This article about ADHD cites research showing that ~11% of US children have been diagnosed with ADHD.
“Those are astronomical numbers. I’m floored,” said Dr. William Graf, a pediatric neurologist in New Haven and a professor at the Yale School of Medicine. He added, “Mild symptoms are being diagnosed so readily, which goes well beyond the disorder and beyond the zone of ambiguity to pure enhancement of children who are otherwise healthy.”
Experts cited several factors in the rising rates. Some doctors are hastily viewing any complaints of inattention as full-blown A.D.H.D., they said, while pharmaceutical advertising emphasizes how medication can substantially improve a child’s life. Moreover, they said, some parents are pressuring doctors to help with their children’s troublesome behavior and slipping grades.
“There’s a tremendous push where if the kid’s behavior is thought to be quote-unquote abnormal — if they’re not sitting quietly at their desk — that’s pathological, instead of just childhood,” said Dr. Jerome Groopman, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and the author of “How Doctors Think.”
Anecdotal, but this was certainly our experience recently. A school psychologist diagnosed my son with ADHD after talking with us and his teacher for a little while. DS wasn't even at the meeting. IMO, I think a big part of the problem is that the schools' expectations have changed, and their new expectations aren't necessarily compatible with healthy behavior in a lot of kids.
I'm NOT saying ADHD doesn't exist. But I do believe it's being overdiagnosed.
