Thursday, August 6, 2015

ADHD

Something within chapter four of the textbook greatly interested me, specifically being the controversy regarding the prevalence, diagnosing, and treatment of ADHD. So far in my pursuit of obtaining a degree in psychology, a lot of my classes have discussed this disorder in detail.

I personally do believe that this disorder exists. In my job as a police officer, I see first-hand how some of the children diagnosed with this disorder have issues with their behavior in schools and the community. I also however believe that the disorder has been overly diagnosed in current times which has unfortunate effects on society.

I remember a couple years ago, while in college, the amount of people who were diagnosed with ADHD that were selling their Ritalin to other students who wanted to cram for tests. I remember thinking that there has to be some reasonable way to curb the extreme amount of diagnosed ADHD cases to limit the amount of prescription drugs that make it on the free market. After some research online, i discovered that there is no standardized test for diagnosing something with ADHD, rather the diagnosis is obtained by interviews and questionnaires. Perhaps a stricter rubric could be adopted nationwide.


1 comment:

  1. It has boggled my mind for years now. We live in an era where almost everything is so technical and advanced yet there is not a national test for this diagnoses. I have witnessed ADHD medicine get spread around my old high school and now here at Stockton. One would think it would be a little harder for students to get a hold of this but rumor has it that a small conversation with a doctor can lead to many prescriptions.

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