Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder From toddlers to adolescents, many children are being treated for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) through anti-ADHD drugs like Ritalin. Hyperactivity and inattentiveness are the hallmarks symptoms of ADHD diagnosis, and the American Psychiatry Association (APA) defines ADHD as "a pattern persisting for six months or longer in at least two different settings of thought and behavior associated with distress and impairment of functioning from some dysfunction within the individual" (Livingston 1).
ADHD is commonly associated with impaired learning capacity in children who exhibit symptoms of the disorder. However, the rising number of children suspected of exhibiting ADHD has greatly increased the number of prescriptions being written for the drug methylphenidate hydrochloride, an amphetamine popularly known as Ritalin. Ritalin became the most prescribed treatment of choice for children with ADHD, and figures show that between 1989 and 1994, there was a fourfold increase in the rate of Ritalin consumption and te
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