ADHD Attention Deficit Disorder

It seems way too easy for college students to get Adderall or Ritalin. Apparently, all you have to do is walk into a doctor’s office, claim you are having trouble concentrating, and boom, you have ADHD Attention Deficit Disorder, no testing required. If this interview is accurate, doctors are much too lax when distributing these very potent drugs. When it becomes problematic is when such casually rendered diagnoses are far off the mark and troubled teens are on unnecessary medication for a few years.

ADHD Misdiagnosis

“Wilson visited his family doctor and told the physician that his mind would wander in class and he had a tough time concentrating while studying. No test was administered, and the doctor signed off a prescription for Ritalin. “All you have to do is tell them you can’t concentrate in class,” said Wilson. “Then you are pretty much going to get prescribed.” By the beginning of his junior year, Wilson was taking 40 mg pills of Adderall, four times the dosage he was taking a year and a half prior. Wilson started feeling uncomfortable in social settings and was having trouble studying, was only getting three hours of sleep a night and consequently was doing poorly in his classes. Wilson was forced to withdraw from Appalachian State last year, a decision he attributes to a misdiagnosis. Wilson took a psychological evaluation that determined he, in fact, did not have ADHD and was fed unnecessary medication for two and a half years. “You trust that the doctor would know what he’s talking about,” Wilson said. “Obviously, he did not.” (unknown source) By Ann Walker