
I am interested in why ADHD is overdiagnosed because it leads to other questions such as "is ADHD a real disorder, or is everyone affected by certain levels of it?", "should general physicians be diagnosing ADHD or just specialists?", "should everyone diagnosed be treated with a stimulant?", and "what are doctors looking at when diagnosing patients?"


I, as well as the majority of our society, value a licensed doctor's opinion.  ADHD being diagnosed at the rate that it is, makes me question whether or not doctors are evaluating their patients' symptoms as closely as they should be and if they're just choosing to prescribe patients stimulants because they show a few symptoms of the disorder because it's the easy way out.  Over Prescribing leads to the current issue we have today which is prescription drug abuse.


For a year, I saw an ADHD specialist.  He diagnosed me as bipolar based off of a survey I took as an 11-year-old.  Some of my answers to the survey were exaggerated and some of the questions I didn't even understand.  The specialist tried to prescribe me a bipolar medication without looking at anything else except the survey.  Fortunately, I knew I wasn't bipolar and refused to have the prescription filled.  This experience opened my eyes to the fact that doctors don't always do as much research as they should before writing prescriptions and sometimes you just have to trust yourself.  


I've had first-hand experiences dealing with ADHD diagnoses as well as misdiagnoses.


William Daly tries to explain to his readers why ADHD has become such a common disorder amongst children.  He says the issue of ADHD being overdiagnosed is because of misinterpretation.  ADHD used to be an indicator of a more serious problem such as epilepsy or mental retardation.  Daly describes ADHD as being fairly new to the market as a disorder of its own.  Daly is a graduate of Boston University Medical School and has practiced medicine himself.  Daly understands the pressure that patients/patients' parents put on doctors to prescribe them medicine, especially addictive stimulants.  Daly conducted ADHD observations for 10 years after his practice to understand the controversy behind it.


Michelle Meyer's "ADHD - diagnostic decoy" argues that parents, teachers, and doctors should not request for a child to be medicated for ADHD before conducting further tests.  The problem may not even be ADHD, but without further testing, the child may be unnecessarily prescribed a drug that won't help.  It's obvious Meyer values children's well-being.  She encourages parents not to resort to the pill until all other options have been eliminated.  Meyer explains that even if teachers and/or doctors prescribe children stimulants, it's not always in the child's best interest.  A stimulant may be beneficial to some, but unnecessary for many others.  Michelle Meyer is a Senior U.S. Economist for Merrill Lynch Global Research and was voted one of Forbes' "30 Under 30 in Finance."  She also appears as an expert commentator on CNBC and Bloomberg.


Rachel Ainsworth's "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Excuse or Epidemic?" looks at the struggles of diagnosing ADHD.  There is no actual test to tell if someone has ADHD or not.  There is nothing stating that a patient must have a certain degree of ADHD to be prescribed a stimulant.  It is up to the doctor's discrepancy.  Ainsworth talks about the inconsistency with ADHD diagnoses.  Rachel Ainsworth is a graduate of the University of Louisville's law school.  She interned at Harvard University in the summer of 2013.

"Why is ADHD Overdiagnosed?" is an arguable question because there is an immense amount of controversy behind ADHD as a disorder.  Whether everyone diagnosed with ADHD needs to be medicated is part of the controversy.  It's said that everyone shows some signs of ADHD, but some show more than others.  The question doctors and society asks is "to what extent of ADHD should a patient be prescribed a stimulant?"  Some would say only those with severe cases that hinder them from succeeding.  Others would argue everyone diagnosed with ADHD should be prescribed because even those with mild cases can benefit. All of my sources agree that the overdiagnosis of ADHD is a result of misinterpretation.  Because there is no concrete definition of ADHD and who should and who shouldn't be medicated, doctor's diagnose patients by what their patients claim to be true.  After completing my research, I don't think everyone diagnosed with ADHD has it to the extent of needing medication.  I'm also skeptical of those who appear to have severe cases of ADHD because it may not be ADHD that is affecting them.  It may be something more serious like epilepsy or bipolar condition.  I might need to tweek my research question to something more controversial and argumentative.  I may look at the effects of stimulants and their abusive nature.

 
