Diagnosis
In the United States, the diagnosis of ADHD is being given to too many children and adolescents. Hundreds of children are being misdiagnosed with ADHD because of behavioral issues and disruptive actions in school. Senior editor for the New American William Norman Grigg says, “Children are being diagnosed for simply being disruptive in class” (Grigg par. 1). Young children that cannot focus are too quickly being given the diagnosis. Also, author for the Wall Street Journal Susan Pinker found that the large number of adolescents with ADHD are more likely to be disruptive and demonstrate risky behaviors (Pinker par. 5). This shows that giving young children and adults medication for their diagnosis is not helping correct the problems. Instead of hastily being given a diagnosis and medication, the kids should be given a chance to mature and the opportunity to develop their ability to focus. In addition, being wrongly diagnosed can be fatal. A young girl from Pennsylvania was incorrectly diagnosed with ADHD and was given medication to treat the disorder. Soon after receiving the analysis, she died from the effects of the drug (Grigg par. 2). If she had not been told that she had ADHD, she could still be living. In opposition, some feel that children are correctly medicated. Recent studies have found that ADHD only occurs in five to ten percent of the United States’ adolescent population ("Are Children Who Take Ritalin" par. 12). While this may be accurate, what percentage of those are incorrect diagnoses and how many of those lives could be saved without the harm of medications? If fewer children were given the diagnosis of ADHD and were able to continue to develop their ability to focus as they grew older, there would be fewer problems and deaths.