Ritalin and Prozac are the most widely prescribed antidepressant and behavior modification drugs in the United States. Ritalin is used to treat children who suffer from Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and control their disruptive behavior while Prozac is used to help people with depression (Peirson 707). Lilly, the drug company, has spent $55 million for advertising directed at the consumers (Horvitz 40). “Just say yes” to these two drugs, has increased the population of users; as a result, we have 28 million Americans who have taken Prozac (Fukuyama 43), and more than-4 million children are on Ritalin in American today (Diller 108). This is no longer the issue of a disease but a social condition. Reliance on Prozac and Ritalin reduces human social responsibility, human character, and capacity to understand the meanings of hope, fear, and struggle.

Ritalin has been hailed by desperate parents as a “ wonder drug” that has helped to control the mood swings of thousands of children who suffer from ADHD, a condition characterized by chronic impulsive behavior. Ritalin enhances concentration and helps grade-improvement. The problem comes when physicians write millions of prescriptions for children each year without solid evidence of diagnosis. (Marshall 1). With the ever-increasing diagnosis of ADHD, Ritalin became one of the fastest-growing drugs used at all ages of students from preschool to college campuses today. Fukuyama, in his book, Our Posthuman Future, writes, “It’s not a disease at all, but rather just the tail of the bell curve describing the distribution of perfectly normal behavior” (46). Then, he gives further explanation that young boys are expected to be active, running, playing, and doing physical activities rather then sitting around at a desk for hours and paying attention to a teacher. Especially, when teachers and parents have less time to direct them on interesting tasks but increasingly demand them to sit still in classrooms, it creates the impression that there is a growing disease (47). The chilling fact is Ritalin is given to young children for behavioral problems. The study shows among Michigan Medicaid recipients that “Some 57 percent of those under the age of 4 who were diagnosed with ADHD were being prescribed one or more psychotropic medications” (51).

It is also not surprising that more and more children are on drugs because our public schools have become big drug advocators. Lawrence H. Diller, a doctor of behavioral pediatrics explains that schools will not allow students to attend conventional classes unless they are medicated because he has evaluated more than 2,500 children who have received pressure from school personnel to seek a medical evaluation (Marshall 1280).  In two extreme cases, parents unwilling to give their kids drugs were reported by their schools to local offices of Child Protective Services as guilty of neglect because of withholding drugs. When we (parents, teachers, school systems, and others with vested interests) ask children to fit the needs of the world so early and so intensely that we overlook their needs to be children, to play, and grow according to their own timetable, it becames social control. It also raises concerns about the drug’s effect on the children’s still-developing personalities and brains, which could alter a child’s ability to incarnate and develop their own unique individuality (Almon 1).

On the other hand, Prozac has the power to transform personality, as Peter Kramer, M. D. noticed from his patients to whom he prescribed the drug-one that extended social, romantic, and business lives, as well as their over-all self-image. However, there are several downsides to expecting a pill to do to much. This over prescription leads to an idea that everyone is mentally ill, and that everyone needs help through the drug, which ignores the external problem (Kramer 2). What will happen to a society with overly medicated people? We will reduce our social responsibility. For example, a forty-seven-years-old printing pressman, Joseph Wesbecker, had walked into his former workplace and shot twenty of his fellow workers, killing eight and injuring twelve; then, he shot himself in front of his office door (Tyler 25). But the crucial point of the case, central to the claim for damages requested by survivors and relatives of the dead, was that Wesbecker had been taking a course of Prozac before the killing, and the plaintiffs’ lawyers claimed that mood-altering drug had sent Wesbecker over the edge. (2). Another case is that of Tennessee woman who charges that Prozac caused her husband to hang himself 13 days after being prescribed the drug (Swiatek 1). Not too long ago, on Dec.2, 20002, Melvin Cassidy sued her doctor who prescribed Prozac to her for weight loss and that the drug caused suicidal thoughts that led her to slash her wrists and overdose on a painkiller, which left her paralyzed on one side and mentally impaired, according to the lawsuit. (Swiatek 1). The problem in three of those cases is not so much of tragedy, but a social condition in that people are not being held responsible for their own actions. They blame others for their own actions, which raised deep moral questions about human identity and personal responsibility.

Human dignity is one of the most important unique human characteristics. Human beings have a desire for recognition; in fact, humans struggling for recognition have become a part of human history. By overcoming difficulty, we raise our self-esteem and self-satisfaction, and understand the meaning of hope, fear, and struggle (Fukuyama 46). Humans become increasingly dangerous when designer drugs such as Prozac and Ritalin shape the mood and personalities for huge numbers of people.  It encourages normal people to treat common life problems with medication instead of helping people navigate through life; we’re giving them a pill to make them happy even if they are not actually clinically depressed. We have formed a self-satisfied socially compliant society (52). Most of all, the human gender is endangered. Fukuyama points out that Prozac is heavily prescribed for depressed women who lack in self-esteem. Prozac brings them more of the alpha-male feeling by boosting the level of serotoin. On the other hand, Ritalin is largely prescribed for young boys who are unable to sit still in class, which is part of their natures. Ritalin gives them a female element. Therefore, we see the two sexes are “gently nudged toward that androgynous median personality, self-satisfied and socially compliant, that is the current politically correct outcome in American society” (52). The human emotional gamut is narrowed because we eliminate severe depression and hyperactively as well as a range of nuance feelings of discontent and discomfort that may be the source of hope, fear, struggle (Fukuyama 1).

The drugs, Prozac and Ritalin have become tools of social conditioning. It is no longer the issue of a disease but social control that reduces human social responsibility and human character and their capacity to understand the meaning of hope, fear, and struggle. It’s time to restrict the use of Prozac and Ritalin.

Almon, Joan. “Protecting Childhood” LILIPOH 4.16 (Fall 1998). Alt HealthWatch. EbscoHost. <http://search.epnet.com/direct.asp?an=6088400&db=awh>.

Bee, Peta. “Wonder Drug or Worst Option?” The Times (London, England) 1 Nov. 2000: 8. InfoTrac Full Text Newspapers. Gale. <http://web4.infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark/393/413/31222590w4/purl=rc1_SP00_0_CJ66508813&dyn=4!xrn_1_0_CJ66508813?sw_aep=plan_skyline>.

Diller, Lawrence H. “Just Say Yes to Ritalin!” The Human Life Review 27 (Winter 2001): 108. InfoTrac OneFile. Gale. <http://web4.infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark/620/32/31224381w4/purl=rc1_ITOF_0_A74410610&dyn=35!ar_fmt?sw_aep=plan_skyline>.

Fukuyama, Francis. “Life, But Not As We Know It.” New Scientist 174.2339 (20 Apr. 2002): 42. MasterFILE Premier. <http://search.epnet.com/direct.asp?an=6643988&db=f5h>.

Fukuyama, Francis. Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002.

Horvitz, Leslie Alan. “ Drug Company Hipes Consumers Won’t Save Prozac for Rainy Days.” Insight on the News 1 Sept. 1997: 40. InfoTrac OneFile.Gale. <http://web4.infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark/620/32/31224381w4/purl=rc1_ITOF_0_A19701876&dyn=7!ar_fmt?sw_aep=plan_skyline>.

Kramer, Peter D. “The Transformation of Personality.” Psychology Today July/Aug. 1993: 42. InfoTrac OneFile. Gale. <http://web4.infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark/620/32/31224381w4/purl=rc1_ITOF_0_A13947894&dyn=12!ar_fmt?sw_aep=plan_skyline>.

Marshall, Eliot. “Planned Ritalin Trial for Tots Heads Into Uncharted Waters.” Science 290.5495 (17 Nov. 2000): 1280. InfoTrac OneFile. Gale. <http://web4.infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark/620/32/31224381w4/purl=rc1_ITOF_0_A68147256&dyn=16!ar_fmt?sw_aep=plan_skyline>.

Peirson, A. R. and J.W. Heuchert. “Correlations for Serotonin Levels and Measures of Mood in a Nonclinical sample.” Psychological Reports 87.3 (Dec. 2000): 707. InfoTrac OneFile.Gale. <http://web4.infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark/620/32/31224381w4/purl=rc1_ITOF_0_A78682530&dyn=3!ar_fmt?sw_aep=plan_skyline>

Swiatek, Jeff. “Indianapolis-Based Eli Lilly Settles Prozac Lawsuit with Pennsylvania Couple.” Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News 2 Dec. 2002. InfoTrac OneFile. Gale. <http://web4.infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark/620/32/31224381w4/purl=rc1_ITOF_0_CJ94827805&dyn=20!ar_fmt?sw_aep=plan_skyline>.

Swiatek, Jeff. “Eli Lilly Faces Another Prozac Lawsuit.” Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News 25 June 2002. InfoTrac OneFile. Gale. <http://web4.infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark/620/32/31224381w4/purl=rc1_ITOF_0_CJ87738142&dyn=24!ar_fmt?sw_aep=plan_skyline>.

Tyler, Christian. “ A Philosopher’s Tale.” The Financial Post 28 Sept 1996: 25. InfoTrac OneFile. Gale. <http://web4.infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark/620/32/31224381w4/purl=rc1_ITOF_0_A18811637&dyn=30!ar_fmt?sw_aep=plan_skyline>

| Home | Syllabus | Assignments | Text | Instructor |

These materials are copyrighted but may be used for educational purposes if you inform and credit the author and cite the source as: LSCI 106 Online Research. All commercial rights are reserved. Send comments or suggestions to: Eric Brenner at brenner@smccd.net