Ritalin is a medication prescribed by psychiatrists to treat brain-related disorders. It is a kind of brain stimulant, prescribed to increase activity in the cerebral cortex. Sadly, we see some university students taking it without a prescription, with very harmful effects.
Less study time, better results?
In recent years we have seen students using this medicine on their own initiative, especially in certain groups who need more concentration and perseverance to succeed in their field of study.
The key feature shared by everyone who takes Ritalin without a prescription is that they are students who do not study during term and want to spend only one or two nights learning material that takes at least two months to master.
So they need to stay up at night, with more energy and focus on those nights, and are drawn to this harmful psychoactive drug. Most of these students have problems with study habits and motivation, both general and specific, lack the study skills they need, and want to solve all their problems by taking Ritalin pills.
Students who take Ritalin therefore use it in place of study habits: instead of improving how they study and how much time they spend on it, and choosing a better student lifestyle, they look for overnight, one-off results.
In fact, if they spread their workload across the term and learn it properly, more than 90 per cent of them would not need Ritalin at all.
Side effects of Ritalin
Students report that the drug makes them more alert and that their brain automatically shakes off its sluggishness. But with continued use they gradually meet its many side effects, including nervous-system and neurological problems, poorer learning, less concentration than before they started taking Ritalin, apprehension, anxiety, and sometimes even acute anxiety attacks after taking it.
I should stress here that these side effects relate to taking it on one’s own initiative, without a psychiatrist’s prescription.
When Ritalin is prescribed
Yet very few students are diagnosed by a psychiatrist as needing Ritalin, and 90 per cent of the students who take it do not need it.
Interestingly, Ritalin is not sold without a psychiatrist’s prescription, and not every pharmacy stocks it. Even so, students obtain it on the black market, or one student shares it with others. They do not even consider that smuggled medicines often contain other dangerous, addictive substances as well.
Unfortunately, Ritalin has lately been prescribed more than before for students who complain of poor academic performance, whereas factors such as shaky self-esteem or self-confidence, poor study habits, motivational problems and avoiding responsibility can be the main causes of weak or falling grades.
Dr Bahman Bahmani, psychologist and faculty member, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences
Adapted from the monthly Sepideh-ye Danaei, issue 58
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