Long-Term Brain Damage from Ritalin/Focalin Use

Allmusic
Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:10:16 +0000

I know of one young man who went into a full blown clinical depression when his Concerta dosage was doubled, due to a growth spurt. He was crying and sobbing like a toddler, and self medicating with other medications in the home. The turn around to his normal behavior was very quick, once he went off all medications completely. He decided he would rather deal with his inattentiveness than a deep depression.

And don’t forget about cognitive dulling. A pair of five year old twins I know have been on Prozac since age three. Ones IQ dropped from 122 to 97 in a two year time frame.

Most of these drugs have not been tested adequately (or at all) on children, and no one is sure of long term effects. Whether Ritalin, Prozac or Depacote, there have been minimal longitudinal studies. Sometimes, parents have no choice, but it is always best to proceed with caution.