Bradley’s Benzedrine Studies on Children with Behavioral Disorders

In 1937, psychiatrist Charles Bradley administered Benzedrine sulfate, an amphetamine, to “problem” children at the Emma Pendleton Bradley Home in Providence, Rhode Island, in an attempt to alleviate headaches; however, Bradley noticed an unexpected effect upon the behavior of the children: improved school performance, social interactions, and emotional responses. Drawing on Bradley’s published articles on his experiments, this paper explores the historical context of his experiments and the effect this background had on the emerging field of child psychiatry. Bradley’s studies went largely ignored in the field of child psychiatry for nearly 25 years. However, they proved to be an important precursor to studies of amphetamines like Ritalin and their use in conditions such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Bradley’s Benzedrine trials were thus highly influential in shaping modern objective understandings of children with behavior disorders.