ADHD And Misdiagnosis

268 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Overdiagnosis of adhd essay

Although many Americans side with medical treatment when dealing with ADHD, the FDA advisory committee stated that "we rejected the notion that the administration of potent sympathomimetic agents to millions of Americans is appropriate. We sought to emphasize more selective and restricted use, while increasing awareness of potential hazards" The FDA believes that there is a high number of ADHD in Americans and that millions of children should not be given stimulant drugs as treatment. The fact that the FDA believes this could largely be due to the misdiagnosis of the disorder. Misdiagnosis occurs due to a number of reasons such as the misconception of thinking ADHD is a disease and not a disorder and because diagnosis ADHD is extremely hard.

Show More
Related

  • Over Diagnosis And Over Prescriptions Of Adhd

    1834 Words  | 4 Pages

    sure what causes ADHD, although some suggest that genes play a dominant role. Most likely

    Read More

  • ADHD a Rhetorical Essay

    837 Words  | 2 Pages

    ADHD is an exceedingly real diagnosis for many children in the United States. Are we over diagnosing our little ones just to keep from dealing with unpleasant behavior? “ On average 1 of every 10 to 15 children in the United States has been diagnosed with the disorder, and 1 in every 20 to 25 uses a stimulant medication” (Mayes, Bagwell, & Erkulwater, 2008). Several believe that virtually all ADHD diagnoses are retractable with appropriate discipline of children instead of being so hasty in medicating them. The material found on the CDC website describes facts about ADHD, it clarifies the signs, symptoms, types, causes, diagnosis tools, and treatment forms of ADHD. What the article neglects to go into is the reality that there is a considerable amount of controversy surrounding ADHD. The CDCs usage of ethos, pathos, and logos and by what method the website manipulates them to affect the reader will be the basis of this paper.

    Read More

  • Adderall Side Effects

    885 Words  | 2 Pages

    "Communication about an Ongoing Safety Review of Stimulant Medications Used in Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)." U S Food and Drug Administration Home Page. 20 Apr. 2011. Web. 28 Aug. 2011. .

    Read More

  • ADHD

    721 Words  | 2 Pages

    Nine percent of children between the ages of five and seventeen are diagnosed with ADHD in the United States (CDC). About 3 million kids that are on ADHD medication are prescribed Ritalin or Adderall. Most people and psychologists see ADHD as a true disorder, then theres those who think the complete opposite. Are children being overmedicated and over-diagnosed for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder? Some medications are not always the answer.

    Read More

  • The Medication Of ADHD

    701 Words  | 2 Pages

    There has been an increase in the Misuse and Abuse of prescription drugs to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). the number of children on medication for ADHD has grown from 600,000 in 1990 to 3.5 million in 2013 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But although there is an over-medication of ADHD drugs, there is actually and under-medication since not all the right people are getting medicated. Many individuals lack insurance or are insured with health plans that do not cover the outpatient prescription drugs they need and cannot afford.10 Therefore, Individuals covered by various health plans and programs, and those who have no prescription drug coverage, pay significantly different prices for the same medications. As the demand for ADHD drugs grows, higher prescribing rates and increasing drug prices result, which creates problems for these number of Americans who cannot afford the treatment they require.

    Read More

  • The Overdiagnosis of ADD/ADHD

    905 Words  | 2 Pages

    Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is the most widely diagnosed “mental-illness” in children in the United States today, and approximately 99% of children diagnosed are prescribed daily doses of methylphenidate in order to control undesirable behaviors. (Stolzer)

    Read More

  • overmedicating children

    848 Words  | 2 Pages

    Most medications used for the disorders mentioned earlier were supposed to be used for adults with schizophrenia (source #2). Antipsychotics tend to be the most powerful and toxic drugs (source #2) and people give them to their children. These medications hardly seem fit for an adult, let alone the young people in America. It looks as though parents want to drug their children until they are who the parents want to see. There is a 53% increase in people ages 4 – 17 being diagnosed with ADHD (source #4) in the past decade alone. This makes it look like there is not a rise in children with ADHD, but a rise in people looking for any excuse to put kids on drugs in order to calm their child. There is no way it is possible that there is 1 in 5 high school boys who have ADHD, that number is unfathomable (source #4). Medicines used to solve these problems are often very addictive and can cause withdrawals, showing that this is simply not a normal cure but an addictive drug.

    Read More

  • ADHD Stimulant Medication Abuse and Misuse Among U.S. Teens

    1273 Words  | 3 Pages

    U.S. Heath News reported (2013) that 6.4 million children ages 4 to 17 have been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Since 2007, the utilization of stimulant medication to treat ADHD has jumped 11% nationally as a whole. It was also reported that the U.S. spends more on prescription drugs to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder than it does for all but six other medical conditions (U.S. News Health, 2013). The number of ADHD diagnosed teens prescribed stimulants, such as Ritalin and Adderall, will be increasing over time as the new guidelines set by the American Academy of Pediatrics now recognizes physicians prescribing ADHD stimulant medications to childre...

    Read More

  • The Misdiagnosis of Children with ADHD

    1510 Words  | 4 Pages

    Challenges due to poverty could be addressed by providing financial assistance, food, and clothing. Time spent with parents is essential when dealing with children who have behavioral issues because parents or guardians may not have the funds or time to spend with their children due to other obligations needed to support the family. Parents and guardians play a major role in helping children grow and develop to their fullest potential. As children grow, they depend on their parents or guardians for basic needs and support such as food, shelter, education, protection, and care. During their life difficulties and times of crisis, they depend on family for guidance. Mental disorders in childhood and adolescence can be chronic, require proper attention, help, and support from caregivers and teachers as well. Parents and guardians living with children with mental illness disorders have additional responsibilities and roles to care for them as they do for healthy children. The best way to help those families are to have them participate in their own income generating activities such as respite services or programs accepted by Medicaid where they receive counseling from social workers or other healthcare professional. Pelham et al. (2007) found that using a cost of illness (COI) framework examines the economic impact of ADHD in childhood and adolescences and identified studies; therefore, most conducted on existing databases by using diagnostic and medical procedure codes focused on health care costs. The costs were examined for ADHD treatment and other health care costs, education, parental work loss, and juvenile justice. According to Pelham et al. (2007), this incomplete evidence base estimated that annu...

    Read More

  • The Overdiagnosis of ADHD in Children

    1421 Words  | 3 Pages

    As a college student, the amount of students on powerful meds for ADHD and ADD is shocking. It is a topic seen in every classroom and heard in many dialogues. Conversations can be overheard frequently about how easy meds are to get and how effortless it is to receive a diagnosis. However, while I know that a vast number of students are taking prescription drugs for ADHD, I don’t think that I ever realized the full extent to which this disorder was effecting America’s youth. It wasn’t until I spent my time volunteering as a paraprofessional in a fourth grade classroom that I felt I truly understood the weight that the number of ADHD diagnosis’s were having on our nation’s children. The supervising teacher I was working with told me that in her classroom of 22 children, six of them were on some sort of prescription medication for ADHD, and many parents that I spoke to tended to blow off the risk factors involved, remarking that the drugs improved their school performance. I was shocked at this figure, especially because after working with the children, even on the days that they forgot to take their medicine, I found that by using different methods of instruction, many of the children didn’t seem to have much less trouble focusing than the children who did not have ADHD. So when we were assigned this paper, I set out to disprove the myth that children who act out in school have must ADHD and need to be put on prescription drugs in order to do well in school.

    Read More

  • Overview of ADHD

    1075 Words  | 3 Pages

    Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder, otherwise known as ADHD, is the most common psychiatric condition effecting 9.5% of school-aged children in the United States (intuniv, 2013). If the disorder goes untreated, it will cause more long-term side effects and difficulties for the individual as an adult. Adults who have this condition face several adversities in every day life, such as impulsive behavior, low self-esteem and poor work performance. People are not aware of the complications that come with ADHD in adults. Not knowing the symptoms of the disease can cause people to not be sympathetic when they are interacting with someone with disorder.

    Read More

  • Giving Children ADHD Medication

    1641 Words  | 4 Pages

    Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a psychiatric disorder that causes children to have problems with paying attention, trouble with following instructions, have impulsive behaviors and become easily distracted. Medications, such as Adderall and Ritalin, are used to treat the symptoms of this disorder by helping the patient to focus and pay attention while also curbing their impulsive behavior and hyperactivity. Side effects of these medications are, but not limited to, anxiety, addiction and in some cases psychosis. Proponents of giving ADHD medication to children argue that ADHD is a real disorder in children and the medication does improve the symptoms of the disorder by a large margin as well as being cost effective. Also, not only are the parents happy with the outcome of their children taking the prescribed medication but so are the children themselves. Proponents also argue that by not letting parents of the children, young adults and adults choose to take these prescriptions when diagnosed with ADHD that the medical and psychiatric communities would be in violation of the principle of autonomy. Justice as well would be violated since most of the burden of dealing with all the symptoms caused by this disorder would fall onto those with ADHD and partly on their families. Opponents of giving ADHD medication to children point out that it is not only going to children with ADHD but also being prescribed to those not diagnosed with the disorder as well as the pills being given or sold to other children and young adults. They also claim that the full side effects of ADHD medication are still not known and could have harmful long- lasting side effects on the children taking the medications. In this case, the princip...

    Read More

  • ADHD Diagnosis and Treatment

    1236 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to Dr. Robert Epstein, Medco’s chief medical officer, seventeen percent of total drug cost spending last year was for behavior medicines; compared with sixteen percent for both asthma and antibiotics, eleven percent for skin disorders and six percent for allergy medicines. There was also a 369% increase in spending on ADHD drugs for kids under the age of five. A lot of children have been diagnosed with ADHD, and many of their parents have opted to give them behavioral drugs. Some parents give the drugs because they are not aware of the long term effects or the psychological dependency, and lastly because they are not aware of the alternatives. As parents we have to be more cognizant of what these disorders are and how they affect the child. Drugs are not always the only solution.

    Read More

  • Increase in the Number of ADHD Diagnoses

    611 Words  | 2 Pages

    Johnny will not pay attention in class. He is constantly interrupting the teacher when she

    Read More

  • Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

    773 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...994 to four percent from 2005 to 2008” (Web, CDC). These statistical increases in childhood ADHD scream for reform. A new, more invasive, medical intervention should be implemented across the entire country to stop the chemical overmedicating of young children. In conclusion, personally, the lack of attentive parenting and the decline in parents’ involvement and interest in their children, contributes greatly to overmedicating children.

    Read More

More about ADHD And Misdiagnosis

Open Document