“The years I took ritalin were some of the worst in my life because I was silent and reserved and uncomfortable with everything around me, and on the rare occasion that I expressed my opinions, I was considered strange, because I was usually quiet. It also led to me having very few friends. It deminished my social life to almost nihil.”
Carmen, I’m still considered ‘strange’
With great certainty, I would NEVER want to repeat my childhood, teen years-early youth or young adulthood. They are still painfully vivid and I was not on any medication. It takes every drop of what sanity and fuel is available at that time to wade and swim through the muck and mire of that phase for any human being. Deliberately putting a ‘plug in the fuel tank’ is hardly the way to aid a chugging car forward.
I do understand chemical inbalances do occur, but these instances are mighty rare, and while such sufferors need medical aid, this should be subsidized as well with therapy.
I also understand parents who become exhausted by very active children, but I fear ritalin is being used as a tool of relief for the parent not the child. In too many instances this use equates to thorazine use in mental institutions to keep a patient silent and inactive in lieu of straight jacket.
I also learned a long time ago that ‘silence’ is ‘deadly’. A child becoming justifiably quiet after a reprimand is normal, a ‘silent child’ is not. Normally many parents worry about such constant silence and seek medical help for their child!
My little brother also had ‘strange’ opinions while in the world of ritalin, but I knew where they came from and why. Sometimes the things he said were frightening to him not just me.
