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No evidence ADHD is being over-diagnosed, say experts (www.cam.ac.uk)
submitted 8 months ago by to c/science@lemmy.world
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Research.

Overdiagnosis is not a problem, but misdiagnosis may be as people are driven into the private sector by long waits, and sadly, missed diagnoses remain common —Tamsin Ford

Experts are warning that far from being over-diagnosed, people with ADHD are waiting too long for assessment, support and treatment.

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[–] -3 points 8 months ago (4 children)

You cannot equate ADHD and spectrum mental conditions with disease.

I agree, the only way I meant to compare them is that we diagnose and treat both with medication.

We as a society need to accept that and stop thinking these are diseases that need to be “fixed”.

I also agree 100 % with this, and it's part of what I'm trying to get at with my "option a". As of today, there are regions where over 20 % of the population are diagnosed with, and treated for, ADHD. At that point, I'm asking the question if we're creating a problem by treating something that appears to be within the spectrum of how "normal people just are" as a problem that needs to be fixed. My point is exactly what you're saying here: If a large fraction of the population has this "problem" that needs to be "fixed", haven't we just gotten to a point where we have a too narrow definition of what is "normal" and "healthy" human behaviour? Shouldn't we in that case rather be looking at how we can structure our society in such a way that a larger span of the population is capable of functioning in it without medication, rather that trying to force everyone to conform to the same, ever narrowing, mould?

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  • [–] 3 points 8 months ago (3 children)

    The minority will never be adequately provisioned for without access to intervention. In theory, that can instead be legal or political. Many schools or workplaces put in provisions for ADHD, mostly because of laws. Society does have a “problem” that needs to be “fixed”. The “mould” problem is a deliberate authoritarian tool, beyond the scope of this discussion.

    But you need to understand that this is access to medication, nobody is forcing this down our throats. If people want it, it exists, and it helps reduce scary mental health (we’re talking suicide), ableist restriction of access to interventions is super dangerous.

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  • [–] 3 points 8 months ago (2 children)

    I honestly have the impression that we agree on pretty much all points here but that we're talking past each other. I agree to pretty much everything you're saying, and I'm all for helping as many people as possible live as good lives as possible.

    What I'm trying to say is basically that problematising the large volume of (and increase in) psychological diagnoses can be valid, and doesn't have to be founded in trying to downplay those diagnoses. To take a very concrete example: Kids that are disposed to growing very short or tall can be offered growth (blocking) hormones, such that they grow to a "more normal" height. Today, very few kids are offered, or take, these hormones. Now, let's say some area suddenly saw a rapid increase where 20 % of kids needed growth hormones to grow to "ordinary" height. I would say that we need to figure out what has happened: Is there something about the environment that has caused stunted growth to become ver common? Has the window for what is "normal" gotten narrower?

    Of course, in this example, it's very was to compare to historical records of human height. The same isn't true for mental disorders. That doesn't mean the same discussion isn't worth having- at its core, this is a discussion about how we can make society as good as possible for as many as possible. That also involves discussing what should be treated as a disorder that disproportionately makes people's life objectively worse, and what is within the "normal" range that we should rather build society around accepting.

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  • [–] 1 point 8 months ago (1 child)

    Yeah look if we really are seeing diagnoses suddenly rise, and it’s not just “a better telescope”, maybe it is worth considering exploring environmental causes, diagnostic criteria, societal tolerance of certain traits etc. That’s fair. 

    But idk about the height example. People can’t self-medicate height. For adhd, people absolutely self-medicate caffeine, nicotine, illicit stimulants, grey-market ADHD meds, etc. That alone suggests there’s a real functional problem exerting pressure that needs immediate addressing. Stimulants do not work the same way on people with adhd.

    What concerns me about your responses is that “investigating why diagnoses are increasing” is used all the time to cast doubt on ADHD itself. Obviously there’s a substantial body of neurological and clinical evidence that it’s real, and dramatically affects attention regulation and executive function. 

    So I think people who legitimately believe in it falling for this mainstream theatre, risk letting us all slide down the slippery slope to believing the condition is mainly a societal construct and we should limit access to medication, whilst people top themselves.

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  • [–] 1 point 8 months ago

    Yeah look if we really are seeing diagnoses suddenly rise, and it’s not just “a better telescope”, maybe it is worth considering exploring environmental causes, diagnostic criteria, societal tolerance of certain traits etc. That’s fair.

    Thanks for making an effort to understand what I'm trying to get at here. Honestly, this is like my primary point and I appreciate that you're recognising it. It can get tiresome to discuss with people that never seem to understand that you have good intentions, thank you for seeing mine.

    What concerns me about your responses is that “investigating why diagnoses are increasing” is used all the time to cast doubt on ADHD itself.

    And I absolutely agree that that's a big problem. My point is concerning when the same sentence is used in the positive, constructive, sense that this is clearly something we as a society need to look more closely at, because something is very obviously wrong on either an environmental or societal level if a large fraction of the population needs medication in order to function properly.

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