There is no question that attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, like any other medical condition, needs to be treated. National Health Service (2021) states that treatment for ADHD tends to help alleviate the symptoms and reduce the condition’s influence on a person in their everyday life. However, there is a controversy regarding the treatment of children with ADHD, specifically, whether they should be given drugs. On the one hand, according to Woolfolk (2017), medication does have beneficial short-term effects on those resorting to it, which include improvements in social behaviors, anxiety reduction, and overall quality of life. On the other hand, many drugs result in children experiencing negative side effects such as insomnia, nausea, and higher heart rate and blood pressure (Woolfolk, 2017). The answer lies in balance: medicine can be used for ADHD treatment, but not heavily relied on; moreover, it is to be combined with therapy.
When it comes to medication, there are several types of it approved by U.S. Food and Drug Administration for children as young as six years old. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2021), two major categories are stimulants, which are fast-acting drugs, and non-stimulants, which, while not working as quickly as stimulants, have longer-lasting effects. One must be careful with any type of medication: a child might respond well to one drug and poorly to another; moreover, the same drugs can affect different children differently. In addition to medical treatment, National Health Service (2021) recommends behavioral therapy, which is aimed at strengthening positive behaviors and eliminating undesired ones. Therapy can include sessions with children themselves, as well as training for parents and classroom behavioral interventions for teachers. It has been estimated that when medicine and therapy are applied as treatment together, the outcomes for children with ADHD are excellent.
References
Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021). Treatment of ADHD.
National Health Service. (2021). Treatment: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Woolfolk, A. (2017). Educational psychology (13th ed.). Pearson.