ADHD, when diagnosed properly by a physician who believes in it, is treated when poor concentration or hyperactive behavior has an impact on a child's grades....
not just because a child is disruptive in class or too much to handle for teachers or parents.
You'd be surprised, however, how many parents and teachers think that a child requires treatment simply because the kid is too much to handle. It's parents and teachers who bring this idea up. It's a good doctor who only treats when the behavior negatively impacts a child's performance in school----because the doctor, who is supposed to strive for the best for the child, is stuck between watching a kid fail or giving a questionable medication that can help the child succeed in school.
Yes, there are shady doctors who wrongly treat children who don't really need it. Guess what---whatever job you the reader have, there are crappy people who do that job pretty shittily, as well.
Many pediatricians, myself included, do in fact believe that ADHD is extremely overdiagnosed and overtreated. I believe that there are MASSIVE problems both with parenting in the US today and with the ability/environment of some individual teachers, both of which having a major impact on how ADHD is surveyed and screened. I believe that environment has a huge impact on the development of whatever physiology there may be in ADHD (ex.: a recent study showed that children under 3yrs who watch more than a given amount of television are much more likely to later be diagnosed with ADHD. is it the impact of rapidly-changing information thrust at a developing mind, is it the social situation that leads to a parent thumping their 2yo in front of a tv for several hours a day?). I believe that ADHD is perhaps more of a social problem than it is a medical one. However...Given that I cannot radically change a child's parents or their parenting styles, nor can I give a teacher patience or better teaching skills; and I sit and watch a child fail due to influences that are not his or her fault.... What am I to do?
It is a complex pandora's box of reasoning and emotion, and not nearly as black-and-white as people outside of the position of the physician can make it seem.
But why ask a person who's actually
in that situation?
Let's instead make incriminating blanket statements.
What was the topic of this thread?