Millions of Kids Are on ADHD Pills. For Many, It’s the Start of a Drug Cascade.

The Wall Street Journal ^ | Nov. 19, 2025 9:00 pm ET | Shalini Ramachandran, Betsy McKay and Tom McGinty

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Powerful psychotropic drugs are often the next step, even though their combined effects in young children haven’t been studied closely. ‘I was living in a body hijacked by the medication.’

Danielle Gansky was 7 years old when an administrator at her upscale private girls’ school in suburban Philadelphia flagged problems with her academic performance. She was a bubbly and creative kid, but she was easily distracted in class and her schoolwork was sloppy.

 The school told Gansky’s mother that the girl should see a psychiatrist, who diagnosed her with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, and prescribed a stimulant. Concerned that Danielle might get kicked out if her focus didn’t improve, her mother broke into tears and agreed. But the pills made Gansky agitated, moody and angry. So another doctor put her on Prozac.

More pills followed. Over the years, Gansky was always on two and sometimes three or more psychiatric drugs at once. By her late 20s, she had taken 14 different kinds of psychiatric pills.

None of it ever felt right. The pills dulled her mind and made her irritable or sleepy. But when Gansky complained about the drugs, her doctors would up her dose or try another medication.

“I was living in a body hijacked by the medication,” said Gansky, 29, who is still struggling to wean herself off an antidepressant. “I didn’t have the words or authority to challenge what I was being told.”

Tens of thousands of kids who take prescription ADHD medication also wind up on other powerful psychotropic drugs—including antipsychotics and antidepressants, studies show. For some of them, the ADHD drugs themselves can be a trigger, according to doctors, patients and psychologists, who say additional medications are often prescribed to manage side effects such as insomnia, despite limited scientific evidence supporting these combinations in young, developing brains...

---

TOPICS: Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS:

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Big Pharma is the King of the drug cartels.

[PGalt]

Yes, America’s (and international) multi-billion dollar drug cartels. MAHA.

[ClearCase_guy]

Hyperactive kids, Depressed kids, Kids with “gender issues”. Part of growing up is just getting a handle on things. Dealing with people, dealing with situations, dealing with tasks, and dealing with your own physical body. Grow, Learn, become a functioning adult.

Or you can take drugs and get weird.

[eyeamok]

I always considered my ADD ADHD to be Gods gift to humanity and in the 60’s my parents were not having any of their drugs given to me or my brother

[vpintheak]

Millions of kids need to get their asses to work, have a regular bed time and get off electronics.
Good grief parents are lazy, and no wonder we have so many idiots that “trust the science”. SMH.

[CFW]

Some people (leftists, journalists and ‘experts’) are just slow.

Conservatives including many Freepers have been talking about this issue for at least a couple of decades.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Some people (leftists, journalists and ‘experts’) are just slow. Conservatives including many Freepers have been talking about this issue for at least a couple of decades.

Now, thanks to RFK, Jr., even The Wall Street Journal is acknowledging it.

[packrat35]

This stuff is evil. When I was a kid, I was called then hyperactive. Most years I had my desk moved upfront by the teacher.

My parents put me on something like this back then (1960’s) and took me off after one week. I found out much later, they say I was much like a zombie.

Teachers and many parents love these pills cause the kids become good little zombies and easier to control and ignore the long term harm they are doing to them.

Boys, much more than girls, are given these drugs cause schools have cut down on recess and force them to sit silently in classes for most of the day. Boys are much more restless in this enviroment.

[dfwgator]

“Tell me about your childhood...”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmGxh1FhtxE

[Zathras]

This has been going on for 30 years.
And the WSJ just figured this out?

[motor_racer]

Soma.... See Aldous Huxley

[Tired of Taxes]

Yep. Back then, the schools were pushing ADHD medication. Now, they push gender-switching, too. But most parents go right along with it all.

[daniel1212]

Teachers and many parents love these pills cause the kids become good little zombies and easier to control and ignore the long term harm they are doing to them.

I suspect that this is widespread in hospitals as well.