The Pros and Cons of Ritalin

In the incident when Jason appears with the police after the school shooting, the officer tells of the events, Jason’s apparent heroism, but the fact that Jason had killed another, despite the reasons behind it, he states “What I understand is that my son experienced murder in his heart, and chose not to rise above that impulse. I understand that my son is a murderer.”- Quote, Reg (Coupland, 2003, p.77)

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is the most widely diagnosed “mental-illness” in children in the United States today, and approximately 99% of children diagnosed are prescribed daily doses of methylphenidate in order to control undesirable behaviors. (Stolzer)

In this day and age, drugs are being prescribed without hesitation. In fact, many of these drugs are being prescribed for children with various disorders. One of these disorders is called Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). An estimated five to ten percent of children are diagnosed with this syndrome (Taylor 11). One of the methods to treat this disorder is to use stimulants, specifically Ritalin. This method is controversial because it has many side effects and its long-term effects are unknown. It can also lead to addiction. Approximately two to three percent of elementary school children are taking some kind of stimulant to treat ADHD (Taylor 64). Since so many children are taking this medication, new problems have arisen.

As controversial as medicating children with behavioral disorders may be, over half of all diagnosed cases in children between the ages of four and seventeen were being medicated with central nervous system stimulants, sixty-six point three percent to be exact (CDC). Many see prescription drugs as an easy fix to behavioral disorders, but not as many realize these medications can

The procrastinator, aggressor, and a chronic complainer are all example of difficult people and Jason is this person. Jason is a great person to hang around with, but he has some flaws. Jason likes to wait until the last minute to do his work. He also thinks that he is right about everything and nobody can tell him otherwise. Finally, Jason complains about every little thing such as his classes and relationship problems, little things that can easily be avoided. Despite all his flaws Jason is a great person to be around.

Jason is almost always able to be very empathetic towards other people, you can talk to him about anything, and he will understand your problem. when I was ten my bike broke and I was really distressed by this Jason was able to help me get over it by showing me that he understood why I was upset. This quality makes him extraordinary because it causes people to really enjoy being around him and to converse with

(GENERAL STATEMENTS) He had to deal with the sadness of living in the AIDs epidemic. He also had to live with the pain of abuse. His father beat him and he had to keep it a secret. This caused him to have the burden of the emotions his father gave him. Jason had to also live with not fitting in. He had a hard time getting friends because of the lifestyle he grew up in. He did not have the same discipline as the other kids. (CLINCHER) Though these things had a negative effect on Jason, it developed him into who he is

Psychiatry once subscribed to the Freudian view that mental illness came from roots in unconscious conflicts (usually appearing in adolescence) that affected the mind as though it were separate from the brain. With the introduction of psychoactive drugs in the 1950s, and sharply accelerating in the 1980s, it was then that the psychiatric focus shifted to the brain. Psychiatrists began to refer to themselves as psycho-pharmacologists, and became far less interested in exploring the life stories of their patients and more interested in treating their patients with drugs. The psychiatric profession became optimistic that the use of psychoactive drugs would be beneficial with the new biological model that psychiatry adopted. Their optimism began to fade as serious side-effects of the drugs

Thesis: Today there is a great debate concerning the diagnosis and treatment of ADD/ADHD and who has the right to decide what happens.

He’s very confused about a lot of things, and there are a lot of people that he doesn’t recognize at first. Most of these people are scientists that are trying to help Jason, but at the same time they are just using him to find out more about their experiment. A lot of opinions from these people are thrown into Jason’s face. He gets threatened with death many times from them because he doesn’t want to cooperate with these scientists. He just wants to go home to his family. However, he has to tolerate all of it and go along with it for a while otherwise he might not make it out of the facility

He used laughter to make any rigid situation become strong again, illustrating the characteristics of healing. Jason was literally behind Darius the entire time by pushing his wheelchair up elevated hills in California to supporting him through every obstacle the team encountered. Because Jason had the ability to heal, he did not refrain any emotions towards Darius’s condition and treated him as one of the guys. For example, the guys dared Darius to eat a spoonful of wasabi, an obviously heated spice. Even though the guys preform pranks on each other, Jason believed that some observing spectators thought they were picking on Darius. He explained the crew nor will he treat him any differently from the others. If they would have done so, their bond would not have been as powerful as it currently, displaying the quality of empathy. After viewing Jason in the documentary, he taught everyone that it is important to value the opportunities that are given to us, treating it as a part of your life and not an ordinary

Jason feels as if he cannot measure up to him and has an arduous time pleasing his dad. Jason displays his father as cold and harsh who has unreasonable expectations. Jason find it impossible to reach his dad’s impossible expectations due to Reg’s faith. Following

According to Dr. Robert Epstein, Medco’s chief medical officer, seventeen percent of total drug cost spending last year was for behavior medicines; compared with sixteen percent for both asthma and antibiotics, eleven percent for skin disorders and six percent for allergy medicines. There was also a 369% increase in spending on ADHD drugs for kids under the age of five. A lot of children have been diagnosed with ADHD, and many of their parents have opted to give them behavioral drugs. Some parents give the drugs because they are not aware of the long term effects or the psychological dependency, and lastly because they are not aware of the alternatives. As parents we have to be more cognizant of what these disorders are and how they

A recent report in the Journal of the American Medical Association by Zito and her

In the novel The Lost Hero, by Rick Riordan, Jason’s attitude and personality change from the beginning to the end of the story. At the start of The Lost Hero, Jason is thrust into a world of gods and monsters, with no recollection of what happened before that day. He is confused about his powers and past and insecure in his leadership ability. One example of this is on page 26. After jumping off the skywalk to saver Piper, Jason unintentionally controls the winds to keep them from falling. This shows that Jason didn’t know how he possessed this power and that he didn’t know how to control it. Even though you may underestimate yourself sometimes, many have abilities that they haven’t discovered yet.