ADHD misdiagnosis a trend in commentary ADHD has become your dime a dozen catch all diagnosis in adolescence
Understandably of course it's a money making machine between the cost of therapy, medications, and depending on the medication weekly to monthly blood draws. There's lots of money to be made off of people diagnosed with ADHD. More than that though, is that it's become sort of a trend. “Few topics have generated as much public concern as the diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, outpatient visits for ADHD jumped from 1.6 million to 4.2 million per year from 1990 to 1993” (ADHD—Overcoming the Specter of Overdiagnosis. (2002). ADHD has become sort of a cat shot in terms of adolescent miss behavior. Many parents simply think that their child's not bad they just have a medical problem that has to be the reason. After a short drive to the doctor’s office and quick discussion with Dr. Don about how little Billy can never sit still long enough to do his homework and never listens to his parents when they talk to him. They walk out of the office with a giant ADHD labeled Band-Aid that they can slap over their child and all is well. However this isn't the biggest problem in the misdiagnosed use of ADHD. That’s not to say that ADHD isn’t an actual large scale problem. “Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is among the most prevalent disorders of childhood and adolescence. Worldwide prevalence rates center around 5% and range from 1% to 20% among school-age children” (Cross-national 2016) ADHD has been on the rise and its only going to get worse.’ Before 1970, the diagnosis of ADHD was relatively rare for schoolchildren and almost nonexistent for adolescents and adults. Between 1980 and 2007, there was an almost 8-fold increase of ADHD prevalence in the United States compared with rates of 40 years ago” (Connor, D. F. 2011). Malingering is a large issue that the medical community is being faced with. ADHD can have its benefits. An individual with ADHD has access to medications some individuals would seek these medications for recreational use. Another potential benefit would be extra times for tests or free tutoring services. Surprisingly you can also claim social Security disability using ADHD as a reason. These are very tantalizing reasons to go to your doctor and put on a show. The problem with this, is that it draws away from the individuals who were truly suffering with ADHD it calls into question whether ADHD is an actual disorder or just a social standard. By over diagnosing something like ADHD and then revisiting those diagnosed with it and realizing that they weren't actually suffering from disorder it starts to put a label on it. People now see it as a way to get their hands on schedule II drugs. A way to get extra privileges above everyone else and that intern starts to become resentment and disregard to those individuals who are actually suffering from ADHD. If we are understand this trend and the rise of ADHD miss diagnosis as a whole then we should take into account several factors that come into play. Media coverage of ADHD that seen a significant rise in the past years magazine such a as Time are doing articles about it. Many agencies such a as the CDC (Center for Disease Control) have started raising awareness of the issue. Organizations are being formed to Gardner support and raise awareness. Other groups and organizations are being formed to argue against medicating children. Long debates have been held over using schedule II drugs on children/ adults and if the risk is worth the reward.” Wender, one of the first advocates of using stimulant medication for hyperactivity, emphasizes that ADHD is a lifelong problem for many sufferers and that many ADHD adults would benefit from stimulant treatment” (Hughes, M. 1997) It is easier than ever for a less than honest individual do become aware of and learn of the symptoms of ADHD.
This overabundance of coverage has led to a kind of public hysteria, parents and doctors now see ADHD around every corner. It has almost become a social norm for a child in school to have ADHD. One could argue that ADHD isn't necessarily a disorder but an unfortunate byproduct of a fast paced reward driven Society. Luckily there is hope. Recent studies have been done and new tests have been designed to help curb the tide of malingering in terms of ADHD. “The IVA CPT adequately distinguished adults with ADHD from non-ADHD” (Colleen A Quinn 2003) Many people will fake the symptoms of ADHD in order to get access to the prescriptions given to those who suffer from the disorder I say few that these medications will help give them in the edge in their work or home life. Students will sometimes take these drugs and hopes that will help them focus on the paper that there trying to write or give them that needed edge to focus on the test they are taking the next day. Either is are pursuing these drugs for recreational use they are hoping for a high off of the schedule II narcotics that are given to individuals with ADHD. The take away from all this is that psychiatrist and doctors need to understand that there going to be those who seek to take advantage of the system. By allowing the mist diagnosis of ADHD to continue, it leads to a devalued opinion and overall fewer options to people that are actually suffering from this disorder. It will become harder for an individual suffering with ADHD to get the actual help that they need to function in their everyday life. Parents whose children suffer from this disorder suffer from this disorder will now have to expand more time in money to achieve the help that their child needs. Benefits that are giving to those who suffer from ADHD will become harder to access and as a result they will start to suffer and become more this disillusioned with the system that was originally design to help them. Some individuals might never receive the help that they actually need because it is viewed as to much of a hassle to try and get that help and this is just something that we as a society cannot allow to happen.

References
ADHD—Overcoming the Specter of Overdiagnosis. (2002).Psychiatric Times, 19(8), 1-9.

Colleen A Quinn, Detection of malingering in assessment of adult ADHD (2003) Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology
Volume 18, Issue 4, May 2003, Pages 379–395

Connor, D. F. (2011). Problems of Overdiagnosis and Overprescribing in ADHD: Are The Legitimate?. Psychiatric Times, 28(8), 14-18.

Hughes, M. (1997). ADHD: The great misdiagnosis. Library Journal,125(17), 86-87.

Sciutto, M. J., Terjesen, M. D., Kučerová, A., Michalová, Z., Schmiedeler, S., Antonopoulou, K., & ... Rossouw, J. (2016). Cross-national comparisons of teachers’ knowledge and misconceptions of ADHD. International Perspectives In Psychology: Research, Practice, Consultation, 5(1), 34-50. doi:10.1037/ipp0000045