SINGAPORE: Nearly one in 10 boys aged 5-11 is now on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder medication, with 200,000 boys issued with 1.7 million prescriptions a year.
Parents of children as young as three are asking for such medication, experts say, despite warnings about “zombie” side-effects from popular brands.
The shocking increase has surged in the last generation, with a tenfold increase in the past 20 years in prescription rates and patient numbers for ADHD.
Figures from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare show 9 per cent of boys aged 5-11, and 8 per cent of boys aged 12-17, are now taking psychostimulants for ADHD.
This compares to 4 per cent of girls aged 5-11 and 5 per cent aged 12-17.
General practitioner Dr Jess Weber told new video series Unpacked: A Neurodivergent Generation that children were increasingly open about taking such medication.
“Kids will go to the front office at lunchtime together (for) their ADHD medications,” she said.
Kimberley O’Brien, an education and development psychologist from Quirky Kid, said medication for ADHD had “become normalised”.
“It used to be a last resort – now we are seeing more parents on medication themselves for ADHD, and they see it makes a difference and they want that for their kid,” she said.
“There is less stigma attached and teachers may even say pupils should consider medication. But we need to look at what else can be done besides medication.”
She said medication use should ideally not be long-term, but one part of holistic treatment.
Ms O’Brien said her clinic did not diagnose under the age of six but parents presented with children as young as three.
Educational psychologist Clare Rowe said some preschool parents raised medication as an issue because they were “exhausted and looking for immediate relief”.
“If a child is very young, I want to see strong basics first – sleep, routines, parenting strategies, and support for educators.”
Dr Astha Tomar, president of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, said there had been a significant increase in ADHD medication prescriptions, especially in younger children.
“At five or six they start going to school and that’s when the difficulties become more visible,” she said.
Dr Tomar said studies showed younger children were more likely to get a diagnosis, but she warned “ADHD symptoms do not mean an ADHD diagnosis”.
Suzanne Grobke drives an eight-hour round trip from her home in Forster to Sydney to get medication for her daughter Sophie, 13, who has ADHD and autism.
She said the days Sophie doesn’t take medication “you definitely notice”.
“The school is ringing by lunchtime, saying come and get her.”
A long-term snapshot of ADHD medication prescription rates shows the number of patients aged 11 and under has surged from 14,768 in 2004-05 to 155,935 in 2023-24.
And patients aged 12-17 have risen from 11,124 to 137,091 – more than a tenfold increase over two decades.
Over the same period, the rate of patients per 1000 rose from two in 2004-05 to 22 in 2023-24.
In total, young people were issued 2.3 million prescriptions, compared to just 126,000 two decades earlier. Boys receive the vast majority of the prescriptions – 1.7 million, compared to girls who receive 680,000.