There are concerns that they're over-prescribed, and there can be significant potential for abuse by people, particularly college age students, who don't have a prescription.

However, it's important to remember how difficult it is to live, learn, and succeed with the disorder, also known as ADHD, especially when it goes untreated.

A new working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research by Jason Fletcher at Yale titled "The Effects Of Childhood ADHD On Adult Labor Market Outcomes" takes a detailed look at how the condition affects a person's long run success, and provides "the first evidence of links between childhood ADHD symptoms and adult labor market outcomes."