There has been quite a bit of debate over the last decade over the use (and overuse) of ADHD drugs, like Ritalin. Now this from BBC:
In 1999, the American study concluded that after one year medication worked better than behavioural therapy for ADHD. This finding influenced medical practice on both sides of the Atlantic, and prescription rates in the UK have since tripled.
But now after longer-term analysis, the report’s co-author, Professor William Pelham of the University of Buffalo, said: “I think that we exaggerated the beneficial impact of medication in the first study. “We had thought that children medicated longer would have better outcomes. That didn’t happen to be the case. “There’s no indication that medication’s better than nothing in the long run.”
Prof Pelham said there were “no beneficial effects” of medication and the impact was seemingly negative instead. “The children had a substantial decrease in their rate of growth so they weren’t growing as much as other kids both in terms of their height and in terms of their weight,” he said.
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