“What are the long-term effects of Ritalin on children?”
My 13-year-old son was prescribed Ritalin for his ADD, and I'm worried about the effects of his meds on his brain development. Are there long-term effects of Ritalin in children?
1 Answer
I can certainly appreciate having concerns and wanting to to the best for your son. It is a difficult question to answer definitively given the research but there is nothing to my knowledge to show negative results on brain development. I’ve linked a couple more recent larger studies in the journal of the American medical association studying longer term use on major cardiac events in adolescents and adults (surprisingly not showing increased risk which was expected).
Something that is so often talked about but which the literature does show is the potential and studied risk of untreated ADHD on things such as car accidents, crime, substance abuse, obesity, comirbid psychiatric conditions, loss of work productivity, earnings, promotions.
In the end, there are risks and benefits to all modalities but also risks of not treating in these cases. In the end, I find that it comes down to the individual functioning of the individual moving forward and can always look at options when feeling ready.
A book with some non med options and also a look at stimulants (although not fully showcasing the far larger effect size and research of stimulants) is “finally focused” by Greenblat. In children when brains may still be developing and waiting to see how executives function may improve, it may be reasonable to first work with some of the steps in the book and then having medication as an option in the future when he is able to verbalize having a problem and wanting help and when the most common side affect (lower appetite) is less concerning.
Links to the cardiac, car accident studies and to the book for reference hopefully linked below
Wishing you the best.
Dr Behrens
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/1104778
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/1814941
https://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwj2stLNt9ziAhUCu-wKHfpLDA4YABAEGgJwag&ohost=www.google.com&cid=CAESQOD2ArgN0KRlKxj-17rAE5Zi6zZHMZizI8OAlluFA5TRF219byHtOFYYlalRcHDdnRjOsSfAPd5_-i4xTLzefj0&sig=AOD64_0Aaj_wBoDar3gryzkW0Mg4m3MOrA&q&adurl&ved=2ahUKEwjVlMnNt9ziAhVLKawKHYUbCuMQ0Qx6BAgOEAE&bg=!gIOlg5tE3uvYyY4xK0cCAAAAMlIAAAADCgBL_SpcvEUAisYyzTRijRw0uRo8DHUJBJQTxPJP6GCN7c-dT4FEnAwwpdCUBVYOw5drJkTw6Y0nOFkctFh4vFPguRucQYc4cIle-cJRmQDeNn5o2HEuBd00SbpCDJtQn15yQCZdm4oPHyXnKSwCNU8w2ZiY4z7GkU0TZUEKo8n6ZXBiKC3UiYTPerIT5A5y2kamJQpDSNAqoEO_tlmUtI6ULN751xtcBO4f9YdhqkbwYcMLL74T4ZYwb5WZDzmS1Xmneip9eFeG12jfREhmTYaJQL3N4IV4mIG7lix0VL7uz56kUFuIt3z1x47VvDlg0608J8BY0gHUeZk5VtpGvHtGrW4hvq35XkbEoZNynCg6ZTmDpj0GZw3KPieiiVNiXPUnoq2MytYKHzT-xAgW
Something that is so often talked about but which the literature does show is the potential and studied risk of untreated ADHD on things such as car accidents, crime, substance abuse, obesity, comirbid psychiatric conditions, loss of work productivity, earnings, promotions.
In the end, there are risks and benefits to all modalities but also risks of not treating in these cases. In the end, I find that it comes down to the individual functioning of the individual moving forward and can always look at options when feeling ready.
A book with some non med options and also a look at stimulants (although not fully showcasing the far larger effect size and research of stimulants) is “finally focused” by Greenblat. In children when brains may still be developing and waiting to see how executives function may improve, it may be reasonable to first work with some of the steps in the book and then having medication as an option in the future when he is able to verbalize having a problem and wanting help and when the most common side affect (lower appetite) is less concerning.
Links to the cardiac, car accident studies and to the book for reference hopefully linked below
Wishing you the best.
Dr Behrens
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/1104778
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/1814941
https://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwj2stLNt9ziAhUCu-wKHfpLDA4YABAEGgJwag&ohost=www.google.com&cid=CAESQOD2ArgN0KRlKxj-17rAE5Zi6zZHMZizI8OAlluFA5TRF219byHtOFYYlalRcHDdnRjOsSfAPd5_-i4xTLzefj0&sig=AOD64_0Aaj_wBoDar3gryzkW0Mg4m3MOrA&q&adurl&ved=2ahUKEwjVlMnNt9ziAhVLKawKHYUbCuMQ0Qx6BAgOEAE&bg=!gIOlg5tE3uvYyY4xK0cCAAAAMlIAAAADCgBL_SpcvEUAisYyzTRijRw0uRo8DHUJBJQTxPJP6GCN7c-dT4FEnAwwpdCUBVYOw5drJkTw6Y0nOFkctFh4vFPguRucQYc4cIle-cJRmQDeNn5o2HEuBd00SbpCDJtQn15yQCZdm4oPHyXnKSwCNU8w2ZiY4z7GkU0TZUEKo8n6ZXBiKC3UiYTPerIT5A5y2kamJQpDSNAqoEO_tlmUtI6ULN751xtcBO4f9YdhqkbwYcMLL74T4ZYwb5WZDzmS1Xmneip9eFeG12jfREhmTYaJQL3N4IV4mIG7lix0VL7uz56kUFuIt3z1x47VvDlg0608J8BY0gHUeZk5VtpGvHtGrW4hvq35XkbEoZNynCg6ZTmDpj0GZw3KPieiiVNiXPUnoq2MytYKHzT-xAgW
