Comments on: DOCTOR IS IN: ADHD over-diagnosed?

By: Krystal

Krystal — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 02:57:37 +0000

I was diagnosed with ADD as a child and now as an adult I can honestly say I am not ADD and I never was. I didn’t pay attention because I didn’t want to, I got out my seat at school because I didn’t want to sit there. I am in college now I am a straight A student I am in my 3rd year of college and I have always made the Dean’s List. I have 3 children and I have watched so many around me put their kids on medication but then I watch how they are raising them. All these children I know on medication rarely go outside, they are told to play in their rooms so they get no opportunity to burn off any energy. Children need at least thirty minutes of exercise each day. I think if more parents would get their children off the video games and television and make them get more exercise the children would be more likely to settle down when it is time to settle down.

By: sheri

sheri — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 04:03:46 +0000

Dan, saying it is a mathematical certainty ADHD is over-diagnosed, presents an intriguing point of view. The idea is that ADHD is correctly diagnosed based on symptoms 2 standard deviations or more from the mean, he plops the population onto a bell curve, and comes with a likely ADHD population about half the reported number.

Dan assumes, however, that there is ONE variable going on here when in fact ADHD is assessed based on a constellation of symptoms. Dan, this is not a normal distribution, it is a multivariate distribution and the math just got a lot harder. Also, Dan assumes he knows what the Standard deviation is. Not so, plenty of curves represent normal distributions but can be steeper or flatter than the m = 0, var = 1 we are so fond of.

Dan’s notion isn’t altogether far-fetched, though, and in fact his argument has been the subject of discussion in published journal articles.

One thing about it–using Dan’s argument we can eliminate the reported epidemic of obesity, simply by redefining obesity according to current norms. If everyone is fatter and the obese are simply the tail of the bell curve, we re-define the point at which one is considered fat.

I’m also wondering about the other tail of the bell curve. Dan’s argument is like using an IQ bell curve for defining mental retardation. On tail we have the cognitively impaired, on the other we have the super-brains. If ADHD is one tail of a curve representing, oh, attention and organization, what’s the other end like? Martha Stewart?

By: Parent of 5

Parent of 5 — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 00:44:14 +0000

It’s really simple folks. ADHD drugs are PEDs. Think about it. I wish my 5 kids could have taken these while in school. They would have aced a lot more tests! lol But, I believe a child should not be drugged no matter what age. It helps you CONCENTRATE better, which someone diagnosed with ADHD can’t handle. Therefore, bottom line, it is an unfair advantage to children who do listen and are not disruptive and can pay attention. Trust me, I’m a doctor. To the majority of parents who’s children fall in the category of possible ADHD candidates they are relieved and personally “excited” when they see this drug can calm down their unruly children. Teachers too. Deep down inside you/they want this drug for your child. As Bill said, Parents who won’t and teachers who can’t. It is the sole reason it is diagnosed so much in today’s “modern” world. An easy cop-out and solution to parents of hyper and non-attentive kids.

By: Parent of 5

Parent of 5 — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 00:13:16 +0000

I agree 100 percent with Bill.

By: Magenta

Magenta — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 13:27:08 +0000

No, not overdiagnosed, IMO, since I know 2 people who went through school and life with undiagnosed ADHD – my father and myself. 42 years apart in age, and I experienced all the problems he did, including being labeled “bad,” “lazy,” “spoiled,” “dumb,” or “in need of a good strapping.” Just knowing that it’s not a rare or isolated condition has done wonders in helping to overcome it. My dad was brilliant and a lover of life, but he dropped out of school in 11th grade and was never able to make much money as a result. He always just assumed he was a no-good loser. No one to blame here; there’s just a huge gap in how these things are understood. But we should NEVER write off a kid’s chances just because s/he can’t fit into an educational mold.

By: A Mcneill

A Mcneill — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 16:08:49 +0000

I have three children with adhd and 2 of which have been on medication. My youngest was diagnosed at an early age my 16 year was diagnosed later on and it was too late to keep it and try to get it under control because she refuses to take the medication on a regular and choose other illegal medication to try and calm her self and try to focus and stay on one task. I fell that if the doctors would have listen to me early on she would not be so far gone at such an early age.

By: Todd

Todd — Tue, 18 May 2010 00:27:31 +0000

I think it is over-diagnosed. However, some of the people commenting seem to not understand the difference between over-diagnosed and just diagnosed. I’m not a doctor, but I’m sure there are some children that have ADHD. Some children do suffer from the symptoms of ADHD, but not all children who want to run and play instead of listen to authority should be diagnosed with ADHD. When this becomes the case (as through the 90s and 2000s it has), it is “over-diagnosis”. I just thought this should be made clear to some people. Also, the original article was to talk about over-diagnosis, and not to talk about whether it is an actual disorder. So please, if you could leave those comments to a different article.

By: Polytron/E2M Sucks

Polytron/E2M Sucks — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 18:48:33 +0000

“why not just give the kids some beer to calm them down? it helps me to think clearer. it should help them.”

I do that to, a little bit, if I need a nap and can’t go to sleep.

In Europe I’m sure it’s not a big deal but over here someone would probably have the SWAT team at your door for “child abuse” or “drugging your child.”

By: NotSureOfAnything

NotSureOfAnything — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:53:44 +0000

I have a little girl who is 9 years old that was diagnosed with ADHD in 2nd grade. We knew there was something not quite the same with her in pre-school but didn’t quite know what to do. The teacher was not helpful. She couldn’t sit still and had a hard time concentrating. She went onto Kindergarten and the teacher said that she was having problems concentrating and sitting like the other kids. Nothing was said other than that. Again the teacher was not helpful. She went onto 1st and she had a teacher that should have retired years ago and just wanted to put her on drugs. My husband and I were against it so we fought the school system and told them they have to help her. That we were not backing down or going away. 1st grade teacher wouldn’t help. We didn’t know what to do. We want to help my child but didn’t know how. So we enrolled her in Sylvan. They helped her to concentrate on her reading since it was one on one, gave us tips on what to do as parents to help, and it started getting better. The issue was we couldn’t afford to continue Sylvan so we had to stop that since the economy went down hill. She moved onto 2nd grade and got a great teacher. We started working with the teacher to help our daughter. At this point, my daughter is a grade behind on reading. She would come home at night and start crying because she knew she was different then the other kids. She couldn’t sit still and concentrate like the other kids. She kept telling us that she was dumb and she couldn’t control her words. The teacher gave us books to read that talk about diet and drugs. She said there are many parents that don’t want to drug their children and find other ways to help. So we started sitting with my daughter at night doing homework with a different view on things, some nights she can do the homework on her own with no issues, then there are other nights that we spend 3 hours doing one paper. Its so fustrating to see her desire to learn, to sit still, and concentrate but can’t. Some nights we just sit and cry together. We have tried flash cards, objects to assist with learning, and mind mapping to help her. The one thing that seems to help us is using the senses to help her learn. I read quite a few books about the brain and learning. Each child whether they have ADD, ADHD or no issues learn differently and use three major senses; Audio, Visual, and Touch/Feel. No one child is part of a cookie cutter mold. You just need to find the way your child learns. My daughter for reading; is Touch/Feel, Audio, and Visual. The first two get you 90% of the way to learning and the last one just seals it. For math on the other hand; she is Touch/Feel, Visual, and then Audio. So when she was learning the states, we had her trace the state, say it, and then read it. She aced the test each and every time as she was learning them. She was soo happy that she couldn’t wait to tell us how well she did. We give 5 minute breaks between homework assignments so she can move around. We allow her to stand or sit when doing her homework. And we always make sure she has a snack before the homework starts. She is on a high protein and fat diet and still hasn’t really gained any weight because of her high activity. But after saying all that, we don’t know what child will show up for class the next day or for homework at night. We have to prepare ourselves to accept both. Now she is still a good year behind in class. We will be visiting the doctor again this year to see what else we can do and to re-evaluate if we should give her drugs. So far we haven’t. But either way she may have to stay back a year to catch up on her learning. Not sure yet. We live each day a day at a time. Sometimes hour by hour. But we love her and will not give up trying to help her.

By: James

James — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:20:13 +0000

I have 2 sons, 1 doctors debated for 4 years on ‘what his problems’ were. They finally decided ADD/adhd and started pumping drugs to him. He spent more time asleep than awake- Now, they have added autism to the mix and he takes 5 different prescriptions. My 2nd son, Marcus Institute insisted that ‘male anatomy equals ritalin’[I did paraphrase]. I am convinced that the ADHD claim is bulls==t and the medical community has not convinced me otherwise, though my wife and folks are eager to buy anything said ‘by a doctor’. My 2nd son is not on any drugs and is working on starting his on business, my first son, still does not speak, and for all intents and purposes should be labeled a vegetable.