Rhetorical Analysis

        Children’s ADD Drugs Don’t Work Long Term

    Drugs like Rhitalin, Vyvanse, and Adderall have been around for a long time, but over the last thirty years there has been an explosion in the amount of individuals using drugs like this to treat ADD. ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) and ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) are psychological disorders that affect behavior, and symptoms can start showing as early as five years old. In my article, titled Ritalin Gone Wrong, L. Alan Sroufe offers his opinion on the troubles of a society relying so heavily on these types of drugs.
    Sroufe claims that these drugs are great for short-term solutions, and he mentions college students who take them to cram for exams as examples. And, since they continue to offer short-term solutions, people continue to take them. What he is proposing, is do these drugs really work for the patient in the long-term. This does not seem to be the case considering you must continue to take the drugs to continue to get the desired results. Based on his studies, Sroufe claims that these drugs are not effective over long periods of time, with behavior issues or school performance. The reason this problem has been overlooked goes back to the short-term solutions provided by the drugs. Because of these solutions, people may be quick to support the drugs, and may overlook some of the long-term side effects.
    Sroufe is also a psychologist, and has continued to study child development throughout his career. He states that in the 1960’s the common belief among physicians was that attention deficit problems are a genetic disorder, and therefore is to be fixed with medicine. Back then, it would be hard to argue against this belief. Studies available at the time showed that the drugs provided a dramatic increase in tasks requiring concentration and diligence. Therefore, doctors believed it was true that people with the disorder must require these drugs to fix the problem.
    The author claims this is not the case. In his words, the drugs effect is minimal over broader learning abilities. It may help in the short-term by allowing the user to focus and concentrate on boring or meaningless tasks, but it does not provide assistance in broader learning abilities. The immediate, positive side effects gave the physicians the impression that these drugs were needed. Over prolonged use though, these effects begin to diminish. Many people have used ADD drugs for dieting and trying to lose weight. Many people abandon the drugs because the curbed appetite associated with the drugs slowly wares off. The effects on behavior and attention seem to fade with prolonged use as well. When the person is taken off of the drug, many people see behavioral and emotional changes, leading them to believe that the drug is necessary. But, as we see, ADD drugs act the same as other drugs. The body gets used to them, and when it is taken away, it reacts.
    We currently live in a society addicted to pharmaceuticals. Every little problem seen from childhood should be handled with a pill or a capsule. This leads us to rely much too heavily on the production of these drugs, when smaller, more subtle problems may be at the root of some disorders, especially psychological and behavioral disorders.