Posted by ed_uk2010 on March 20, 2014, at 5:59:51
In reply to Re: Doctor: 'ADHD Doesn't Exist, Drugs Do More Harm... » johnLA, posted by SLS on March 15, 2014, at 7:40:54
RE the whole 'Does ADHD exist?' debate. ADHD is a behavioural syndrome, it's not a specific disease entity. Like all psych diagnoses, the validity of grouping certain symptoms together into a disorder or syndrome will always be up for debate. The symptoms are real but the causes are variable and different pts experience different sets of symptoms.
I think the doc makes some good points about the importance of identifying all treatable causes of behavioural problems in children. As he says, Rxing stimulants is not an appropriate knee-jerk reaction to a child presenting with problem behaviour. Medical causes (eg. anaemia, hearing/visual impairment), sleep schedule and diet, psycho-social causes, family and school problems, other psychiatric disorders, and sometimes drug/alcohol use in teenagers all need to be assessed and dealt with before jumping to any conclusions.
The headline is an attention grabber and is highly typical of Daily Mail reporting. I think it's best to ignore it and make the best of the useful points he does make, whatever your opinion of the validity of the ADHD diagnosis. Medication may be useful in some cases but current prescribing rates in certain areas are alarming. It seems very odd to me that so many children apparently need stimulants. I suspect some of them actually do not. Medication is only going to help when prescribed appropriately to the right people, with careful monitoring of effectiveness and side effects, also taking into account the possible long-term effects of potent psychiatric medication on the developing brain. I think this is a particular concern when prescribing to young children on a long-term basis, and is an area which has not been sufficiently researched considering how frequently these drugs are prescribed.
poster:ed_uk2010
thread:1062349
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20140307/msgs/1062813.html