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A Brief History of Stimulant Medications — And the Questions Worth Asking

I’m writing this from personal experience, having been prescribed stimulant medication for many years as a child during a time when medications like Ritalin and Adderall were widely prescribed and often offered quickly as solutions for attention and behavior challenges.

This isn’t an attack on doctors, parents, or medicine.
It’s an educational look at how these medications evolved — and why it’s reasonable to ask good questions before using them.

Where It Started: Performance, Not Classrooms

The earliest stimulant medications were not created to treat childhood attention disorders.

In the 1930s and 1940s, stimulant compounds were widely used in military settings to help soldiers and pilots:

• stay awake longer
• reduce fatigue
• increase focus under extreme pressure

One of the most well-known examples was Pervitin, a form of methamphetamine, used by German forces.

At the same time, amphetamine products such as Benzedrine were used by Allied troops for alertness and endurance. These were performance-enhancing substances, not psychiatric treatments.

From Army Use to Civilian Medicine

After World War II, stimulant drugs moved into everyday medicine.

Doctors prescribed them for:

• fatigue
• depression
• weight loss
• low motivation

By the 1950s and 60s, stimulants were part of mainstream medical practice. They were also being used alongside tranquilizers, which were marketed to help people stay calm in stressful domestic and professional roles.

This era shaped the idea that chemistry could correct discomfort, distraction, or overwhelm.

How Children Became Part of the Story

In the late 1930s, a physician noticed that when children were given amphetamine-based medication, some became calmer, more focused, and easier to manage in classrooms.

Dr. Charles Bradley, a Rhode Island psychiatrist, made this groundbreaking discovery almost by accident.

• In 1937, Bradley was running a children’s psychiatric unit and treating kids with various behavioral issues and headaches (often after lumbar punctures).
• He started giving them Benzedrine (an early amphetamine, racemic amphetamine sulfate) hoping it would help with post-spinal-tap headaches by stimulating cerebrospinal fluid production.
• The headaches didn’t improve much, but something unexpected happened: many of the highly restless, impulsive, and disruptive children became noticeably calmer, more focused, and better able to concentrate in school after taking the drug.
• Bradley published his findings in a paper titled “The Behavior of Children Receiving Benzedrine” in the American Journal of Psychiatry in November 1937.

Key quote from Bradley’s 1937 paper:

“It appears paradoxical that a drug known to be a stimulant should produce a subdued behavior in these children.”

This is widely recognized as the first documented clinical observation that stimulants could calm hyperactive children—what we now call ADHD. Bradley continued using Benzedrine and later Dexedrine in his practice through the 1940s and 1950s, but the finding remained relatively obscure until the 1960s when stimulant treatment for “minimal brain dysfunction” or “hyperkinetic disorder” started gaining wider acceptance.

The Evolution of the Drugs

Amphetamine Lineage

Early stimulant medications were based on amphetamine compounds.

Key milestones:

• Benzedrine (1930s–40s):
  One of the first widely used amphetamines, originally sold as a nasal inhaler and later in oral form. It contained racemic amphetamine, meaning a mix of two molecular forms.
• Dexedrine (1940s–50s):
  Introduced as a more refined version of amphetamine, using dextroamphetamine, the more potent and targeted form of the molecule. It was marketed as smoother and more predictable than earlier amphetamine products and became widely used for:
  • fatigue
  • depression
  • military alertness
  • later, behavioral and attention issues
• Obetrol (1960s):
  Originally marketed for weight loss, this drug contained a mixture of amphetamine and methamphetamine salts. Over time, safety concerns and regulation forced reformulation.
• Adderall (1990s):
  Developed as a refined, regulated successor to earlier mixed-salt formulations. It contains a combination of four different amphetamine salts, designed for more consistent absorption and a longer-lasting effect.

A Parallel Branch: Ritalin

Ritalin (methylphenidate) developed alongside the amphetamine family but belongs to a different chemical class. It affects many of the same neurotransmitter systems but is not an amphetamine.

Why This History Matters

Today, these medications are primarily used to treat ADHD and related attention disorders.

They will do what they are intended to do.

But it’s also important to remember:

These drugs did not originate as “learning aids.”
They originated as performance enhancers under extreme conditions. They are mostly amphetamines and they do come at a cost.

Understanding that lineage helps us think more clearly about how and when they should be used.

The Role of Environment That Often Gets Missed

Medication is sometimes necessary.
But environment matters more than we often admit.

Important factors that influence attention:

• sleep quality
• nutrition
• hydration
• physical movement
• emotional safety
• classroom environment
• screen exposure

These factors are not “alternatives to medicine.”
They are foundations for healthy brain function.

Before Considering Medication

A Simple, Non-Judgmental Checklist

🛏 Sleep

• Does the child have a consistent, stable place to sleep?
• Do they wake up rested?
• Do they wake up multiple times in the night?
• Do they snore? (hinting at concerns with their airways)
• Are they watching TV or screens before bed?

🥗 Food & Hydration

• Are meals balanced with protein, fats, and whole foods?
• Is ultra-processed food the default?
• Are artificial dyes common?
• Are there a lot of sugars in their diet?
• Are they eating 3 meals a day?
• Are snacks protein and nutrient filled?
• Are they eating late?

🏃 Movement

• Do they have regular physical activity?
• Are they expected to sit longer than their developmental stage supports?
  • A 7-11 years old’s attentions span only lasts in 14-30 minute increments.
  • Do they have moving breaks between these spans?

🧠 Environment

• Are classes overcrowded?
• Is teaching engaging or rigid?
• Is leaning done in the home as well and not just the classroom?
  • If they are only supposed to sit and pay attention at school but its a free for all at home, it will be difficult for most children to adjust.

🎨 Play & Connection

• Are caregivers playing/ engage with the child?
• Is play mostly solo or interactive?
• Does the child interact well when they are around others?

📵 Screens & Noise

• Are screens constantly on — TV, tablets, phones?
• Is there always background noise — music, podcasts, chatter — even when the child needs focus?
• Are toys, gadgets, or notifications constantly within reach?
• Are visual distractions in the room (posters, clutter, lights) competing for attention?
• Is the household pace fast, with little downtime, leaving the child rarely able to settle?
• Does the child have a “calm time” without noise and distraction to de-stress?

Why it matters: Children (and adults) can become conditioned to constant stimulation. This makes it harder to focus, regulate emotions, or engage deeply in one task. Even small changes — a quieter space, fewer notifications, or a tidy workspace — can make a difference over time.

Small Changes Matter

If you’re working through this checklist and noticing areas of concern, that’s completely normal.

• You are not failing your child.
• These things take time to adjust.

Start small: focus on one or two changes at a time. Over weeks and months, small improvements in sleep, nutrition, movement, environment, and engagement compound into real, lasting benefits for focus and well-being.

Medication can help some children, but building a strong foundation first ensures any treatment is more effective — and children develop skills to self-regulate that last well beyond a prescription.

My Experience

I stopped taking medication late in high school because I got tired of feeling like something was wrong with me. I was just being me — a high-energy person — but for years, doctors kept telling me otherwise and handing me pills. I would often hear, “Did you take your pill?” or “Pay attention,” as if my natural energy was a problem to fix.

It took time, but I learned how to focus, slow down, and manage my energy without medication. Looking back, I realize there were many factors contributing to my attention challenges that a doctor never asked about — diet, sleep, movement, classroom environment, and social stimulation among them.

This was a time when stimulant medication was the new craze. Over the years, I’ve seen multiple waves of “wonder drugs” promised to solve attention, pain, or productivity problems. Every craze comes with a price. My generation, for example, was plagued by addiction and over-prescription long before Oxycodone hit the market. Companies were eager to push medications for attention and energy, and society often asked why there was an addiction problem — the seeds were planted long before anyone realized.

In Closing

Understanding the history of stimulant medications — from wartime performance enhancers to classroom treatments — gives context to why we give these drugs to children today. My personal experience shows that medication can help, but it isn’t the whole story.

Before reaching for a prescription, it’s worth looking at the bigger picture: sleep, nutrition, movement, environment, play, and how a child experiences stimulation. Small adjustments in these areas can make a meaningful difference, often alongside or even before medication.

If you’re working through the checklist and noticing areas that could use attention, that’s okay. Change doesn’t happen overnight. But incremental, thoughtful steps can create a strong foundation for focus, self-regulation, and long-term well-being.

The goal isn’t perfection — it’s understanding, support, and giving children the tools to thrive both with and without medication.