A Million Kids Misdiagnosed with ADHD?

Jamie was one of several people who submitted links to a story proclaiming that as many as a million kids were misdiagnosed with ADHD simply for being the youngest and therefore least mature in their classes. Worse still, I wonder how many of those kids are permanently put on drugs.

Comments

Re:Sigh

[Anonymous Coward]

Where's the profit in that?

Sigh again

[edremy]

How about just treating serious medical problems as serious medical problems and not trying to sweep them under the rug?

I have a severely ADHD child- he's not normal, he needs serious drugs to function in school, and he knows it. (He's extremely bright and is fully aware of what he's capable of when he's on them- you ever have to deal with child sobbing because he can't focus on simple tasks?) ADHD is one of the most misunderstood conditions out there- it is real, it can be severe, and we need to avoid knee-jerk "It's all made up" reactions

Re:Sigh again

[andymadigan]

Saying that it's over-diagnosed is not the saem as saying it doesn't exist. Psychology, especially child psychology is hardly perfect. Plus, we can observe the phenomenon of parents letting the TV raise their kids, is it so unbelievable that some of those same parents would prefer to drug a perfectly normal (if perhaps immature) kid just to make their lives easier?

Re:Sigh again

[Ethanol-fueled]

Many of my friends who have become parents also don't let their kids out the door, on their bikes or skateboards or whatever, because they're too afraid of terrorists and pedophiles or injury.

What happens instead is that kids are raised by video games and TV, which overstimulate the kids without allowing them to physically tire themselves out. That's where the drugs come in.

Bad combination, in my opinion, but I keep my mouth shut. Who am I to tell a parent how to raise their kids? I (thankfully) don't even have kids.

Is it just me?

[rotide]

When I was a kid, I was always outside running around with friends. Playing by the local pond catching tadpoles, frogs, fish, etc. Playing in the fields catching snakes and bugs while eating raspberries and strawberries. Playing in the woods and streams making dams. Riding our bikes _everywhere_. In the winter we were always outside sledding and having snowball fights. etc. etc. etc.

Why are we expecting kids to sit in one spot for hours on end staring at a teacher/board and expecting them to stay calm and fully attentive? I know school is necessary but that's 7 hours of basically sitting there and then the kids come home and are basically expected to just sit there and do homework and then just sit there and eat dinner. Are we just setting ourselves up for failure? I mean, are we just asking kids to _not_ be kids and then drugging them up to make them comply?

I'm only 30, and frankly I knew of _no_ kids with ADD, let alone ADHD. There were merely kids that liked to sit and read or play quietly and then there were the kids who wanted to play football all the time or otherwise be active.

Seriously, what happened to kids expending their energy? Why do parents/administration expect kids to be these calm and attentive beings who just sit there and want to be talked to all day?

Maybe there are some children who have an imbalance somewhere. It happens. But overall, when a kid wants to run around and play, guess what, they are KIDS! It's part of being a kid. Throwing drugs down their throat to turn them into the kid that is more convenient and calm isn't the answer unless there is a _real_ (read: rare) issue.

Re:Medical corruption

[asills]

I've had the pleasure of being an outside observer to the therapy and psychiatry world, and you are exactly right from what I've seen and heard. Problem children are problems, parents don't know what to do with them, and they'll go doctor to doctor until they find a solution. Even if that means putting a rowdy child (who just has serious authority issues) on antipsychotics. This problem goes way beyond just ADHD diagnoses; this is just one item in a sea of psychiatry doing what it does best: labelling and providing medication.