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Subscribe to RSSIn just 10 years the number of children diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, rose dramatically, a large new study suggests.
Overall, about 5 percent of nearly 843,000 kids ages 5 to 11 were diagnosed between 2001 and 2010 with the condition that can cause impulsive behavior and trouble concentrating. But during that time, rates of new ADHD diagnoses skyrocketed 24 percent – jumping from 2.5 percent in 2001 to 3.1 percent in 2010.
That’s according to a comprehensive review of medical records for children who were covered by the Kaiser Permanente Southern California health plan. Rates rose most among minority kids during the study period, climbing nearly 70 percent overall in black children, and 60 percent among Hispanic youngsters, according the study published in JAMA Pediatrics. Among black girls, ADHD rates jumped 90 percent.
Rates remained highest in white children, climbing from 4.7 percent to 5.6 percent during the study period.
The biggest factor driving this increase may be the heightened awareness of ADHD among parents, teachers, and pediatricians, says the study’s lead author Dr. Darios Getahun, a scientist with Kaiser Permanente. For kids who need help, that’s a good thing, Getahun says.
“The earlier a diagnosis is made, the earlier we can initiate treatment which leads to a better outcome for the child,” he says.
Unlike previous studies in which researchers relied on reports from parents and teachers to say whether a child had ADHD, the new study tracked kids who were diagnosed according to ADHD medical codes entered by child and adolescent psychiatrists, developmental and behavioral pediatricians, child psychologists and neurologists.
ADHD is one of the most commonly diagnosed childhood disorders. Experts estimate that anywhere from 4 percent to 12 percent of school-age children are affected, many of whom continue to suffer from the disorder into adulthood.
Rates of diagnosis in the new study were greater in families with higher incomes, with nearly three-quarters of kids with ADHD coming from families that earned more than $50,000 a year.
“Higher rates of ADHD observed in affluent, white families likely represent an effort by these highly educated parents to seek help for their children who may not be fulfilling their expectations for schoolwork,” Getahun and his co-workers write.
Boys still outnumber girls 3 to 1 in ADHD diagnoses, but the gap appears to be closing among black girls.
“The increasing rate of ADHD among girls is an interesting finding and could represent an effort by parents to get more help for their daughters,” the authors say.
There was no change in the rate among Asian kids, but Getahun suspects this may have something to do with culture. Asians, as a rule, have been less likely to use mental health services and are more likely to discontinue therapy despite having equal access to care, Getahun says.
A child development specialist unaffiliated with the new study says he suspects that increased awareness of ADHD may have contributed to the increasing rate of diagnosis.
“Heightened professional awareness in general and improved efforts to detect ADHD exert an influence, but we cannot tell the magnitude of that,” says Alan Kazdin, the John M. Musser Professor of Psychology and Child Psychiatry at Yale University.
With all the coverage of the condition in the media, parents and teachers now have a better sense of what signs to look for, Kazdin says.
“Heightened awareness in the media, by parents and by teachers, too, may play a role. A child who in previous years just was said not to be able to control himself might now be more finely described.”
Related stories:
- Childhood ADHD may limit adult achievements
- ADHD overdiagnosed in youngest kids in class
- Number of women on ADHD meds soars
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Most college bound kids are taking them to use as stimulants to do better on entrance exams and those in college to get into med school and such. Google it. ADHD meds are available at any local college library. All to get a few more points to the tests. These meds are COCAINE. It allows you to stay up and have tremendous energy and focus like a laser. Of course, there is a cost. No other country does to their kids what we do to ours with pills. It's just sickening.
I wouldn't say MOST, but it does exist, definitely, and is a problem. It's part of a problem with the system. Perhaps things are a little bit different in Canada at my university, but I do not personally know of anyone who has done so. Coffee in copious amounts, yes, but not the ADHD meds...
The risks of 10% addiction to them are too high to ever risk it, even if at times I have wanted extra energy and focus to complete something. Well, that and the fact that I have some congenital heart and kidney problems and were I ever to take those meds, I would likely end up in the university newspaper as a "Don't do this" story...
There are four things going on simultaneously...and all unfortunate.
1) There are more cases of ADHD and ADD because of some neurological and sociological changes that are affecting children's mental health, cognitive function and brain development. Research is still too embryonic.
2) Like in old chronic mental illness when psychotropic drugs were still primitive, medications for ADHD or ADD have not been studied for its long term use, thought these drugs act on individual child's or teen's neurology differently.
3) There is a culture of being neurologically connected to high tech at an early age that is causing kids to lose restraint, self monitoring, self control, self discipline and social etiquette.
4) There is an interesting, but poorly understand, link between neurology, upbringing, environment and sociology that is not being fully studied. What is causing these behavioral problems to emerge, increase in rates of prevalence, escalate or become severe. We need more research and more comparative data.
Think of adults with PTSD, which is also increasing, and kids with ADHD, which has increased...all owning guns?
This is scary stuff, and one scary society.
Now for some jokey side to ADHD:
Upper class father, "I have a retarded son who cannot add 2 and 2, and he is fourteen".
A friend, "Oh my goodness! What did you do?"
Father, "I asked the doctor to give him an ADHD diagnosis. Now he are I are well supported and respected in the community!"
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Upper class mother, "The doctor said my son has ADHD! I asked him what that was. He said, 'Arrogant Dumb and Hyper-Deviantl' They got medicine for that. I asked him to prescribe some for my husband too!"
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A teacher to a psycho psychiatrist, "What's the difference between ADHD and ADD?"
Psycho psychiatrist, "ADD is when you cannot do basic science, math, reading or social sciences because you have poor focus. ADHD is when you jump up and down excitedly though you cannot do the same thing!"
___________________________________________________________________________________________
So basically we don't know anything, yet somehow we can make an ADHD or ADD diagnosis? How is that possible?
I find it hysterical that we never had these "problems" when parents were parents. Pre public aid, you know back when people all had Jobs and it was shameful to have multiple baby daddys. Back when men actually took responsability and women didnt have to work 10+ hours a day often still needing foodsatmps just to make ends meet, while the kid(s) sat home alone to own devices or raised were in a daycares under the influence of every other childs bad behavior..
We had this generation of drug abusing free love baby boomers who when they finally put the peace pipe down.. found parenting to be to hard, so when the kids got out of control they searched for an excuse- and ADHD & ADD and the plural of like minded mental bs came to pass! Before we knew it the system was being overwhelemed with cases.
Studies have proven many of these cases from the 80's-90's were WRONG So Now we have adults who have a plural of medical problems such as ulcers and emotional ill effects from having been told they were essential "crazy" while growing up.
The whole tale of growing out of it as a grown up.. no actually they just got away from the pill pushing parents and quacks and if lucky found sspouses to guide them back to earth lol
This is the most misdiagnoised and abused section of medicine IMO.. its about money for providers and pharmacy companies and for many of the parents it an excuse for why little johhny acts out
Im not saying mental illiness doesnt exisit.
But I do feel ADD & ADHD is just another side effect of the baby boomer generation.. what a legacy they are leaving behind.
Parents whoop your bad kids asses. Their ADHD will miraculously disappear and so will your problems. Stop hiding behind the excuses. You know your kids are bad so wake up. Do they scream at you in public? Do they strike you? Do they tantrum when asked to do chores or anything you ask them to? If you answered yes to even one of these then they are in charge and you are an inept parent. When they grow up to be bad people, wreck your cars, steal your money, fail at school and work, you will have no one to blame but yourself. The next time you get get push back from the small human you clothe and feed, whoop his or her little or big ass. It's your future too. Good luck.
Sounds good in theory. Sure worked for my parents when I was a kid. Nowadays, though, you're liable to get locked up for even giving your kids a stern talking to. Society has removed a parent's right to teach their children through discipline (and we're talking discipline, not abuse), so this is what we get. Undisciplined, uncaring, violent, out-of-control kids, complete with a sense of entitlement.
We are now a nation of pussies....nobody is responsible for their actions it is always somebody else or some syndrome. Just like the 47%ers hey I skipped class and smoked dope all through high school and I am to lazy to actually work for a living but it isn't my fault it is the rich white dude that is holding me down. Gee what else do they want? They get to jump up and down yelling for equality while every aspect of their lives they get preferentially treatment. Wish I had a built in excuse, then I am to busy working to support them. Pretty soon like Greece, Spain and the other socialised leaning countries, the people with money are going to leave and then who is going to carry them?
ratio of genuine ADHD cases vs results of bad parenting
my guess is 1 in 10
"time out" don't work!
I find it shocking that no where in the article does it offer that the results of the study have anything to do with anything other than accurate results. I think the public is keenly aware of the biggest problem with the study results and to not address that problem (a.k.a. OVER DIAGNOSIS) is intentionally misleading. I had a counselor readily admit to me on our first meeting that she has ADHD because often she couldn't find her car keys and I thought to myself, good Lord! I quickly excused myself from that meeting and never contacted her again.
What a crock of crap! There IS no such thing as ADD or ADHD or any of those made-up excuses for kids' behaviour. Simply lazy, uncaring parents who won't take it upon themselves to teach their kids right from wrong. And that often means using spankings as punishment. Oh my Lord...did I just say we should SPANK children? For shame....lol! I am sure 99% of any REAL parents agree with me, and those of you that don't are simply failures as parents. As long as we coddle these kids and give them excuses and drugs for their behaviour, you're going to have repeat after repeat of Newton. As long as we give "participation trophies" because we don't want to hurt little John's or Sally's feelings when they SUCK at a game and get beat, you're going to have Newton incidences. SO...how about we dispense with this crap of making up fake "diseases" when all the kid needs is a good whipping, okay?
Capitol punishment i have used but you can spank a 1000 times and its not going to make them pay attention. Im over 40 i still have it and my 3 kids have it. You wrote a bunch of worthless information.
There are real cases where a person really has trouble focusing no matter what. This isn't manifested in not being able to take tests and such, but rather not being able to carry out long term assignments and commitments. However, these cases are not what is typically diagnosed as ADD and ADHD.
Mark- parenting isnt spanking you dont have to spank to parent but you do have to be active and understand at certain ages all kids appear to be ADHD you cant pop a magical pill- its also not been proven that ADD/ADHD is genetic so the like hood that you are conditioned to excuse bad behavior with a simply word and cure it with a pill.. some people just need to grow up take responsability- some people are just hyper by nature- we dont all have to act the same.
For you to say all 3 of your kids have this id be curious if you were to seek sperated doctors if they would all come back the same outcome.
I can tell you from experience that not all diagnosis are valid. I have asperger's. I was diagnosed with ADD (primarily inattentive type) in order to get some of the help I needed, even though the doctor knew I didn't have it.
thats because aspergers have traits of ADHD & BIPOLAR BUT are far worse often. Aspergers studies have also shown almost all cases studied it came out some form of abuse toward the child was taken. And with the right treatment and care and removal from the source of abuse the person could recover. of course these are not set in stone but theres been so many private studies you might wanna look into it because if you can come to terms with the cause you may find the cure.
Has anyone done these same studies on our current government officials? Bet they all have it too...
Problem is 50% more kids sitting on thier butt at the computer or tv instead of running it off outside playing.
Of course they should. If you can't function within a system because of a certain condition, the system should know.
Incompetence and self importance in parents jumps 24 percent in a decade, study shows
As the number of psychologists rise, so do the number and types of psychiatric maladies. Like lawyers, they create their own business. How did the human race ever survive until the advent of psychiatrics? How will it survive psychiatrics?
ADHD is normal condition. The cure is parenting, school, and discipline.
Of not treated, ADHD grows into lack of personal responsibility as an adult. You can see this result in a large percentage of US adult population today.
ADHD is NOT bad parents, lack of discipline, or bad kids. They have done twin studies where the twins were seperated at birth. Years later, they both had ADHD when they had a genitic link. But ADHD is frustrating and secondary problems happen because of lack of knowledge and the stigma it holds. Therefore, when a kid cannot (not will not) pay attention, they say he is lazy. Parents need to learn different parenting techniques because they learn differently. But people call them bad parents. Not true. Research shows that. And after years of working with ADHD kids, I have found they are wonderful, kind, caring, innovative, creative, and work twice as hard to accomplish things. Learn about the truth of ADHD before you slam it.
Some people who have ADHD, Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, Thomas Jefferson, most ER doctors and paramedics, Bach, Mozart, Hans Christian Anderson, Peter-one of the disciples, Benjamin Franklin. All creative and innovative people.
When my son was in school, they kept saying he needs to be on meds, blah,blah,blah. When my doctor said no he doesn't. they called him a liar and threatened to call social services. I moved my son to a different school no problems. I found out that at his old school kids with adhd are classified as special ed and the school gets extra money for each student enrolled. sounds like a scam to me.
As a recently retired teacher, it is my concerted opinion that ADHD, even if present in a few kids, is directly proprortional to the decline in parenting. Everyone is to blame but the parents: They can't read....schools fault; they can't socialize.....schools fault; B.S.: ADHD is a parenting disease. It suddenly appeared when both parents went to work and the kids had no discipline, no security, and were taught by the TV, Video Games, and now Smart Phones. A total crock!!!! And, if you DON'T get the dignosis or drug you want for you kid, keep looking...there is always some pediatrics guy who will agree with you and give you the Ridalin or whatever it is you want.
Balls-on accurate.
Really.
I'm glad you're retired because I wouldn't want you teaching my bright, ADHD PDD-NOS son. And, BTW, I stayed home with him for 9 years, he didn't have access to tons of video games, TV or other electronic stimuli. He didn't eat junk food, he is skinny as a rail, and has been in rock-climbing, karate, and track. He has a library of books, subjects mostly science, and has a great vocabulary and imagination.
As far as medication, it was the last thing we tried after discipline, behavior modification, therapy and change in diet. Guess what worked? Yeah, that evil Ritalin. He was able to concentrate, not disrupt the class and be a student. I consider it a godsend for those genuine ADHD kids and adults.
Most of the kids who are now labeled ADHD when I was in school were called uppity little pricks. Told them to get their s#!t together or they got their butts kicked. Usually cured them toot-sweet. But what do I know?? Now we coddle them... special treatment, even though their parents are ignoring their children due to... work.
Fragrant Chemicals cause ADHD because they contain toxic chemicals that smell nice.
Scented laundry products like Bounce dryer sheets, Febreze, air fresheners, and all the other toxic fragrant chemicals.
Read about the toxic chemicals that Professor Anne Steinemann found in all these scented household products and many of the toxic chemicals cause ADHD.
But the question is; is the increase real or is it just a more popular diagnosis? I believe I was mildly ADHD, and still am years later. But it wasn't popular when I was a kid, so it wasn't diagnosed.
Fragrant Chemicals include phthalates
These toxic fragrant chemicals harm children and especially the unborn.
Your fragrant chemical household and laundry products are killing your kids with slow acting poisons.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0161813X10002354
ADD & ADHD Medications - SUICIDAL DRUGS of CHOICE ?