Mothering by Ritalin
A recent study by Dr. Andrea Chronis-Tuscano of the University of Maryland published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry indicates that mothers taking a long-acting form of Ritalin can become better parents.
I’ll be honest, it’s studies like these that turn my stomach. The University of Maryland should be ashamed of producing such hogwash.
“Mothers of children with ADHD are at 24-times increased risk of having the disorder themselves, and recent research shows that adult ADHD impairs parenting,” Chronis-Tuscano said in an interview with Reuters Health. “However, no study until this one has examined whether medicating parents for their ADHD improves parenting.”
Tuscano used a small group of 23 mothers who received either Ritalin or a placebo. The study ran only 7 weeks. Researchers assessed mothers’ ADHD symptoms and its affect on the mothers’ parenting skills. Side effects of medication were studied as well.
The results: Ritalin was better than placebo at improving ADHD symptoms and parenting behaviors. As the researchers increased the mothers’ dosages, the mothers’ inattention and hyperactivity fell. The mothers’ parenting behaviors improved, became more consistent, and they did not subject their children to corporal punishment (spanking) as much.
These results prompted Chronis-Tuscano to say, that there is likely “a need for behavioral interventions that target impairments in parenting among adults with ADHD.”
Studies like these are very frequently funded by the pharmaceutical industry. University professors are under pressure to publish and are quite amenable to studies like these even though it’s little more than propaganda and trash data.
It has been clearly established that low dose stimulant medication produces virtually the same effect in both ADHD and non-ADHD patients: it increases one’s ability to pay attention to boring tasks – ADHD or not. This is why these medications are highly desirable to high school students and college students.
Both the tone and tenor of this type of research leads us to think something new has been discovered, when indeed it has not. It also leads us to believe that we can become better parents if we take a pill. We know from previous research that training parents is the best intervention for ADHD children. This ranks above medication. It is the recommended course of action in the United Kingdom although it has not been adopted in the US yet.
If we have ADHD, are parents, and have kids with ADHD (possibly a genetic link), we can be taught coping skills, consistent parenting skills, and appropriate disciplinary methods. Is this more difficult than taking a pill that teaches nothing and works only in the short-term? Yes. Is it better in the long run? Yes.
