When I was younger, many of my teachers noticed I could never focus in class or even sit down for more than ten minutes to work. This focusing problem was easy to get away with in elementary school, but when I got to middle school, it was a disaster. I was failing my classes and the school was even thinking about holding me back a year before going into seventh grade. My dance teacher was also concerned that I seemed to be day dreaming a lot in class and once she told this to my mom, my mom decided it was time to take me to see someone. The doctor diagnosed me as ADD and prescribed me medication, which changed my life. My grades changed drastically and I no longer felt frustrated in school or dance. It has been 7 years since I have been diagnosed but I still can’t help but wonder if the disorder is fictitious now that more and more people seem to be getting diagnosed so easily.
According to Allen Frances, “Attention Deficit Disorder is now two to three more times more common than it was just twenty years ago”. Why is this happening? Well it could be due to many different things. One sad, but terrifyingly realistic reason is that drug companies have aggressively advertised their medications as a cure for ADD/ADHD. They do this while also urging doctors to diagnose more people and persuading parents to get their children checked out. Also, scientists have created better technology, which makes it easier to diagnose people through tests. However, technology could be hindering us, as it makes it harder for us to focus on one thing at a time. In a recent survey, many teachers say that children are constantly distracted by technology and find it impossible to engage them in their school work. Since technology is constantly entertaining us, it is hard for us to focus on the not-so-entertaining things reality oftentimes has to offer us.
Recently, a dutch psychologist, Laura Batstra, has developed an effective medical approach to diagnosing children with ADD. She believes that before diagnosing a child with ADD, psychologists, doctors and scientists must observe the child’s environment to see if there are any third variables taking place. They must also observe the way teachers and parents are interacting with this child. And finally, they must then try to modify the child’s behavior through counseling or therapy. Batstra and many others believe that this is the most effective way to prevent children from getting over-diagnosed with ADD.
Unfortunately, there have been no proven reasons as to why ADD is being diagnosed so much more today than ever before. Although I am glad that I was diagnosed, I will always still wonder about this. I am excited for what the future holds, as I am sure there will be an explanation one day.
Kristen Robertson
Resources:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/allen-frances/attention-deficit-disorder_b_1206381.html
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/dsm5-in-distress/201105/attention-deficit-disorder-epidemic-real-or-fad
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/01/education/technology-is-changing-how-students-learn-teachers-say.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Laura_Batstra
This is such a great topic to blog about! I have a cousin who they thought had ADD but my aunt decided to go and get a second opinion. What they discovered was that she did not have ADD but she was advanced for her age and her lack of attention span was the result of boredom in the classroom. Had my aunt not gotten the second opinion, my cousin would have been put on medications that she did not need at all. I feel like this is definitely an important topic to discuss because nowadays it does seem like more and more people are being treated for ADD and ADHD without further looking into the situation at hand.
I think this is a great thing to talk about! As I entered high school, I had a larger class than I did in middle school but it seemed as if half of the students had extended time for taking tests (so I don’t think they were just taking the medications arbitrarily). Maybe if we could look at the testing procedure then and now and see what the difference is between the generation we could find the answer to the increased diagnosis. Perhaps the test was not as thorough as it is today, or maybe doctors did not know as much about the disease. Here’s an online test that parents can take to diagnosis their kids: http://psychcentral.com/quizzes/child-adhd-quiz.htm. Maybe it’s the easy access of knowledge and prominence of ADD and ADHD that make other people interested to pursue it. Now that I think about it, there could be a lot of reasons why it’s now more common!
This is a great topic to blog about because it really is so relevant to our generation. I do think that ADD and ADHD exist, because for some people it is just impossible to focus. But people are taking advantage of the disorder and saying they have it when they probably don’t, and this needs to change. There needs to be stricter guidelines for someone who has ADD/ADHD, or maybe medicine should only be given to those only with a severe form. I thought what you said about looking at different variables would be a great way to sort out those who need medicine and those who do not. It really concerns me because Adderall and other attention-focusing drugs have not been around long enough for us to know the effects of what they could cause long-term. For example, this summer I worked at a camp and a six–year-old was already on this medicine. It made me wonder what could happen if the medicine has bad long-term effects, especially because he was so young. Something needs to be done about this issue, but it really doesn’t seem like it has the attention it deserves.
The rise in ADD/ADHD diagnosis is quite an interesting topic. I often wonder how many children needlessly take medication for a disorder they don’t have. I think it is imperative that doctors spend more time with their patients before prescribing behavioral medication. This is an instance where environmental observation would be more effective than simply talking about the issue. If a child is asked, “do you have trouble focusing” and knows that their parents think they do, they might be more inclined to say yes. I love the idea of implementing a system to test for ADD/ADHD, rather than going on a case by case basis.
Hi Kristen,I think you do make a point here and I agree with you that feeling like more and more people are diagnosed with ADD. I read an article saying that ADD and ADHD meditations can get people high and I was wondering if that can cause more people try to act like ADD patient to get the meditation. Just a thought~And here is a video about the meditation for ADD.