Ritalin Effects

In a study entitled “Hyperactive Children as Teenagers: A Follow-up Study” (1971), eighty-three children were followed from two to five years after being diagnosed as hyperactive or as having attention deficit disorder. Ninety-two percent of the children were treated with Ritalin. Results were as follows:

• 60% of the children were still overactive and had poor schoolwork (the original reasons for being put on Ritalin), but in addition were now viewed as rebellious;

• 59% had had some contact with the police;
• 23% had been taken to the police station one or more times;
• 58% had failed one or more grades;
• 57% had reading difficulties;
• 44% had arithmetic difficulties;
• 78% found it hard to sit still and study;
• 59% were viewed as a discipline problem at school;
• 83% had trouble with frequent lying;
• 52% were destructive;
• 34% had threatened to kill their parents;
• 15% had talked of or attempted suicide.

Another research study, the Satterfield study (1987), states,

There is also scant evidence of improved academic performance with stimulant treatment. According to Rooney, research has still not shown the use of medication to be significantly effective in the treatment of processing deficits or academic achievement. In The Learning Mystique, Gerald Coles confirms the findings of a 1978 review of both short- and long-term studies on the use of stimulants with children who were hyperactive and learning disabled. Of a total of seventeen studies included in this review, short- or long-term, whether they met basic scientific criteria or not, all the conclusions agreed: “stimulant drugs have little, if any, impact on…long-term academic improvement.” Their major effect seemed to be an “improvement in classroom manageability.”

In the Journal of Behavioral Optometry (1991), a study evaluated twenty-two previous studies/articles since 1976 concerning Ritalin use for hyperactive children. It states: