Do (mostly female) psychologists and teachers use Ritalin on boys to force them to be more like girls?

Question

Mudkip: yeah, these are made up illnesses, used as an excuse to medicate boys (usually) who are just acting like boys.

Answer 1

Don't teach boys to be like girls

http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_...

This above says it all, its happening now, and every day!!!

Answer 2

Get a life!!

Answer 3

That's not true. My little brother has ADD.

Answer 4

i'd say NO.

i've known more girls diagnosed with ADHD & put on ritalin than boys (i know, i know, anectodal so it doesn't count)

also, psychologists & teachers can't prescribe medication...

and how do you figure that it's mostly women putting the boys on ritalin? are their parents not involved in this medication decision??

Answer 5

No.  But if they had better parents the boys wouldn't be on Ritalin.  Boys need to run and rough house.  Instead they are allowed to sit on their fat little asses and play computer games.  Of course they act up in class and seem uncontrollable.

Answer 6

just because you came up with an argument (good in your opinion, far too fallacious to entertain in my opinion) doesn't make it correct... ehhh wrong

Answer 7

Generally, such medications are prescribed by the family

General Practitioner...a medical doctor. There are generally no "psychological" problems present in ADD/ADHD, it is a chemical imbalance in the brain. Purely biological.

Also, there is a lot of evidence now that a good deal of the chemical preservatives and food colorings added to processed foods can cause the chemical imbalances that lead to ADD/ADHD. And there is evidence that suggests that boys are biologically more susceptible to these chemicals, just as boys suffer more frequently from allergies.

http://www.webmd.com/add-adhd/news/20040...

BTW, psychologists have nothing to do with it. As someone else pointed out, psychiatrists and medical doctors prescribe drugs, and psychologists are generally at odds with the field of psychiatry, since psychologists believe that issues should be resolved through therapy, not medications. And, again, psychologists DO NOT treat, or concern themselves with issues such as ADD/ADHD, because it is a biological issue. Also, for your already faulty logic to work, it would have to be true that no girls are ever prescibed Ritalin. This (obviously) NOT true.

You make yourself look foolish when you post questions about topics you so obviously know nothing about.

So, does the male dominated food industry want to force boys to be more like girls? According to your logic, it would seem so.

Answer 8

"More like girls"? I have a female friend with ADD.

There IS a lot of overdiagnosis for AD(H)D, but if someone genuinely has it, medication is often the solution that helps them overcome it the best.

My boyfriend has ADHD and takes medication for it by choice. He *prefers* taking the medication. AD(H)D is not something that can be solved in therapy, unlike depression. It is a serious problem when left untreated and results in distraction and demotivation. If you take that medication away from the boys, do you know what will happen? They will stop doing their work, or will not finish it. They will get distracted and, often, anxious. They will do poorly in school and will take much longer to finish tests.

EDIT: As I said, it's overdiagnosed, but it's not made up... If you've ever spent time with someone who has AD(H)D and is not on meds, it's noticeably different, not just "acting like a boy." Adults have it too, you know...

Answer 9

hey - actually, that's not a bad idea!  I mean it's not enough of an effort to try to get them to act like human beings, let's go one step further and have them act like girls!  I LUV it ~

Answer 10

Its not boys, no no no its 99% girls that get drugged up not the nice little boys

Answer 11

No-using your "logic" the majority of physicians are male in the US-therefore male physicians prescribe Ritalin for boys to "force them" to be quiet-which they also do to girls they want to "quiet" as well. Using your logic-it's a male plot against boys and girls. I don't consider being an active child boyish or being quiet girlish.

Answer 12

Since when has the psychiatric profession been dominated by women?  

However, I do believe that Ritalin is over prescribed, and the actual existence of ADD as a syndrome should be questioned, let us not pathologise male childrens' behaviour just change it and challenge it.

And if you are, therefore, arguing that by nature female children are more docile perhaps you should look at gendered social control theories more closely, before imagining some female dominated psychological conspiracy!

Educational psychologists may be female...but the medical profession per se, and certainly psychiatry, who would prescribe, by the way...is not riddled with a back door female conspiracy to alter male behaviour, if that was the case pre school males would be getting Ritalin along with Omega 3 in their milk and cookies!