Why are so many parents judgmental about children with ADHD on drug therapy?

Yes, I know ADHD is often misdiagnosed, but the fact is that it does exist. My son was diagnosed at age 4, he's now 10 and all other therapy alternatives have stopped working. We're now having to combine behaviour therapy with drug therapy and you would not believe the way people are so quick to flame you for it!
I've had people from family to perfect strangers tell me that all my son needs is good discipline. They've never spent a day dealing with our son in our home, why do so many feel they can judge?

I think it's one of those 'hot' topics. Like you pointed out, ADD/ADHD is so overdiagnosed it's ridiculous. There are children being medicated whose parents aren't even present in their lives half the time, let alone discipline correctly.
It's such a shame, because aside from the obvious damage to those children, it's places a stigma onto the genuine cases.
I will say that in my work with kids, I've see genuine ADHD, and it is indisputable. It exists, and I take my hat off to you if you're dealing with it each day.

Good on you for not jumping straight into drug therapy, there are a lot of alternatives to Ritalin, that have fewer side effects, lower dosage and work more effectively with other forms of therapy. I can understand exactly how hard a decision it must be for you to make this decision for your son, and I hope it all works well for him.
Good luck!! :-)

I really don't understand why there's this backlash against drugs the minute they are for mental rather than physical problems. It seems to be rather like yelling at a parent of a diabetic child for putting them on insulin!

The problem with ADHD is that so many symptoms are just like things which normally good discipline can fix. And people always assume that what works for them will work for other people too, all they have to do is do it properly and if it doesn't work they can't be doing it properly. That's true of everything from natural childbirth to breastfeeding to discipline.

I think giving drugs to a normal active child to sedate them is awful. But that's not remotely the same as giving drugs to correct a chemical imbalance in a child's brain. No stranger can possibly know which you are doing. Provided you believe you are doing the right thing for your child, just ignore the ignorant and judgmental.

Some people don't believe ADHD is a real disease. It has gotten to the point at almost every toddler has ADHD/ADD and no one believes it any more, and the families that have a true case get criticized. I know that true cases do need special attention, I personally don't believe in the medication (as a first option) because i don't like how the kids behave on them, and after a while they get used to the drug and end up having to get stronger and stronger medicines as they get older. But in sever cases I can see the need.

My neice has ADHD, and is on Ritalin, she is shocking without it. Not everyone is judgemental, and these are usually people who have only had minor contact with these children. Because i lived with my sister, i saw her going through everything thinking before the medication that councilling, natural therapies and all that would work, the last resort was medication. You are only doing what you feel you need to do to good luck with your son and hang in there.

Drug therapy with amphetamines can be hard on a person's heart. My cousin was taking Adderall for narcolepsy (falling asleep at any old time) with Xanax, an anti-anxiety agent, to bring her down when the Adderall made her too anxious. She wound up having a heart attack at 54 and was found face down on the bed. When they found her she was cold from lack of oxygen. Now she has some permanent brain damage from the lack of oxygen and permanent heart damage. She is no longer on Adderall or the Xanax. She also has some liver damage. She is sleepy most of the time now, but on disability.

Drugs may be your only option, but consider any and all alternatives also.

It is human nature to judge. I was a teacher for a long time and saw many children on ADHD drugs that did not need them, and I saw some children that really could have used the help but were not getting it. If the medication is working for your son, then keep him on it. But, my advice to you is to keep an open mind about alternative therapies for ADHD. You never know what else might work for him. Just remember:Those who judge don't matter, and those that matter don't judge.

Perhaps there is some truth to what they're saying? Even though they may not have spent time raising your son, perhaps there is a lack of parenting that they are aware of, even if you're not?
I believe that most times, 'issues' in children are best addressed through parenting classes for the parents, as that is usually the crux of the matter.
However, I pray for your son and your family to fight this battle. God bless xx

At 4 my son was diagnosed with ADHD and wanted to dope him up. He is now 7 and after working with him myself, he is a great kid every one loves. He is respectful, well mannered, and wonderful to be around. I do not believe in ADHD. Yes, I had to put a lot of time in with him giving him the attention he needed but now he is a normal healthy boy. Work with your kid and don't let them drug up your baby.

unfortunately, I was one of those kinds of people who didn't believe in ADHD. I believed the child needed more discipline and less tv, computer time and more outside play. Untill I got a 5 year old foster son 4 years ago. He is now 9 and been on Concerta for 3 years plus some counseling and doing good. But please don't take his meds away. I had never dealt with an ADHD child before and my ideas have changed. He is not all "doped"up. He's just uncontrolable with out it. The meds aren't perfect but they make a world of difference in our little guy.

The only people that will flame you are people who know. So # 1 stop telling people your son's medical history, it's not their business.

If it is their business and they 'flame you' ask them if they have had an ADHD child at home for the last 6 years? My guess is they haven't.

My daughter has mild ADHD and I took her off meds ( I adopted her) eventually I put her back on but I had to prove to myself that she was better off on meds and the other therapies weren't the full answer.

i don't believe it's necessarily discipline, but it's proven that a change in diet works wonders.

try watching "jamie's school dinners" or whatever it was called with jamie oliver showing the enormous difference to school kids when junk food was replaced with proper food.

my brother was diagnosed adhd too - but when i look at the convenience food garbage chemicals/preservatives our family lived on, i'm not suprised now.

It is mostly because we are afraid that we live in a world were we would rather dope up our children instead of dealing with them..

Most of us believe that ONLY 1 out of a 100 children really have ADHD and the rest are just kids that need more parenting..

So that is what we are going on...

I find it rude that stranger would say anything to you about your son with out knowing him at all..

Ignore them and do what think is best..

My Cuz has ADHD and on Pills.My dad was in a argument with my uncle to get him off them.

His eyes were like swollen and he couldnt eat.
my uncle took him off them for a bit and he was eating and looked like a kid.

My Bro was like rtarded with adhd and my parents didnt put him on anything now hes fien hes just a little hyper but hes a normal teen,

Probably because 30 years ago nobody had heard of ADHD and now it is everywhere. Surely ADHD exsisted back then but parents had to use disapline instead of drugs. Now they dish out drugs for kids who have nothing wrong. So does ADHD really exist, I don't know. But It is strange that it just popped up all of a sudden.

because the pills are a foem of speed hence the amphetamines. like dexamphetamines its speed for kids

I'm sure you're doing what you and your doctor have decided is best for your son. Sure, drugs have side effects and you don't want to use them if they're not necessary, but it's obvious that you've tried the alternatives and it didn't work.

It's easy for parents whose kids don't have ADHD, or whose ADHD responds to non-drug treatments, to assume that drugs are always a bad idea. But not everybody is diabetic and some diabetics can control their diabetes with diet and exercise, while others need medication. Nobody says diabetics on medication are making some terrible mistake.

It really aggravates me that people find it so easy to judge. Just tell yourself that if those people above who don't even know you but are criticizing your parenting had been the parent of your kid, they'd doubtless have resorted to drugs long ago.

Fortunately, you don't need to be accountable to judgmental strangers ... only to your child.

People are always judgemental, especially when it comes to parenting. Everyone seems to think they know what's best for other people's kids. In your particular case you probably catch a lot of heat because people are generally becoming more opposed to the way pharmaceutical drugs are being fed to so many children nowadays. There are alternative solutions if you're interested- adhd-like behavior can be caused by food allergies or magnesium deficiencies to name a couple. It's hard for some people, myself included, to stomach the idea of ritalin- it's the same as meth. With that being said, I know how hard it is. I have a 5 year old with the same problem but luckily a gluten free/casein free diet has worked for us. I think sometimes medication is necessary but should be a very last resort- no one has the right to judge you for it. And the discipline thing- yeah right, if they only knew...

It's lack of education, combined with all of the overdiagnosing of ADHD. For awhile, every kind of inattention or behavior issue, no matter how minor, was attributed to ADHD. Teachers, school nurses and parents who were getting their info from talk shows and People magazine were diagnosing children... people who have no business making this kind of diagnosis.

I'm also going to add pediatricians to this list. ADHD is a psychiatric diagnosis, not a childhood illness. Pedes doctors should make referrals to certified child/adolescent psychiatrists who have significant training and education in that specialty, rather than trying to medicate the child themselves. You wouldn't expect your family doctor to perform open heart surgery, you would go to a specialist. Psychiatric issues, particularly in children, are no exception.

So, now the pendelum has swung the other way and the public belief is that ALL children diagnosed with ADHD have been misdiagnosed and only need love, discipline, diet changes, herbs, etc. And those same people have probably never seen a severe case of true ADHD.

Like many things, the reality is somewhere in the middle. We don't know what causes ADHD in children. We don't know why it's become more prevelent, even taking misdiagnosing into account. But never doubt that it does exist and there are children that will need the medication for it.

It irks me also, because those same people would never tell a parent of a diabetic child that they don't need insulin because it's "drugging them up". They'd never tell a child with a heart condition that all they needed was discipline. But with a psychiatric diagnosis, everyone and their brother feels qualified to comment, armchair diagnose and judge.

Good luck! It sounds like you're taking all the steps you should be!