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
Influential patient-advocacy groups insist that only now is the true prevalence of A.D.H.D. finally being recognized after being drastically underestimated....But Schwarz makes a convincing case that the radical expansion and promotion of A.D.H.D. has resulted in the label being applied in ways that are far beyond the needs of a historically underserved community, while nonpharmaceutical methods of treatment like cognitive behavioral therapy (which have been proved to complement the effectiveness of medication) are overlooked.
and
...he depicts pediatricians’ waiting rooms snowed under with pharma-funded brochures, parents clamoring to turn their allegedly underachieving children into academic superstars and kids showered with pills whose long-term effects on the developing brain (particularly when taken in combination) are still barely understood.
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.
