BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Attention Deficit Disorder New Methods for ADD Diagnosis

What does it take to get a diagnosis of Attention Deficit Disorder? Researchers are finding new ways to make a diagnosis.

It does not take much from what I can see. Anything is linked to an illness now and of course the first thing they say is that you need pills for it. As an adult you can choose to believe a false diagnosis and take medication eventhough you don't need it but to do that to a child is totally evil!

Nancy, thank you for your thoughtful comments. You seem to have strong feelings about this subject.

You are right, sometimes people just jump to a diagnosis without really doing the work that should go into getting a valid diagnosis. Actually Nancy, since there is no one test for ADD at this moment in time, it takes a bit of work (about 6 months worth of testing and visits to the psychologist) to get a diagnosis. ADD isn't really an illness, it is a brain difference. There has been some research showing that the person with ADD has a different brain chemistry, and the brain is actually constructed differently. Currently, there are not usable tests for this.

ADD can look like other problems that people have, so it is important to see a competent medical professional who knows a lot about ADD to get a valid diagnosis. Otherwise, you could get a false diagnosis.

For people who actually have a valid diagnosis, the best treatment is multi-modal. That means medication, therapy, and lifestyle changes all work together to improve the negative symptoms of ADD.

Here is a link to an article about medication:

Medication Myths and ADD

I know that this is a real disease and that people who are affected by it has to take medication. It's just that this disease and almost every diseases are overdiagnosed just to put people on medication. They are also inventing diseases just to get more people to take medication. Being lazy is a disease apparently (learned that when i was on Care2...left on July 21 2012 so that was before that). Just like when you read about people saying that they cry a lot (example Dear Abby on Yahoo) there's going to be lots of people who would say go see a doctor and asks for an antidepressant so it's not just doctors, people have accepted that you need to take a medication for everything.

I have had many doctors and nurses trying to convince me to take antidepressants lately. I say if you are functional (which i am) you don't need any of these pills to live.

If I had a child and a doctor would tell me that he or she has ADD or something else like that I would go see at least another doctor to be sure.

Hi Connie, I am sure you have your 24/7 antennae out and would soon be professionally, accurately and politically correctly commenting upon Nancy's unintentional misdiagnosis, er I mean misusage of the inflammatory term DISEASE in relationship to ADD/ADHD. As you previously stated it is not an illness; when properly diagnosed it is NAD (NOT A DISEASE) but rather is a mental/neurobehavioral disorder as it is linked to differences in brain chemistry compared to the 'normal' population. What do you think about the forthcoming DSM-V's making it easier to assign a diagnosis of ADD/ADHD (like symptomatically occurring before the age of 12 and not 7)and what are the potential ramifications?

Misdiagnosis? I am not a doctor! And why is the word disease inflammatory?

Disease, illness, whatever! I said that I know it is real so what does it matter how I call it? I hope you get like that when you hear about innocent kids wrongly diagnosed with ADD then being fed medication wrongly by their parents.

Nancy and Edward, when our oldest son was a child, we resisted having him take medication for the reasons that many parents resist this. We were worried about side effects, the possibility of our son becoming part of a drug culture, stigma associated with taking drugs at school...the list goes on. When he was in the fifth grade, we saw the effects that not taking drugs to help him focus were having on his class work and social skills. After more than six months of working with various medical professionals, he did have a diagnosis and got the help he needed. It made a huge difference in his life.

Some children are not helped by drugs; others are better when they get the proper dose of the drug that works for them. I agree that drugs should not be given willy-nilly to kids. However, as a professional educator working with kids over many years, I have known far more children who had serious symptoms of ADD, AND a diagnosis, who had to get by with no medications. This was because their parents and/or doctors did not believe in medication. I have known very few kids who did not have ADD and were given medication.

Edward. to address your question-
I think that raising the age to give a diagnosis is a good thing. Some kids have real, but subtle symptoms. The brighter children will be often find ways to cope in the lower grades. However, they find out in high school, especially if they are taking a demanding course load that necessitates the use of executive function, that all of their strategies won't work without balanced brain chemistry.

I imagine there will be hundreds, if not thousands of magazine and newspaper articles that tell the world how wrong-headed that this change will be. That's too bad.

Connie you both did the right thing for your son. You both made sure that this is what he had before giving him medication. Now it seems that parents are just happy to give something to their kids so they stop making noise, moving too much and asking questions. Many parents even go as far as mentioning ADD to doctors until one agrees to prescribe pills for these children, it's sickening.

Nancy, I am certain that what you say does happen. However, it does not happen a lot. The popular press enjoys controversy. They write many, many articles about this. When I said, "I have known very few kids who did not have ADD and were given medication," I really should have said that I have personally NEVER known a kid who did not have ADD who was given medicine for ADD.

Kids with ADD who are genuinely hyperactive do not just make noise, move too much and ask questions. Their level of hyperactivity far exceeds the high end of normal in these areas. Parents that I have known who were seeking medication for children were not doing so to make things more convenient for the parents, they were trying to find relief for their children.

Children who have serious negative symptoms of ADD cannot concentrate to learn in school. This puts them behind their peers educationally. They lack the skills to learn advanced materials. Plus, their peers get irritated when class is disrupted. Truly, the other children get bothered more than teachers. What parents are looking for is relief for their children.

Years ago I was in charge of Cub Scouts from our pack at summer camp. I was so concerned that I would forget to take a child with ADD to get his noon meds. Not to worry! When the medication wore off, this pleasant, active, chatty child, would go completely out of control. He was mortified about his behavior. He realized that he was behaving badly, even though we recognized that he was not trying to be out of control. When his noon medication kicked in, he was back to being a normal kid. I NEVER forgot his medication. It was too painful for him to be without medication. His behavior set him apart from his peers when he didn't have meds.

In some areas of the country, studies have shown that there may be over-diagnosis. This is not true of the area where I live. Here is a research-based article that addresses the question of diagnosis.

Is ADD Over or Under Diagnosed

I do not follow the media because I do not trust them so I never get my informations through them.

When I was talking about kids who make too much noise, move too much and ask many questions I was talking about the many parents who use these excuses to get their kids medication so they have peace and not have their kids in their way, I was not talking about the real symptoms of ADD.

Overmedication and overdiagnosis is a huge problem everywhere on Earth and it's not just with ADD. Everything now is either called an addiction or a disease or an illness or an handicap and of course there's either always a pill for that or it's coming.

If there is no problem of overdiagnosis and overmedication where you live you and the other people living there are very lucky.

I just wish that every parents would do like you and your husband or partner (dont know if youre married) did with your son, we need a permit for almost everything but not for having children and if there's something that should require a permit it should be to have children!

I do not follow the media because I do not trust them so I never get my informations through them.

When I was talking about kids who make too much noise, move too much and ask many questions I was talking about the many parents who use these excuses to get their kids medication so they have peace and not have their kids in their way, I was not talking about the real symptoms of ADD.

Overmedication and overdiagnosis is a huge problem everywhere on Earth and it's not just with ADD. Everything now is either called an addiction or a disease or an illness or an handicap and of course there's either always a pill for that or it's coming.

If there is no problem of overdiagnosis and overmedication where you live you and the other people living there are very lucky.

I just wish that every parents would do like you and your husband or partner (dont know if youre married) did with your son, we need a permit for almost everything but not for having children and if there's something that should require a permit it should be to have children!

Sorry about the double post, the website was taking a long time and I opened a new window to come here to see if it was done already (happened a few times...it looks like it has not been posted but it has) and stupid Windows decided to use this page instead of the other one so I thought it did not worked.

No problem with the double post, Nancy. I've done the same thing before.

Quoting from your post:

"When I was talking about kids who make too much noise, move too much and ask many questions I was talking about the many parents who use these excuses to get their kids medication so they have peace and not have their kids in their way, I was not talking about the real symptoms of ADD."

I understand what you are saying, but I disagree. Stimulant medication does help people with ADD be less hyperactive. It does not work the same way on people who do not have ADD. It makes them more hyper. So getting ADD medication for a kid who does not have ADD is counterproductive.

Also, as I stated before, parents who try to get medication for their children are usually desperate to help their kids get relief from their symptoms.

I am curious about where you get your data about "the many parents who use these excuses to get their kids medication so they have peace and not have their kids in their way." What study did this come from; or is it just your perception? If it is your perception, what do you base it on?

Thanks for the stimulating posts!

I base this on what I see and read. I also base this on how many people (kids and adults and even babies now) that are taking medication, I know that most human beings are screwed (mostly by being ignorant heartless and cruel) but there's no way that that many people need to be on medication. There's also that almost everything now is either called an illness or a disease or an addiction or an handicap. And also the first thing that is said when someone has a problem is take that pill, that's the first reaction most people have when they hear about someone's problem and many doctors are like that too (i had many myself). I also base that while seeing how people parent their kids, most now have kids and just figure that the rest of society will take care of their child, not them.

I also thank you for your comments, it's nice to be able to talk to someone normally instead of getting insulted or the other person not wanting to hear anything besides what they believe in.

Nancy, I am still not understanding where you are pulling your data from. In an earlier post, you said that you don't look at media, which would include writing. In this post, you cite what you have read and seen. Where are you getting your statistics? From what source have you read them? How many cases have you personally seen? Are you in the health care or education field where you would have a chance to know many people who have an ADD diagnosis?

I am just wondering on what data you base your statement, " there's no way that that many people need to be on medication."

Research has shown that the best way to treat ADD in most cases is medication and therapy. The therapy entails helping people work with their symptoms, so that they can live their best possible lives.

Medication is not for everybody. For some people it does not work well. However, for those folks where it does work, the effect is almost immediate and incredibly helpful. I just don't want people who are seeking help to be discouraged by unfounded fears of medication. I have personally seen this happen.

There are a couple of other things that research has shown about ADD. Children who do not get proper treatment tend to self-treat with alcohol and illegal drugs. There is a much higher percentage of people in prison with ADD than the percentage of people with ADD who are in the general population. A study was done on this and it found that people with ADD who were incarcerated became incarcerated during those times when they were not taking medication. These studies were reported by Science Daily. It is a reliable place to get information on all things scientific, including ADD.

Please tell me where your facts come from. "Everybody knows" is not a fact. It is an opinion.

I will be happy to have an empirical test for ADD.

I am not in the health care field and I am not a scientist.

Just like I have said many times that I know that ADD and most diseases are real. Just like I said that the people with real diseases should be on medication because they really need it.

The fact that there are things called a disease when they are not do not erase the fact that the people suffering from real diseases need medication. The fact that people are misdiagnosed do not erase the other fact too. The fact that people are taking medication when they should not also do not erase the other fact.

It does not take long to find stories of people putting their kids on medication because they want peace, of people being misdiagnosed, of people taking medication without needing them and from things being called a disease while they are not.

I do not believe something just because I read or watch or hear it. I only believe the things that have been proven.

That I think that a lot of people take medication without needing it do not mean that I do not think anybody should take medication. That I think that a lot of people have been diagnosed without it being the truth do not meant that I do not think that anybody can be sick.

I do not want medications and tests to stop I just want overdiagnosis and overmedication to stop.

Adults can believe doctors if they want and they can take all the medication prescribed to them but they do not have the right to do that to their children. And again this do not mean that I do not believe that children can be ill and may need medication.

Nancy, we agree on one thing. I don't want people taking medication that they don't need either.

However, based on what I have seen as an educator, there are FAR more kids without medication who really, truly need it, than kids who do not need it getting a dose of medication.

There are a couple of reasons why kids don't get meds when they need them. However, one common reason is that parents fear to give their kids stimulant medications. One of the main reasons is that they read sensationalized magazine or internet articles talking about how many kids are taking medications who don't need them. These articles sell papers or ads, promote fear of medications in parents, and make doctors reluctant to write valid prescriptions because they don't want to be accused of being pill pushers.

Scientific journals have articles telling how many low-income and minority students do not get the ADD medications that they need. Part of the reason that they don't is because people "know" that ADD medication is over-prescribed. I do not think that it is.