It is wildly over diagnosed and also misdiagnosed, so many who do not have it are told they do, and many who have it are not caught at a very early age.

no you are not crazy! to me it seems to be a cop out for teachers that cannot control a classroom of children ..maybe they (teachers) are in cahouts with the drs.... for every ADHD child that they have a referall to they get a kick back

It's misdiagnosed so often that at my school it's called the lazy white kid disease. Few other races in my area seem to claim the disease. Although it really should be called the lazy white parent, I want to be my child's friend and not discipline him disease. And, yes, I am white. Addendum: And I'll bet if these same children's parents would get $100 a day when their children behaved and worked in school, the "disease" would disappear overnight.

It sure seems that way. My wife is a therapist, we were talking about this recently. It seems that it's common for doctors to diagnose this -- I think partly it's a matter of wanting to be able to classify the kid's behavior so they can be medicated and insurance plans will pay for it. Beyond that, it's my sense that generally there IS a lot of attention deficit in the modern world -- not just with kids, but with adults too. The pace of life keeps speeding up, and the competition for our attention keeps increasing: entertainment forms are more numerous and insistent in their imagery and immersion, video games, TV, the Internet (and yes, Answerbag!) all vie for our eyeballs and awareness. There's a sense of drowning in input... drinking from a firehose... wanting to not miss anything, and that firehose is the background music for our lives. This is particularly interesting to me as a Zen student, because Zen is very much about managing one's attention and being able to focus and be aware here-and-now, without getting lost and distracted all the time. I find that I'm constantly surrounded by people who can barely sit still for a few minutes, whose need for stimulation is very high. I just don't recall it being like that when I was a kid. Everything's moving too fast. It's up to us to interrupt ourselves and slow down enough to notice our actual lives. And maybe some of that will rub off on the children.

Everyone has a handy label for their kid that excuses their abyssmal parenting skills.

no its just the companies saying that, i have severe ADHD but i actually have it, i space out consistenly thoguhut the day. get home and space out for about an hour and a half befor starting work. 1 out of 5 kids i think claim to have it and 1/20 of those kids to claim to have it actualy do. So about 1/100 have it (1%) wich is somehat common but the ADHD diagnoises is being abused. Its not that the kids have it, its just the parents want an easy fix

I certainly feel for the children and families where the condition truly exists but I read recently that this is the most over-diagnosed condition and that Ritalin is the most over-prescribed medication. Many of these children are actually normal active kids. It is normal for kids to be active and make noise. It is also much easier to parent a zombie than a high energy kid. The doctor only sees the child for a short period of time and greatly bases his diagnosis on what the parent has to say. In those cases where a child is put on Ritalin or similar drug unnecessarily for the convenience of the parent I think that is sad too.

I think it's misdiagnosed way too often, the kid's behavior is a result of bad parenting, not of a mental problem. I think it results from TV being used as a baby sitter. The reason for this, is nearly everyone I know with kids claims thier kids have ADD, and they all just want to plug them into a TV, so they aren't bothered with them. I'll sit and play with the munchkins, and they are perfectly behaved, and have attention spans expected for their age groups, all they want is attention and acting bad is the easiest way for them to get it.

ADD and ADHD was invented by all the people who can't multi-task. No really, I think it is often misdiagnosed, it is much easier to believe that your child can take a pill and suddenly sharpen up, or believe that it isn't your fault as a parent. I think that because so many people claim this real disease that people who do have it are dismissed out-of-hand. I've even heard people say, "oh, everybody has that"

The problem with diagnosing a child with ADHD is they are young! Children can be brats, they can make bad grades, they can not pay attention, they can be hyper, it's typical kid behavior. Parents seek medical advice because they don't know how to handle it. I know that there are some children who actually do have ADD and ADHD, but I think parents tend to go to the doctor before trying other things, like disipline, understanding, and just spending time with their kids. Kids need attention, and if they don't get it, they'll do whatever it takes to get it. Another thing, a lot of mental illnesses mock each others symptoms and are also just normal childhood behavior. ADD, ADHD, Anxiety, Mood disorders, etc. They all have many of the same symptoms so it can be hard for doctors to accurately diagnose these illnesses at such a young age. If it were my daughter and I thought there might be a problem, I'd re-evaulate myself and my parenting skills, not her ability to function as a "normal" child. 9 times out of 10 it's not even the kids fault. Plus, MOST of the drugs they use to treat ADD & ADHD are speed based medications, even the "non-narcotic" are still prototypes of speed. I'd much rather face my own demons than put my child on something that could cause long term damage to their bodies. With a boom of mental illness medications in America, doctors are pushed by pharmacutical companies to prescribe these drugs and the doctors make money off of it, so just be careful, be aware of your choices and alternatives before jumping to any conclusions. Plus, a mental illness diagnoses is on your medical file forever and could haunt you for the rest of your life. Once again, I wasn't trying to offend patients who actually do have this illness. I know that when true, the illness can be very hard to deal with and I wish you the best of luck and hope you are getting proper medical attention. Also, I'm not talking out of my butt. I am a medical professional.

Maybe we just didn't know what to call or label kids with these problems before.

ADHD is not as overdiagnosed as people think. They often hear about kids having it and being diagnosed with it but it is still only around 5% of kids suffering from it. These days we are getting better at recognising it. In the old days only the kids with the most severe problems were diagnosed but these days we understand that just because the kid isn't burning down the classroom doen't mean that they don't need help to manage their behaviour and learning.

It's bull-crap!!! Go to the doctor these days and they diagnose everybody with that and being bipolar, just give everybody wellbutrin xl, lowertabs, some rittlin, and a little claritin and everybodys happy!!!