In this day and age people want a quick fix, they do not take the time anymore to sit down with their problems and try to work them out. The thing about these people is that they are having children. So now there are others that are subject to their impatience and laziness. When these children get slightly down or a tad rambunctious the parents go for Ritalin or Prozac, which causes a problem. The doctors do not help either, they see the child do not feel like treating him or her, and under pressure from the parents, give the child drugs. This is happening all too often lately. Children are over prescribed psychotropic drugs such as Ritalin and Prozac.
Ritalin, a psychotropic drug developed by the CIBA Pharmaceutical Company in 1950 used in the treatment of ADD, has increased in usage seven hundred percent since 1990(Gibbs 1). In the United States alone, 7.7 tons of Ritalin are consumed, all by people who are not even old enough to drive (Livingston 2). Ritalin is a stimulant that is given to the ADD diagnosed to help them focus more readily on the task at hand. .
Prozac is another psychotropic drug employed in the remedying of depression. Major and minor depressions are not the only diseases that Prozac is used in treating; it is also used in treating mood swings due to chemical imbalances. Prozac is a mood enhancer that, in lament terms, makes people happy. It was developed by Eli Lilly Pharmaceuticals in 1972 and has been widely used ever since (Kluger 1). Today more than twenty-four million people worldwide take Prozac (Suanders 2).
If a child sits in his desk swinging his feet, looking out of the window, and not showing much interest in their school work, he is all too readily diagnosed with ADD/HD (Attention deficit hyperactive disorder) and pumped full of drugs. Within recent years, the use of psychotropic drugs such as Ritalin and Prozac has risen dramatically and is too often being unnecessarily prescribed to children, because the parents want a quick fix and the doctors are ready to give it to them.