Larsen 1

Erick Larsen
Professor Harris
Intro to Writing
7 August 2014

The ADHD Phenomena
ADHD (Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) is something that my parents and
I have had to deal with my whole life. From the years of tried and failed tactics
to get my symptoms of hyperactivity and restlessness under control, to the
uncountable phone calls my mother received from the principles office, the
only solace my parents received is when they finally cracked and decided to
put me on medication for whatever issue I had, which they quickly settled for
ADHD. The medication rollercoaster was very intense, at times leading to
semesters of A- averages, at other times leading to days without eating and
not feeling myself. Since graduating high school and living on my own I notice
that my hyperactivity has drastically dropped, and I can focus on tasks much
easier. I developed many conditions and obsessive traits in addition to ADHD in
my later years like Fibromyalgia and biting my nails, pulling out my hair, etc. The
condition I had seemed to recess, however I was stuck with my other,
unfavorable traits and many questions. Was I diagnoses with this because of a
doctors opinion, or maybe because I had an unbalanced diet? Could it be
Larsen 2

because I was raised in a home with high energy Puerto Rican women
screaming at me all the time?

All these questions point me to ask many questions that adults in my situation
have asked, is this a true diagnosis, is it derived from a child's early life, or are
there other factors that are implemented with diagnosing this strange condition
we call ADHD.

What are parents doing about this phenomenon?
Viewpoint 1: Is this condition derived from a childs early life?
Shi, Yanling, Hai-Yen Sung, and Wendy Max. "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder among Children Exposed to Secondhand Smoke: A Logistic Regression
Analysis of Secondary Data."( INT J NURS STUD) 2013; 50 (6): 797-856. Ebscohost, 4
Oct. 2012. Web. 27 July 2014.
Hinojosa, Melanie, Jacqueline Baron-Lee, Caprice Knapp, Dan Fernandez-Baca,
Lindsay Thompson, and Ramon Hinojosa. "Factors Associated with a Medical
Home Among Children with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder." Ebscohost.
Academic Search Premier, 6 Dec. 2011. Web. 7 Aug. 2014.

Larsen 3

"Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder among Children Exposed to
Secondhand Smoke: A Logistic Regression Analysis of Secondary Data."
This journal states, with their findings at the University of California that they have
tested and concluded that secondhand smoke leads to a greater increase of
ADHD despite other risk factors. It also suggests that childrens doctors can play
a part in dropping the rate of parents smoking with this information that they
can provide to the parents. This is indeed stated when the authors say Nurses
and other healthcare professionals can play an important role in encouraging
parents to quit smoking to reduce children's exposure to secondhand smoke
and their risk of ADHD. The purpose of this journal is to push doctors into
becoming more informed of the findings with risks of second hand smoke. This in
turn will help smoking parents become aware of their actions and what they are
doing to their child.
"Factors Associated with a Medical Home Among Children with Attention-Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder."
The effect of this study was to find the outcome of children with ADHD having a
medical home. A medical home is a home of primary care that is focused on
quality of the patients lives. They state that with increased supervision and
further depth of understanding on the childrens ADHD they reached positive
success. Said here We found that children with ADHD and a mental health
comorbidity were approximately more than2.53 times likely to have received
Larsen 4

needed mental healthcare and were associated with 2844% more preventive
care visits. These results suggest that regardless of the model of care, positive
outcomes are being achieved. It is stated that if the patient is receiving
increased care, regardless of model home or parent, they will be more stable in
home and school life. This is meant to inform parents and doctors again, if it is
known that increased understanding and attention to a diagnosis that is very
confusing will lead to a childs health benefit, parents will be able to hone in on
what is triggering the childs ADHD or have more preventative measures
towards this condition.

A social/cultural issue?
Viewpoint 2: A True Diagnosis
Wright, Gloria. "ADHD Perspectives: Medicalization and ADHD Connectivity."
Academic Search Premier. Www.ebscohost.com. Ebscohost, Dec. 2012. Web.
27 July 2014.
Lunau, Kate. "Giving ADHD A Rest." Academic Search Premier.
Www.ebscohost.com. Ebscohost, 03 Mar. 2014. Web. 2 Aug. 2014.

ADHD Perspectives: Medicalization and ADHD Connectivity.
Larsen 5

This article speaks on the term of "Medicalization" which is where a condition or
set of conditions is seen as a disorder, in this case, ADHD.
Wright speaks of how the new definitions of ADHD were put in to play that it is
more difficult to diagnose and even understand what ADHD is. Wright claims
that ADHD is a diagnosis that doctors have put on a behavior, stated here
Researchers clearly want to know something about childrens behavior,
especially problematic behavior; how to measure it, how to control it, how to
understand its causes and social impact and how to define it. ADHD is
predominantly framed in terms of problematic social behavior. This article is
leaning on the idea that ADHD is something that is so widely categorized that
anyone with problematic social behavior can have it, which is why there is
such a large demographic of people with ADHD.

Giving ADHD A Rest."
Expanding on the demographic of people with ADHD, this piece by Lunau,
speaks of the diagnosis rates of ADHD between areas around the world and
how they are very different from each other. She argues that, based off of
research within the last ten years, the ADHD diagnosis rates are "exploding" due
to school's relying more on test results and therefore needing children that are
more attentive.
Larsen 6

This article speaks of how we need to stop seeing children as test results and to
stop resorting to medication. Indeed, she quotes Scheffler, a psychologist,
where he states "Some red-hot parents want to get their kid into Harvard,
Berkeley or Princeton." Scheffler says. "They're going to need a perfect score, so
they're going to push." This quote is very charged with claiming that parents are
"red-hot" and clearly this is favorably against "Brain doping", as she calls it. The
impression we are left with is heavy concern about the drugging of a
generation.

Are we looking for the right signs?
Viewpoint 3: Other Factors associated with the ADHD condition?
Goodwin, Jennifer. "Study: Healthy Eating May Help Children with ADHD." USA
TODAY. HealthDay, 9 Jan. 2012. Web. 08 Aug. 2014.
Lilienfeld, Scott O. "Are Doctors Diagnosing Too Many Kids with ADHD?" Scientific
American Mind. Scientific American Mind, 11 Apr. 2013. Web. 8 Aug. 2014.

"Study: Healthy Eating May Help Children with ADHD."
This web article speaks towards abolishing the use of medication for children
with ADHD through the use of healthy diet (Goodwin). They are suggesting that,
Larsen 7

through a healthy diet, the child will have a lower risk of ADHD. Goodwin states
this when she quotes Dr. Lopez-Alberola, "I am a firm believer that we ultimately
are what we eat, and unfortunately as a result of our poor Western diet, we see
this in the increase in the rate of obesity, particularly in the young population,"
Lopez-Alberola said. "The fast foods. The processed food. The preservative-rich
foods . . . In the same way we see an impact physically, it's going to have an
impact from the neurodevelopmental standpoint. It's not surprising we see a
parallel in the increase in obesity and in ADHD." Goodwin is speaking about
using alternate methods to handling this confusing condition. This article is
leaning towards the demographic of health conscious individuals that may
want to leave the conventional method of treatment because of issues with
medication.

Are Doctors Diagnosing Too Many Kids with ADHD?
Lilienfeld argues that there is a large amount of misdiagnosis in children for
ADHD due to the diagnostic manual (DSM-IV) having incorrect indicators of the
condition. Indeed, he states Clearer, but less dramatic, evidence for
overdiagnosis comes from a 2012 study in which psychologist Katrin Bruchmller
of the University of Basel and her colleagues found that when given
hypothetical vignettes of children who fell short of the DSM-IV diagnosis, about
17 percent of the 1,000 mental health professionals surveyed mistakenly
Larsen 8

diagnosed the kids with ADHD. These errors were especially frequent for boys,
perhaps because boys more often fit clinicians' stereotypes of ADHD children.
(In contrast, some researchers conjecture that ADHD is underdiagnosed in girls,
who often have subtler symptoms, such as daydreaming and spaciness.). This
excerpt shows the percentages of the issues with diagnosing children and what
parents can do to understand their childrens issues and not to look for the
stereotypical indicators. Lilienfeld does state towards the end of the article that
the DSM-IV (diagnosis handbook of disorders) is currently being revised and will
note lower total symptoms for ADHD. This is calling upon the childrens parents to
begin to understand the condition more and rely more on their own diagnosis,
rather than that of a MD.

I personally feel that if the symptoms I showed were given more attention and a
further diagnostic of my ADHD occurred then I wouldnt be using the
medications that have caused further issues in my life. Through my extensive
research of the topic I have concluded that there are definitely many causes for
this mainstreamed diagnosis, from doctors opinions to parents antics, however
the main reason seeming to be because people are misinformed. ADHD
reaches one of the broadest demographics, and a large portion of people
could stop being patients if they understood and were more acquainted with
the symptoms. Either that or they could attack the actual issue at hand, whether
Larsen 9

it is balanced diet, further research, or the environment that the patient has
been exposed to. There are many ways ADHD can be rectified, and there is
hope across the world for becoming more informed, we just need to know
where to find it. Reacting instead of waiting to be told what to do or what to
take is how we can tackle this issue head on, for ourselves or our children.




Works Cited:

Hinojosa, Melanie, Jacqueline Baron-Lee, Caprice Knapp, Dan Fernandez-Baca,
Lindsay Thompson, and Ramon Hinojosa. "Factors Associated with a Medical
Home Among Children with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder." Ebscohost.
Academic Search Premier, 6 Dec. 2011. Web. 7 Aug. 2014.
Goodwin, Jennifer. "Study: Healthy Eating May Help Children with ADHD." USA
TODAY. HealthDay, 9 Jan. 2012. Web. 08 Aug. 2014.
Lilienfeld, Scott O. "Are Doctors Diagnosing Too Many Kids with ADHD?" Scientific
American Mind. Scientific American Mind, 11 Apr. 2013. Web. 8 Aug. 2014.
Larsen 10

Lunau, Kate. "Giving ADHD A Rest." Academic Search Premier.
Www.ebscohost.com. Ebscohost, 03 Mar. 2014. Web. 2 Aug. 2014.
Shi, Yanling, Hai-Yen Sung, and Wendy Max. "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder among Children Exposed to Secondhand Smoke: A Logistic Regression
Analysis of Secondary Data."( INT J NURS STUD) 2013; 50 (6): 797-856. Ebscohost, 4
Oct. 2012. Web. 27 July 2014.
Wright, Gloria. "ADHD Perspectives: Medicalization and ADHD Connectivity."
Academic Search Premier. Www.ebscohost.com. Ebscohost, Dec. 2012. Web.
27 July 2014.