by Victor Mikulin

Created on: May 29, 2009

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a very real disorder that when treated with a combination of medication, counseling, behavior modifications, and life-style changes can be accommodated for and even overcome. As there is no quantitative or qualitative laboratory test to either confirm or rule out the condition, the diagnosis is made based upon subjective behavioral interpretation. The gross misuse and abuse of the diagnosis comes in both its subjective criteria and the person who is asserting the diagnosis. Based upon exposure to thousands of children during the course of my lifetime, both personal as well as professional, I have witnessed the misuse and abuse of the diagnosis. Not only does this result in the unnecessary and sometimes potentially dangerous medication of those who are misdiagnosed, but comes with the damage inflicted by the false stigmatization that accompanies it.

The signs and symptoms "normally" associated with ADHD are impulsiveness and inattention, which may or may not have a hyperactive or hyper manic component to it. This criterion is highly subjective and precludes other considerations. There are many in the various scientific communities that would argue that both of these are consistent with age appropriate behavior, and are not an anomaly. Behavior can only be observed and evaluated when you use a contextual perspective. Children's behavior is rarely ever auto-generated. It almost always comes as a response to their environment (home, school, church, etc.). Much of their behavior emulates those examples which they are exposed to. Is it reasonable or even valid to expect calm, patient, reasonable and socially acceptable behavior if the child is exposed to influences that are not?

Ineffective parental coping skills are one of the very cores of misdiagnosing ADHD. With the relative extinction of the extended family, and the rapid dissolution of the nuclear family, more and more young parents have no parenting role models to draw from. Their ability to seek counsel and advice from an older, more experienced family member is rapidly disappearing. When their frustration level with their child reaches saturation, they turn to their physician for help. With the massive amount of media exposure and attention given to the diagnosis, many parents misapply what they are seeing and hearing to their own child, and pressure their physician into prescribing medication for the child. As the doctor cannot be

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