication and other medical issues. After about a month of living in our home, his psychiatrist just made the decision to start him on Ritalin, even though we had never said anything to her about him being abnormally hyperactive or unable to concentrate, nor did his teacher push for his use of the drug. However, because we didn't have any input regarding what happened with his medications, we had no choice but to start him on it as instructed. The first day David took the medication, there was a disastrous change in his behavior. Not only did he walk around like a zombie all the time, looking tired and unable to respond, but that evening about the time the drug would have been wearing off, he took a baseball bat to his room and tried to completely destroy everything and everyone in it. He went from a sweet little boy who listened and obeyed and was eager to please, to a terror who wouldn't listen to what he was told; actually became suicidal and started trying to hurt others. His teacher told us many times that he was calmer at school after starting to take Ritalin, but was now very unmotivated. After a month or two of these behaviors, we went to his psychiatrist and asked her to take him off Ritalin; she refused. She felt it was working and that there was no reason to take him off it even though we told her numerous times of his actions. We continued to try to deal with and help him until finally we acknowledged we were not making any progress with David. He was becoming increasingly more violent and anti-social. As a result, we were forced to let him go back into the care of the state. It is my strong belief these outbursts had a direct correlation to his use of Ritalin. David was a little boy who had never known any kind of consistent discipline or security in his life. My observation was that his life was interrupted with an unnecessary use of this drug.

Ritalin is a harmful drug that should be avoided as much as possible. It is ineffective in almost all cases. Even the cases in which it is partially effective should not be taken as proof it is a "miracle drug." There have been many studies done which prove Ritalin's harmful side effects and therefore, it is not safe. There have also been multiple other studies to prove that there are many other ways to aid ADHD children without using any type of drug. In fact, if parents and teachers would assume responsibility, most of these cases would not even exist. ADHD can and will be controlled if people stop conforming to the doctors' way of thinking in believing drugs are the only answer, and if parents and teachers would take responsibility and care for the children of our world.

You may find this surprising, but the majority of children in second through fifth grade have been given prescriptions of the powerful drug Ritalin, even though many of them probably do not even have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Dr. LeFever, an a

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