The good grade pill

audiophile · 06-10-2012, 07:32 AM

Wow, this article makes it sound as if taking these stimulants can almost certainly improve your grades and its focus seems to be more on the health and ethical concerns. Can that possibly be true?

From The New York Times:

Risky Rise of the Good-Grade Pill

At high schools across the United States, pressure over grades and competition for college admissions are encouraging students to abuse stimulants.

http://nyti.ms/Lxzj0e

compmom · 06-10-2012, 09:36 AM

What are you asking here?

BlueHen89 · 06-10-2012, 09:41 AM

I have spoken about this with my daughter and many of her friends who all attend different colleges. The kids were all remarkably frank with me. They said that most students in college have used stimulants at least once, and many do so regularly. Three of them admitted to making up symptoms to get a prescription for adderall. They said it was really easy, "Just talk about how distracted you feel in class or how you can't concentrate."

These are not wild kids. They were all high achieving, greatly involved students and athletes in high school and are all successful in college. I do believe this article is addressing a real problem that exists today.

myturnnow · 06-10-2012, 09:54 AM

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/10/ed...it_th_20120610

Wonder how prevalant this abuse really is? What really struck me is how the article focuses on teens easily obtaining stimulants from psychiatrists, or from friends selling their own. It doesn't address the fact that just about all of these students are under 18, and likely being taken by their parents to said psychiatrists. Little mention of parents' role in this.

Pootie · 06-10-2012, 10:10 AM

Ditto BlueHen. S attends a top LAC and says many of the students there use Adderall, Ritalin etc., especially around finals. He also points out that most of the kids wouldn't "need" to use these drugs if they procrastinated less--just got their studying done on a regular basis, rather than waiting until crunch time and using the drugs to cram.

cptofthehouse · 06-10-2012, 10:43 AM

It's a big problem Always was. In my day, it was the prescription sleeping pills, valium and amphetimines. Even easer then to get, because you just needed to know someone who could steal prescription pads. Now at least that loophole is pretty much closed.

What happens is that kids who can get them, sell them or share them. A double whammy here because that means someone who should be getting them isn't getting the full and consistent dose. IT's even worse than that because kids get dummy pills that look like the real ones and switch siblings and others' doses as they sell or use the real things. I heard through the grapevine that a friend DS was selling prescription drugs, and it came to blows at their home when dad tried to take the prescription container to check out the pills in there. Kids can play the mental health system easily by taking a little truth and spinning it to get the meds. You gotta take certain reported symptoms seriously. DS's crowd had a primer on how to get the meds from your doctor. These kids are smart and savvy in these ways.

myturnnow · 06-10-2012, 10:49 AM

my question is if HS students are going to psychiatrists for the pills, why are they so easy to get. My understanding was that ADHD needs documentation, and a history to support receiving a prescription. Wonder about the parents who are permitting their kids with no true history of ADHD to seek them from psychiatrists. Obviously kids will and always have gotten drugs illegally. Sad to think our kids feel that pressured to do so...

cptofthehouse · 06-10-2012, 10:49 AM

Yes, the drugs work. The problem is that they are often illegally obtained and used. Just like when you are in a sport, it can help performance if you take certain illegal drugs. In academia, there is no testing for them.

They do pose a potential health threat. I know of 3 deaths involving these drugs to some degree. You have an undiagnosed or recently developed heart condition, and it can be sudden death. Also the drugs are addicting, and young adults are easily addicted at this time in their lives. They often like to fool around with risky things. Part of the process.

cptofthehouse · 06-10-2012, 10:51 AM

Not just ADHD that these pills address. Depression is the biggie, and they do work for it. You got a kid who won't get up out of bed and refuses to do anything, and a few doses of the adderall can jump start him.

annasdad · 06-10-2012, 10:51 AM

Quote:

And on the passenger seat, a rumpled SAT practice book whose owner had been told since fourth grade he was headed to the Ivy League. Pencils up in 20 minutes.
The boy exhaled. Before opening the car door, he recalled recently, he twisted open a capsule of orange powder and arranged it in a neat line on the armrest. He leaned over, closed one nostril and snorted it.

If there were only one argument against putting children under this insane pressure to get into a so-called "good college," this would be it.

myturnnow · 06-10-2012, 10:53 AM

hmm....work with many psychiatrists and I've not heard of them prescribing adderall for depression. interesting, wonder if there are regional differences in prescribing?

jym626 · 06-10-2012, 10:53 AM

But a stimulant isn't really a first line choice of med for a mood disorder. Surprising that a psychiatrist would prescribe it for that.

** crossposted with myturnnow.

jym626 · 06-10-2012, 11:00 AM

This article is being discussed here http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/...timulants.html

myturnnow · 06-10-2012, 11:01 AM

and the article gave examples of kids going to psychiatrists complaining of "distractibility, hyperactivity". My experience as a mental health professional is that psychiatrists and pediatricians typically require a behavioral history by parents and/or teachers and a diagnosis of ADHD in order to prescribe Adderall. Obviously this isn't always the case...

saintfan · 06-10-2012, 11:06 AM

Wow - thanks for posting. One interesting thing that stood out for me was the use of a justification that parallels the MLB steroid excuses:

"Asked if the improper use of stimulants was cheating, students were split. Some considered that the extra studying hours and the heightened focus during exams amounted to an unfair advantage. Many countered that the drugs “don’t give you the answers” and defended their use as a personal choice for test preparation, akin to tutoring."

Ya sure . . . just like androstenedione didn't help McGwire to hit a baseball - it just made it go a heck of a lot farther when he did hit it. Just personal preparation.