In regards to the overdiagnosis issue, it isn't actually clear that this is problem. It seems that most of the evidence is anecdotal. Studies aren't showing an increase in prescriptions or diagnoses or really any indicators of it. It's just that it's still a relatively new diagnosis, but they think the current numbers are now about accurate.. 3-7% of the population, both children and adults.

Kind of like the autism issue. It's not that autism started showing up *after* mercury vaccines. It wasn't named before that. Society just dealt with "simple" people in different ways. As we refine that diagnosis, different populations of children will fall into the same category. So, more kids diagnosed "autistic" doesn't mean that there are more kids with problems.

blah, sorry, I just did some research on this last semester, though probably not enough yet

PIKA2001 that made me lol

I'm basing that statement on my experience working on child/adolescent psych units for 13 years. There were many times that we would be discussing the treatment plan of a child who was hyperactive and impulsive and the psychiatrist would immediately want to put the kid on Ritalin. The support staff didn't always agree because those symptoms can be indicative of anxiety as well and we wanted to be sure it was truly ADHD through testing, etc. The doctors had the attitude "We try him/her on Ritalin and if it gets better, then it was ADHD". I saw it thousands of times, even if the only time the child became hyper and impulsive was an hour before family therapy and was fine the rest of the day.

I definately understand that from a psych unit perspective. I'm looking at it from a "kid goes to doctor and/or therapist" perspective. That was the info I found while doing a bit of research. Were those put down with an official diagnosis? (Wondering if that would skew the statistics)

I interned on an adult psych unit and I can't say I ended up with a lot of respect for the MDs there sadly :(

It's not overdiagnosed generally, in fact it's felt that it's underdiagnosed, but in some areas it is grossly overdiagnosed which is where the hysteria about every kid in america needs ritalin comes in.
Your three year old can't pay attention? It's called being three. Your seven year old is sitting in a classroom with a group of other students, assigned to do work and wanders off because something else is more interesting? ADHD. (ME!)
Some people just don't want to deal with their kids being kids...

As an OT, I often argued with the psychiatrists about some of the kids. With the kinds of tasks I did in my groups, it was pretty clear who couldn't focus ever and who had bouts of anxiety or boredom.

And yes, I was working with a unique population of kids who had a wide variety of complex behaviors that needed to be looked at. It just seemed crazy to me to diagnose by whether the meds worked or not. There is testing available and full time observation by staff in those situations.

And, as with most things, there are varying degrees. Some have only mild ADD and can learn to compensate. My ex-husband is definitely ADHD but did learn to compensate and got his MBA without meds. I sometimes wonder how he manages to be an accountant, but he did finally get a diagnosis and went on meds briefly. Because he was so adjusted to functioning in his own way, the meds threw him off kilter and he was a mess. He thought there was something really odd about focusing on one task for a couple hours at a time and it made him really uncomfortable.

addiction is also a factor

adderal is essentially the same thing as dexadrine

So, these were all legal drugs?

Then what went wrong wrong?

They just have a better Lobbyiest!

Just check the days ADs. This is good for you except it can cause side effects!:rolleyes:

Tom, without these drugs, a lot of kids wouldn't have a chance academically -- especially in the early years of school which are extremely important. Others are simply unable to develop effective coping strategies to overcome their ADHD-ness. Again, the drugs can help there.

What's important (and what everyone has been saying here) is that we have to weigh the risks and the benefits, and if we do decide to medicate, we have to be conscious of the risks and side effects of the medication we're taking or giving to our kids.

A lot of people with ADHD without meds are unable to be productive, or worse, they self-medicate with more harmful addictive substances. Of course, no two cases/people are alike, so as I said, some of us don't need the meds while others do.

We just discussed stimulants in my drug class and interestingly Methamphetamine was also just announced to have negative heart effects. Basically take a stim. overwork your heart.

Also Ritalin is crazy weak compared to Dexadrine. That's all, not much else to add.

/oh and I can now remember how to spell norepinephrine again.