As a child, I have always been taught to trust the doctor because, “The doctor knows best”. As time went on and now a mother, I find that statement to be very misleading. You always hear and read different stories about doctors’ who diagnose a patient’s problem to early, and those who just make mistakes and misdiagnose a patient completely. That’s why I choose to do my paper on Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, better known as ADHD. According to Carey, 1 to 2 percent of children likely have a brain malfunctions that warrant classification of something like ADHD, but that another 5 to 10 percent who are diagnosed with ADHD should not be (Carey, 2002).
ADHD is a psychological disorder in which the individual shows one or more of the following characteristics over a period of time: inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity (King, 2008, p.531). This is very confusing to me because these certain characteristics are the same as of a young child. Honestly speaking my five year old daughter attention span is very short and at times can be unmanageable. So does that put her in the category of hyperactive or inattentive?
As a parent you have to learn how to make adjustments in your life to raise a good respectable child. You may have to change your parenting according to your child’s personalities. Researchers say that you may need to change the child’s environment to see a change in their behavior. As a mother I would rather change my daughter environment than to have her on prescribe stimulant medication. Researcher have evidence from animals showing that the absence of ADHD, exposure to a stimulant such as Adderall or Ritalin can have long lasting negative effects on the brain and predispose individuals to later addiction problems (Leo,2005). It’s hard to believe that the pharmaceutical companies don’t have anything to do with this issue.
I believe that some