Expert: Sharon Crandall - 11/6/2011

Question
My son is 11, taking adderall 25 xr. It is not working as well as it used to so I will be asking his dr to up it to 30 mg. My problem is his behavior. He is very very aggressive. Always has been since he was little.  He always talks about needing weapons, like sticks and bats. He used to draw pictures of bombs that he was going to build to blow up the day care that he was in. He wants to rule the galaxy when he is grown and get rid of bad people or people that oppose him. He greets kids with baseball bats and tells them he is not going to hurt them but that they better be scared of him. He tells them he wants to be intimidating. He is 5' tall and only weighs 94 pounds. He has even raised a hammer, bat and stick up at me when I was trying to calm him down. I have not been scared of him and he tells me I should be scared even thought he says he would never hit me! He says I should be scared of someone that has a hammer in their hand.

My question is: Should I be looking into more health care than just adhd meds? He is very very active when not on his meds and unless we go somewhere or people come over I can usually handle him without his meds but if there is any kind of excitement around it is just very hard to control him. He is loud and tries to sound aggressive and at the same time telling people he is a good person that means no harm. TIA

Answer
Dear Robin;

I want to put more in this later and so will keep your question and make more comments later.

I tell you I hate these medications that alter children's brains.  I looked up the side affects of Adderall and it says to contact your doctor immediately if there are any of many symptoms listed. One of those symptoms was aggression. I would look online and look for support groups for those whose children have had negative side affects of these medications and then look at alternative methods of help. Who knows what problems come from chemicals accumulating in his brain from these meds.

Besides the above side affect, I have read where children describe what it is like to take these medications. They feel powerless.  If your son feels powerless in his life then he could easily be reacting by fantasizing being powerful.  You need someone who really understands personality and how to turn that aggression into a positive outlet.  I wish I could work with him for awhile. While I am not a professional counselor I am very experienced in personality traits and how to turn negative behavior into positive behavior.

Now, one thing I would do is to give him as much personal power as possible. Do not over-regulate him. Give him the right to choose as much as possible. If he hates taking his meds then by all means do all you can to get him off of it. There is a great product that is nutritional that helps kids like this. It is neu-beCalm'd and it feeds the brain. It crosses the blood brain barrier and really helps to balance the brain function.

Now, what I would like to know is if he is tightly regulated at home in every little thing or if he has very little discipline. The best thing is to have as few rules as possible and be strict with those few rules, but then let him make as many decisions for himself as possible but always experience the consequences of his choices in the most natural way possible.

Then what he needs is a great male role model that understands the need for power and helps him to see how important it is to use power wisely.  I would also make sure he has a spiritual foundation of some kind to help him be rooted ethically, and in loving and caring about others.

I always recommend that children do volunteer work with their children so that they feel important and have purpose in their lives.  That really helps children keep in balance. If they see others less fortunate, it helps them keep their own lives in balance. Read stories about kindness and how important you feel when you are kind to others. Find good books that encourage kindness and caring and how great it makes you feel.  

These are a few comments I have for you at this time. I would appreciate some feedback and we can go from there.

Bless you and your son,

Sharon Crandall
Personality Science/Consultant
Private sessions available