Analysing the Adderall Outbreak

1546 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essays on adderall abuse

Whether it be intense studying for a final or staying up all night to finish a paper that was assigned three weeks ago, some college students’ turn to study enhancing drugs such as Adderall for help. Due to Adderall being a study enhancing drug, many of these college students only focus on the fact that it could help them with their school work. They fail to consider that the non-medical use of Adderall could lead to increased heart rate, dependency on the drug, cardiac arrest, and in some cases legal consequences. Despite the dangers of using this drug without a medical purpose, about a third of college students admit to using Adderall in an attempt to help with their schoolwork (Journal of American College Health). Some wonder if this percentage is high due to campus clinics not thoroughly testing their patients before prescribing them.
Although many doctors and clinics choose to use the suggested medical procedure when diagnosing a student with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, it is not required by law. Testing a patient for ADHD “is an often expensive process” and lengthy process that some medical practices are unwilling to go through (Pennino). These practices use alternative methods, such as questionnaires and surveys, in order to diagnose their patients. The use of these methods should be discontinued to make the prescription of Adderall more difficult for patients to obtain. Instead all medical practices should be required to go through a specific set of procedures, similar to the ones suggested by the American Psychiatric Association, before diagnosing a student with ADHD or ADD.
The American Psychiatric Association expresses that doctors should ensure “six (or more) of the following symptoms have persisted for at...

... middle of paper ...

...cal Use of Adderall among Full-Time College Students. The NSDUH Report, 07 Apr. 2009. Web. 22 Apr. 2014.
Pennino, Madelyn. "Local College Health Centers Wary of Prescribing Adderall." Berks Community Television. Berks Community Television, 8 Aug. 2013. Web. 25 Apr. 2014.
Pursell, Robert. "Stressed-out Students Should Take Advantage of Pills." The Miami Hurricane. The Miami Hurricane, 11 Nov. 2012. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.
Schwartz, Alan. “Drowned in a Stream of Prescriptions.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 02 Feb. 2013. Web. 13 Apr. 2014.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. “Adderall and College Students.” Adderall and College Students. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services administration, May-June 2009. Web. 13 Apr. 2014.
"The Effects of Adderall Use." The Effects of Adderall Use. Coalition against Drug Abuse, n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2014.

Show More
Related

  • Overview of ADHD

    1075 Words  | 3 Pages

    Smith, M., Segel, J., & Ramsey, D. (2013, 9). Add / adhd medications. Retrieved from http://www.helpguide.org/mental/adhd_medications.htm

    Read More

  • Adderall In College Essay

    1587 Words  | 4 Pages

    In a 2012 study published by the Journal of American College Health, by senior year, Adderall and other prescription stimulants are offered to two-thirds of college students. Furthermore, about 31 percent are taking the drug in hopes to enhance their concentration to get better grades (Zadrozny 2013). Students who take Adderall that don’t have ADHD report that they have a increased sense of focus, motivation, and concentration, which are all the ingredients you need to have for a successful all-nighter to help on providing an added boost before an exam. With characteristics such as difficulties in focusing, reasoning, problem solving and planning, ADHD is a neurobehavioral-based disorder and is associated with an insufficient amount of dopamine (Student Health: Drug & Alcohol Abuse among College Students 2015). Adderall is enticing to students because they believe it can help them perform enhance their academic skills. On the other hand, some students abuse the drug because simply for the high it gives

    Read More

  • A Rise in ADHD Diagnosis Analysis

    1811 Words  | 4 Pages

    Schwarz, Alan. “Risky Rise of the Good-Grade Pill.” New York Times. 10 Jun. 2012: A.1. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 21 Feb. 2014.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast ADD And ADHD

    1022 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the early eighties, children were being diagnosed with a mental illness that consistently brings them out of focus. The mental illness was later named, ADD or ADHD, and not known as an illness but as a disorder. Soon enough ADD was no longer used for diagnoses and became considered an outdated term among doctors. Therefore, instead of ADD and ADHD being two different types of disorders they are now both claimed as attention deficit hyperactive disorder. Although these two types of deficits have inattention difficulties as the primary symptom, they both can not be combined due to ADD having its own preferences on what makes the child or adult inattentive in day to day situations.

    Read More

  • The Medication Of ADHD

    701 Words  | 2 Pages

    Obtaining an ADHD prescription medication depends on a variety of factors. A consumer must have access to a provider with prescribing privileges and must be able to obtain any test necessary to determine the need for or appropr...

    Read More

  • The Effects Of ADHD Drug Overdoses

    539 Words  | 2 Pages

    Every day, doctors are diagnosing kids with ADHD. A diagnosis can come as early as four years old. Doctors evaluate the patient. They also read reports from teachers and or coaches, along with talking with the child’s parents. Typical symptoms of ADHD include: “being in constant motion, squirming and fidgeting, making careless mistakes, not wanting to listen, being easily distracted, losing things, and making careless mistakes” (WebMD, 2014). If a child is diagnosed with ADHD, they may be put on a typical ADHD drug. Medicines that are used to t...

    Read More

  • Date Rape Drugs

    621 Words  | 2 Pages

    The drug is a big problem at many colleges today, and is getting worse by time. There are more and more drugs circling in college atmospheres, where many students aren’t aware. If people learn what is happening around them, and watch out for each other, the problem should be able to be contained.

    Read More

  • Giving Children ADHD Medication

    1641 Words  | 4 Pages

    Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a psychiatric disorder that causes children to have problems with paying attention, trouble with following instructions, have impulsive behaviors and become easily distracted. Medications, such as Adderall and Ritalin, are used to treat the symptoms of this disorder by helping the patient to focus and pay attention while also curbing their impulsive behavior and hyperactivity. Side effects of these medications are, but not limited to, anxiety, addiction and in some cases psychosis. Proponents of giving ADHD medication to children argue that ADHD is a real disorder in children and the medication does improve the symptoms of the disorder by a large margin as well as being cost effective. Also, not only are the parents happy with the outcome of their children taking the prescribed medication but so are the children themselves. Proponents also argue that by not letting parents of the children, young adults and adults choose to take these prescriptions when diagnosed with ADHD that the medical and psychiatric communities would be in violation of the principle of autonomy. Justice as well would be violated since most of the burden of dealing with all the symptoms caused by this disorder would fall onto those with ADHD and partly on their families. Opponents of giving ADHD medication to children point out that it is not only going to children with ADHD but also being prescribed to those not diagnosed with the disorder as well as the pills being given or sold to other children and young adults. They also claim that the full side effects of ADHD medication are still not known and could have harmful long- lasting side effects on the children taking the medications. In this case, the princip...

    Read More

  • The Existence of ADD and ADHD

    4006 Words  | 9 Pages

    While the DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition (DSM-IV) of the American Psychiatric Association) put forth a list of behaviors which predominantly fall in the category of ADD and/or ADHD, many researchers still maintain that there is no set way to diagnosis or develop a treatment program to these disorders which will be guaranteed to work. At the same time there is another set of researchers who maintain that these disorders actually do not exist at all. However, in the real world, parents and educators still continue to struggle with the task of coping with children who are hyperactive and who have very low attention span and whose behavior often interferes with schooling and family life. [Armstrong, 1997]

    Read More

  • Benedict Carey Brain Enhancement Is Wrong Right Summary

    1051 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to Benedict Carey, taking pills to enhance performance in academia is flourishing. Throughout his argument he talks about how individuals are using pills such as Adderall or Provigil to help boost one’s abilities. In his perspective he sees taking stimulants as a horrendous problem within the academic field. The problem with his argument is he is not staying open minded; he stayed in a complete narrow mindset weakening his argument against pills being taken to improve academic success.

    Read More

  • The Overdiagnosis of ADHD in Children

    1421 Words  | 3 Pages

    As a college student, the amount of students on powerful meds for ADHD and ADD is shocking. It is a topic seen in every classroom and heard in many dialogues. Conversations can be overheard frequently about how easy meds are to get and how effortless it is to receive a diagnosis. However, while I know that a vast number of students are taking prescription drugs for ADHD, I don’t think that I ever realized the full extent to which this disorder was effecting America’s youth. It wasn’t until I spent my time volunteering as a paraprofessional in a fourth grade classroom that I felt I truly understood the weight that the number of ADHD diagnosis’s were having on our nation’s children. The supervising teacher I was working with told me that in her classroom of 22 children, six of them were on some sort of prescription medication for ADHD, and many parents that I spoke to tended to blow off the risk factors involved, remarking that the drugs improved their school performance. I was shocked at this figure, especially because after working with the children, even on the days that they forgot to take their medicine, I found that by using different methods of instruction, many of the children didn’t seem to have much less trouble focusing than the children who did not have ADHD. So when we were assigned this paper, I set out to disprove the myth that children who act out in school have must ADHD and need to be put on prescription drugs in order to do well in school.

    Read More

  • Youth and Substance Abuse

    1740 Words  | 4 Pages

    Liehr, P, Marcus, M, Carroll, D, Granmayeh, K L, Cron, S, Pennebaker, J ;( Apr-Jun 2010). Substance Abuse; Vol. 31 (2); 79-85. Doi: 10.1080/08897071003641271

    Read More

  • Past and Current Trends of Drug Abuse in the United States

    700 Words  | 2 Pages

    Another growing fad in the United States is the abuse of prescription drugs. The abuse is being done by not only adults but by teens. The most current trend today is the misuse of cough syrups and prescription medications to produce a “high.” Other medications abused today are stimulants (Ritalin), and benzodiazepines (Xanax). Health Watch (2004) state girls tend to lean towards the medi...

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay: The Dangers Of Prescription Drug Abuse

    1021 Words  | 3 Pages

    Within the United States, prescription drug abuse is the most common among students and teenagers.

    Read More

  • Suicide Prevention

    1876 Words  | 4 Pages

    ... Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (2012): ERIC. Web. The Web. The Web.

    Read More

More about Analysing the Adderall Outbreak

Open Document