Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional New book about ADHD and drugs

A new book questions the current levels of ADHD diagnosis and posits that there's an over-reliance on drugs to treat it when diagnosis is accurate


and


I've definitely seen the waiting room ads (pens, clipboards, note paper, etc). I even remember sitting in an exam room once and noticing that the foot supports on the exam bed had little covers on them --- advertising some drug or another.

I would argue that not treating people with ADHD is neglect, even cruel. And, that when a person's symptoms can be so severe that they cannot benefit from coping strategies and therapies.

With that said, I have never seen pharmaceutical advertisements in waiting rooms. 👍

My son's diagnosis was made over time by neuropsychologist, psychologist and pediatrician. After diagnosis I was not pushed to pharmaceutical treatment (although that's what I chose).

As an adult, I was first diagnosed based on CBT therapy sessions (therapist is ADHD expert), pysch nurse practitioner in that office made the diagnosis and started medication. I had trouble with the medication and went for a second opinion with a psychiatrist within the same clinic who kinda freaked out that I'd been diagnosed and treated without neuropsychology. So waiting to get in for that testing now.

My experience does not include pushing for diagnoses and pharmaceutical treatment. Medical care providers for both myself and my son have been very clear about non-pharmaceutical treatments, as well as non-ADHD factors which influence cognitive performance.

If you look at the material I quoted, you'll see that it doesn't argue against treating bona fide ADHD. It says that drugs alone aren't the only option and maybe not the best one.

It's good that your diagnosis and treatment regimen seem reliable, but your experience doesn't generalize to everyone else's. My OP was just an informational message to notify people about a new book.

There's some research out there, not at my fingertips at the moment showing that therapy alone and medication alone are both inferior treatments as compared to the therapy + medication combo. Evidence absolutely points to doing both!

I think it's really easy for people who haven't lived w/ this to judge what is best for ADHD or whether it's even a real disorder, whether drugs are helpful or harmful, etc. The second quote shows someone who is making broad judgments and stereotypes. Statements like this really bother me because they paint a picture of parents trying to medicate children who do not actually have a disorder, in order to make them perfect. Maybe that happens in SOME cases but I have a hard time believing that's the norm, or even common. The other day I had a pharmacist, of all people LECTURE me about the stimulant drug I was picking up, and she told me "Don't give this to her everyday unless she actually needs it." I told her that the doc prescribed it EVERY DAY and it's not her place to tell me otherwise. She said "Doctors don't always know what they're doing." Oh, Ok. So the pharmacist knows better how to treat ADHD than the doctor and feels qualified to give advice?

My daughter did therapy and it was quite frankly, a joke and maybe even harmful because the therapist was so poor. It's really hard to get into a good therapist.

Today I sat with my daughter and tried to do math with her and she completely spaced out doing a simple math calculation and got distracted by about 5 different noises doing this simple calculation (which occurred outside the room we were in, through a closed door), then she started crying in frustration and got really worked up and anxious. If I sent her to school unmedicated she would probably be nonfunctional. So I get tired of everyone having an opinion and making broad judgments when they have never personally experienced a child like this. That being said, I appreciate the link, it never hurts to read about any new research that might be out there, as long as it's decent.

oh, blackcat, that resonates with me! Crying in frustration and anxiety! So much that!! My son couldn't even PLAY without medication. He was so miserable! Receptionist at the medical clinic was talking about "those crap meds" meaning Ritalin, whilst at the same time talking stories about her dosing with coffee. Riiiight.... whatever. She doesn't know my son and I both have ADHD and medication (well, mine is discontinued, but at the time I was on it).

The anti-med propaganda is misleading and results in unnecessary suffering of children who would benefit from medication, and lifetimes of paralyzingly shame.

As far as the "long term effects of stimulant medication" -- that's always an eye roll from me. ADHD symptoms were first hypthesized to be medical rather than a "defect of moral control" in 1932. The first stimulant medications were used in children in 1937. Stimulants have been used long enough to assess long term effect.