What do we Know about ADD and ADHD?

ADHD stands for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, a chronic condition characterized by attention difficulty, hyperactivity, and signs of impulsiveness. ADD is an outdated term called Attention Deficit Disorder, it used to refer to people who could not focus but was not hyperactive (Legg, 2017). This controversial topic had increased public concern on overmedicated children at very young age regard to ADD and ADHD.

The overmedication will be analyzing the misdiagnosis of ADHD, the misunderstanding of the natural development of a child and the unnecessary medication of some children.

Children are over-medicated because there is usually over-diagnosis of ADHD by irresponsible experts and psychologists. We cannot determine the number of normalcies among children, and every child behaves differently.

Therefore, there is no guaranteed of telling whether children have ADHD and ADD or merely abnormal behaviors. Misdiagnosed by unprofessional child psychiatrists instead of other causes of attention deficit disorder like the unhealthy environment or bad parenting. The number of over-medicated children is a big concern because the National Center for Health Statistics reports that in 2011- 2012, around 7.5 percent of U.S children under age of 18 were taking medication for emotion disorder or behavioral difficulties (Insel, 2014).

Another report from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that about 11 percent of children in the range of 4 and 17 years old had received the definite diagnosis of ADHD and related to ADHD drugs’ usage; there is an estimation of children who are talking antidepressants took 1.3 percent (Insel, 2014). These reports are clearly showing that children with hyperactivity and emotional problem are over medicated in their young age.

Taking many pills at their developmental age might result in reducing the development process. Therefore, misuse of medication from parental diagnosis is surprisingly a more significant concern. Children are taking more medication than they need for minor symptom because their condition could be misdiagnosed medications recommended for minor illnesses. Giving kids on various drugs could put them in danger for drug reaction and side effects.

According to CNN Health, there is a potential for children abuse to happen and parents or guardians intentionally medicating their kids to control their behavior (Park, 2011). Thus, children can be overmedicated or misused drug from exaggerating the symptom. On the other hand, according to the report from U.S. National Institute of Mental Health, during last year they did not find any record of overuse and misuse of medications among those who had a behavior or mental disorder (Steven, 2012).

Health Day reporter Steven Reinberg said that there were too many reports of U.S. teens with ADHD and other mental disorders prescribed psychiatric drugs, but “in fact only 14 percent of teenagers receive them (Steven, 2012). There are also many children with disorders who are not on medication or undiagnosed, and even untreated because the parents do not want their kids on medications.

However, even with these reports, there is still a higher number of over-medicated children result from experience with uneducated parent and unprofessional psychologists. Not only are psychiatrists overdiagnoses, but they are also prescribing medications that have high risks of causing behavioral changes and developmental disruption of a child. Children should carefully diagnose and prescribe medication for ADHD and ADD before medicated them.

To conclude, there are many ways to prove that children are over-medicated regarding ADD or ADHD. Over-medicated can happen through the overdiagnosis of ADHD, the misunderstanding of the natural development of a child and the unnecessary medication of some children.

All parents need to present with a choice and knowledge of the risks and benefits of medication that can affect their children. Furthermore, having more treatment options will help normalize ADHD children without medication. Understanding the correct way to medicate children or young adults are very important, and it is still a crucial problem that not everyone can solve.

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