There was a huge uproar in the 80s and 90s over kids being given Ritalin and other drugs to “moderate” their behavior. A lot of media stories wondering what these kids might be like later in life.
Looks like some of them were worth the concern back then.
Prevalence and clinical presentation
“Observations strongly suggest a relationship between the intake of amphetamines and the development of acute psychosis. First, early studies demonstrated that amphetamines could trigger acute psychosis in healthy subjects. In these studies, amphetamine was given in consecutively higher doses until psychosis was precipitated, often after 100–300 mg of amphetamine [20-23]. The symptoms subsided within 6 days. The effect was blocked by the use of anti-psychotics [24]. Not all the subjects in these studies became psychotic, as some had to be removed from the experiment because of health risks caused by elevation of heart rate, blood pressure or body temperature. Secondly, psychosis has been viewed as an adverse event, although rare, in children with ADHD who have been treated with amphetamine [25-30]. Thirdly, drug-induced psychosis has been reported in 8–46% of regular users of amphetamines [31-37]. The wide variation is probably due to different populations being studied, gender [38] and the method and duration of amphetamine use [39]. It may also depend on the instruments used to assess psychosis, e.g. self-report [36] vs. formal diagnostic instruments [31,40]. Lastly, there is a positive correlation between amphetamine availability at a community level and the incidence of psychosis in the same population [41-44].“
There are few studies on comorbidity and drug interactions, despite the fact that many mental health patients (both minors and adults) are given numerous psychoactive medications concurrently. The effects of Amphetamine and SSRI use during puberty has not been empirically studied, despite the massive physiological changes that occur in the human brain during this change.
Correlation is not causation; however, and the Gordian’s Knot lies in the unavoidable fact that those who take these medications have already exhibited mental disturbances of a significant nature. We are only beginning to understand the physical workings of the brain, and it is highly likely that most of our current “treatments” will one day be viewed by professionals with the same repugnance we now hold toward bleeding a person with leeches.