New Study Shows that Children Could be Overdiagnosed and Overtreated with ADHD

by Amna El Tawil
 
ADHD or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is quite common in American kids as well as in children in other parts of the world. Although scientists still don’t know the exact cause of this disorder, they have successfully identified some factors that contribute to it. Based on the fact that large international studies discovered a connection between birth date and ADHD diagnosis, a team of researchers from Australia sought to find out more about this relationship.
 
A team of scientists led by Dr. Martin Whitely from Curtin University in Perth, Western Australia, analyzed data year and month of birth from 311,384 schoolchildren divided into two 5-year bands. According to Medical News Today, one group of schoolchildren was aged between 6-10 years and born between July 2003 and June 2008, while children in the other group were aged between 11-15 years and were born from July 1998 through June 2003.
 
Of these, 5,937 children (or 1.9 percent) received ADHD medication, with the boys receiving medication at a higher rate than girls – 2.9% compared with 0.8%, respectively. The analysis revealed that the youngest children in a school class are more likely to receive ADHD medication than their older classmates.
 
More precisely, from the 6-10-year-old group, children born in June – which is the last month of the recommended school entry age – were approximately twice as likely to receive medication as those born in the first school entry month, which is the previous July. In the second band, comprising children aged between 11-15 years, the effect was less pronounced but still statistically significant.
 
The strong association between the birth date and ADHD diagnosis isn’t the only discovery from this study whose findings were published in Medical Journal of Australia. Whitely and his colleagues confirm that results are consistent with findings from large international studies. For example, 1.9% medication prescribing rate is comparable with the rate determined by a Taiwanese study quoted by the authors – 1.6%. Additionally, the Taiwanese study, along with three other North American studies, found the ADHD medication prescribing rate to be “at least” twice as high. The findings could mean that ADHD is overdiagnosed. Why? These findings, as well as results from American studies, indicate that developmental immaturity is mislabeled as a mental disorder and unnecessarily treated with stimulant medication. Basically, children who are more active or naughtier than other kids are, automatically, diagnosed with ADHD, receive medication, even though they may not have the disorder.
 

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5 thoughts on “New Study Shows that Children Could be Overdiagnosed and Overtreated with ADHD”

  1. (NaturalNews) If you or someone you know has a child that has been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), chances are the child is actually just fine. At least this is what the “father” of ADHD, Leon Eisenberg, would presumably say if he were still alive. Onhis death bed, this psychiatrist and autism pioneer admitted that ADHD is essentially a “fictitious disease,” which means that millions of young children today are being needlessly prescribed severe mind-altering drugs that will set them up for a life of drug addiction and failure.
    http://www.naturalnews.com/040938_adhd_fictitious_disease_psychiatry.html
    FAKE DISEASE not Over diagnosed/Over prescribed big pharma drugs. SOFT KILL* mechanism, against the only potential future leaders against the Rogue Government, Deep State establishment Cabal. Kill the leaders as infants.
    Total Spectrum Dominance.
    *http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=soft%20kill

    Reply
    • Well said. The pharmaceutical industry has taken over the mental health industry with catastrophic results. The theory of “chemical imbalance” has also been disproven. Most mental health issues can be managed with a good therapist and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

      Reply
  2. Aspergers is always being mis-diagnosed as ‘ADD’ or ADHD’. The latter is supposedly being treated w/ the likes of ‘Ritalin’, but to provide greater support for Aspergers cost massive amounts of money!
    Essentially, the Powers That Be and Big Pharma will continue with ‘The England Hypothesis’ and soft-kill programs. The Georgia Guidestones and Globalist Policies confirm this.

    Reply
  3. ADD and ADHD are rooted in the pertussis/whooping cough vaccination. The vaccine damages the throat muscle and causes obstructions to the airway that interrupts sleep, a condition known as obstructive sleep apena, mild or severe, the condition is crippling. Sleep deprivation sets in and the child or adult goes into adrenaline mode and sleep deprivation psychosis (acting odd), the doctors know this, then they misdiagnose the child ADD or ADHD instead of diagnosing them vaccine damaged, sleep deprived, the condition treatable holistically and with a CPAP machine, and worse, the doctors prescribe toxins that make the condition worse, pad doctor’s fees. It’s an epidemic.

    Reply

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