Department of Social Science, Health and Medicine, King's College London, King's Building, Strand, London WC2R 2L, UK.
J Med Ethics. 2013 Jun;39(6):359-66. doi: 10.1136/medethics-2011-100224. Epub 2012 Aug 28.
In this article, I examine children's reported experiences with stimulant drug treatments for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in light of bioethical arguments about the potential threats of psychotropic drugs to authenticity and moral agency. Drawing on a study that involved over 150 families in the USA and the UK, I show that children are able to report threats to authenticity, but that the majority of children are not concerned with such threats. On balance, children report that stimulants improve their capacity for moral agency, and they associate this capacity with an ability to meet normative expectations. I argue that although under certain conditions stimulant drug treatment may increase the risk of a threat to authenticity, there are ways to minimise this risk and to maximise the benefits of stimulant drug treatment. Medical professionals in particular should help children to flourish with stimulant drug treatments, in good and in bad conditions.
在本文中，我根据关于精神药物对真实性和道德代理的潜在威胁的生物伦理论点，考察了儿童对注意力缺陷多动障碍的兴奋剂药物治疗的报告体验。该研究涉及美国和英国的 150 多个家庭，我表明，儿童能够报告真实性受到威胁，但大多数儿童并不关心此类威胁。总的来说，儿童报告说兴奋剂提高了他们的道德代理能力，他们将这种能力与满足规范期望的能力联系起来。我认为，尽管在某些情况下，兴奋剂药物治疗可能会增加真实性受到威胁的风险，但有办法降低这种风险，并使兴奋剂药物治疗的益处最大化。医疗专业人员尤其应该帮助儿童在良好和恶劣的条件下通过兴奋剂药物治疗茁壮成长。
