14 DAY TRIAL // Information made available to the general public by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States says that, as of recently, 1 in 5 of the teenage boys living in this country gets diagnosed with ADHD.
The data collected and analyzed by said organization also shows that, throughout the past ten years, the United States has experienced a steep increase in the number of school-age children who get diagnosed and even treated for said behavioral disorder.
More precisely, it appears that 11% of the country's school-age children are believed to display ADHD-related symptoms.
Daily Mail reports that several specialists now claim that, rather than an actual increase in the number of ADHD sufferers, the United States is currently dealing with said medical condition's being over-diagnosed.
To make matters even worse, it appears that over 70% of the kids and teenagers presumed to display ADHD symptoms are made to undergo treatment for this behavioral disorder.
Because of this, some specialists went as far as to argue that, apart from its being severely over-diagnosed, said condition is also over-medicated.
Interestingly enough, it appears that almost twice as many boys as girls are diagnosed with ADHD during their school years.
The same source quotes Pediatric Neurologist Dr. William Graf, who allegedly told The Times that, “Those are astronomical numbers. I’m floored.”
“Mild symptoms are being diagnosed so readily, which goes well beyond the disorder and beyond the zone of ambiguity to pure enhancement of children who are otherwise healthy,” the pediatrician reportedly went on to argue.
Interestingly enough, the news that ADHD is more likely over-diagnosed and over-medicated in the United States comes shortly after one other report warned about how several teenagers resort to drugs used to treat this behavioral disorder in order to improve on their school performances.
“If we start treating children who do not have the disorder with stimulants, a certain percentage are going to have problems that are predictable – some of them are going to end up with abuse and dependence,” Psychiatry Professor James Swanson told members of the press.