Blog #4 ADHD
The “DSM” is a vital tool used among most physicians in the United States for diagnosing people with mental health disorders and complications. Today’s focus is on ADD and ADHD. What are these disorders? According to Katherine Harmon, ADHD stand for “Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder” (Harmon). ADD is a slightly different form of ADHD, where it primarily affects a person’s ability to learn. What is particularly interesting about both of these illnesses is that there have been a rising number of people being diagnosed with ADD or ADHD.
Children are the one specific group that is most often diagnosed with ADD and ADHD. Some argue that there is nothing wrong with our children they are simply being children. I would have to agree; when you are a kid you naturally have an abundance of energy. Some studies even search to find the real answer to the ADD/ADHD over diagnosis epidemic. According to the “Journal of Health Economics, found that students whose birthdays fell just before their school’s age enrollment cutoff date—and thus were among the youngest in their class—had a substantially higher rate of ADHD diagnoses than students who were born just a day or two later and were the oldest in the grade below” (Harmon). Maturity seems to be one driving force to diagnosing children with ADD or ADHD. This maturity factor is one of main assumptions we have on a person diagnosed with ADD of ADHD. In society it is not positive thing to be diagnosed with anything. However, it is also looked at positively if a person chooses to take medicine to fix their mental disorder.
What really needs to be analyzed is the actual diagnosis located in the DSM. The diagnosis for ADHD includes “Hyperactivity, Fidgeting, Inattention, and Impulsivity. If your child has one or more of these qualities on a regular basis, you may be told that he or she has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder” (Staff). Maybe the problem to this whole matter is how broad the actual definition of ADD and ADHD are. Simple solutions could be found elsewhere than through the use of pharmaceutical drugs. I personally believe exercise can burn all the energy you have. Drugs should not be the go to solution to fixing mental illness. According to “a recent opinion piece in the New York Times by psychology professor L. Alan Sroufe argues at great length that attention-deficit drugs do more harm than good over the long term, a conclusion other professionals in his field dispute” (Willingham). With the health community clearly on the side of the pharmaceutical industry the battle of who is right will continue.
The beneficiaries of diagnosing children with ADD and ADHD are the pharmaceutical industry and parents. Parents earn the satisfaction of controlling their children’s natural abundance of energy. Parents gain the ability to control their uncontrollable children. While the pharmaceutical companies keep their wallets fat with monthly refills. The person who really loses out is the child incorrectly diagnosed.
Work Cited
Harmon, Katherine. "Are some ADHD-labeled kids just young for their grade?." Scientific American. n. page. Web. 25 Mar. 2012. <http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2010/08/17/are-some-adhd-labeled-kids-just-young-for-their-grade/>.
Staff, NPR. "Study: Diet May Help ADHD Kids More Than Drugs." NPR. n. page. Web. 25 Mar. 2012. <http://www.npr.org/2011/03/12/134456594/study-diet-may-help-adhd-kids-more-than-drugs?sc=fb&cc=fp>.
WillingHam, Emily. "Guest Blog Guest Blog [RSS feeds for Guest Blog] Commentary invited by editors of Scientific American Guest Blog HomeAboutContact ADHD: Backlash to the Backlash." Scientific American. n. page. Web. 25 Mar. 2012. <http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2012/02/23/adhd-backlash-to-the-backlash/>.
Word Count: 500
Hi There,
ReplyDeleteDisagree/Do Better
I feel your blog post is fine as a generic overview of ADHD, but I feel as though you could have explored such a heavy topic more in depth; especially since we covered the topic extensively in class. You could have incorporated more of the class readings as well such as "The Emergence of Hyperactive Adults as Abnomral" by Conrad and Potter which talks about the expansion of ADHD. You may have also been able to use "Pharmaceutical Advertising and Messaging About Mental Illness" by Smith to expand on who benefits from this diagnosis. Lastly, you can try to include visuals and videos in your next blog post as it makes it more exciting for the reader.
- Steve Hunter
I just wanted to comment on your blog. I enjoyed reading what you had to say on the topic of ADHD. I wrote on the same topic as I find the topic quite intriguing. I liked that you used Katherine Harmon’s article because she provided us with some great insight as to have ADHD can be misdiagnosed. It is crazy to me that doctors can get away with diagnosing children with such a disease that for thousands of years was just seen as normal child behavior. It is ridiculous, but to find out that people are simply diagnosing children who happen to be in the wrong grade is absolutely insane. I appreciated Harmon’s research for pointing that out. You did great job incorporating that article into your blog.
ReplyDeleteKatherine Harmon, “Are some ADHD-labeled kids just young for their grade?,” Scientific American, 17 August, 2010, http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2010/08/17/are-some-adhd-labeled-kids-just-young-for-their-grade/. 2012
Disagree/Do Better
ReplyDeleteI believe that your blog is an over view of ADHD and just tells us the problems of what ADHD is and it does not really give people and example of what we as a society can do to make ADHD less of a problem. I think that you could have gone on to explain what people could do to make it so ADHD is not a disease that everyone’s child could be diagnosed with. Over all your Explanation on what ADHD was very nicely put together shows what are society believes that drugs can be the cure for all medical problems. I liked how talked about “Katherine Harmons” article on how when children that are diagnosed with ADHD are usually the youngest children in the class. Over all you did a good job on showing what so problems are with ADHD.
Andrew Winther
Harmon, Katherine. "Are some ADHD-labeled kids just young for their grade?." Scientific American. n. page. Web. 25 Mar. 2012. .