For my paper, I want to focus on how prescription drugs are excessively used. I think many times patients are misdiagnosed and the patients and doctors are both to blame. People are always looking for the quickest, easiest way to solve their problems. Patients will sometimes see a drug commercial and then list off the symptoms given on television to a doctor, practically writing their own prescription. Doctors are also influenced by drug companies to prescribe certain drugs more often. While prescription drugs are needed by some patients, I think there are many cases when the roots of the problem are not fully investigated and the patient is misdiagnosed.
I found an example I could use to make my paper more specific of the increase in the use of Ritalin with children. Some quick facts I found:
- In most schools today, about 1/3 of the students are using Ritalin.
-Recent studies are showing that many children diagnosed with ADHD and prescribed Ritalin either don't need the drug or may have a learning disability.
-Schools received budget cuts and class sizes increased. At the same time the use of Ritalin increased. One site i read said,"drugs like Ritalin are being used as a social control."
I think the example of Ritalin and children sounds interesting and I hadn't heard much about it before; it seems like a more recent argument. Any thoughts?
I think studying Ritalin or other ADD/ADHD medications and their use in schools would be a really good way to narrow your topic, it's definitely something that's becoming a lot more commonplace and I would be interested to learn more about it in a paper.