Question

do you believe that ADHD is misdiagnosed or over diagnosed in school children? Support your opinion with real world examples and research

Answer 1

ADHD: Attention deficit hyperactivity Disorder

The first appearance of ADHD came in DSM II with the name of Hyperkinetic Reaction of childhood. This version of the disease focused mainly on too much motor activity. As DSM III had been introduced, the name changed to attention elicit disorder in which Impulsivity was introduced along with hyperactivity. ADHD was introduced along with the introduction of DSM IV and a few more subtypes were introduced. With the inclusion of DSM V, there has been complete revision of the criteria.

ADHD is diagnosed with the following

symptoms:

- inattention

- hyperactivity

- easily distracted and forgetful

- unable to get involved in any leisure activities

With the changes in DSM V

- symptoms can now be considered to occur by the age of 12, instead of the age of 6

- symptoms have to be present in more than one settings, rather than how it was diagnosed earlier, only some symptoms in one setting.

- age related symptoms are now considered

- for adults or for individuals 17 years or older, presence of 5 symptoms are accepted. Whereas for younger children, 6 symptoms are required.

Owing to its symptoms and characteristics, ADHD has become the easiest diagnosis that doctors tend to give m due to the symptoms such as fidgeting, careless mistakes, forgetfulness or sleeping troubles. There are some other disorders as well which have symptoms similar to ADHD such as bipolar disorder, having symptoms similar such as

• Impatience
• outbursts
• Mood instability
• restlessness
• talkativeness

Differences ae only minor such as the age of development, where bipolar develops generally after 18 and ADHD develops before 12. Autism also has similar characteristics, and is easily misdiagnosed due to to the hyperactivity observed in children as well as the issues with social development.