THE DIAGNOSIS SALAD AND THE DRUG DRESSINGS

Did you know that just within the ADHD diagnosis, there are three subtypes? A child could be "ADHD-Predominantly Inattentive Type" with at least six symptoms, or "ADHD-Predominantly Hyperactive-Impulsive Type" with a different set of at least six symptoms, or simply "ADHD-Combined Type". You can be sure it a child is called ADHD-Combined Type, he or she will exhibit almost any symptoms one can imagine for children.

Another favorite is "Depression", which can include so many symptoms that most of us, not just children, and a 100% of English poets and classical music composers would qualify.

Mental problems, and more accurately, emotional and behavioral problems, can be devastatingly complex. Psychaitrists and physicians do try their best to help, but they are often too busy to give a thorough evaluation. Diagnoses of behaviro problems and mental illness are tossed in after a questionnaire and brief conversation. Drug prescription follows, with little scientific follow-up to see if the drug creates the intended benefits. Many children and adults can go through myriads of drugs or combination of drugs in their search for help.

An excellent article in the New York Times warned "At a time when increasing numbers of children are being treated for psychiatric problems, naming those problems remains more an art than a science. Doctors often disagree about what is wrong." and yet, "A child’s problems are now routinely given two or more diagnoses at the same time, like attention deficit and bipolar disorders. And parents of disruptive children in particular — those who once might have been called delinquents, or simply “problem children” — say they hear an alphabet soup of labels that seem to change as often as a child’s shoe size."

Evaluation of mental problems requires extensive analysis of the person's life style, learning patterns, family dynamics, peer interaction, learning and processing deficiencies, and in the case of children, analysis of school structure and curriculum. Often an on-site visit to the home or school is critical for a productive diagnosis, that is, a diagnosis that leads to clear treatment prescription and measurements of benefit outcome. A brief visit to a physician's office is no way to garner a diagnosis and the subsequent drug(s). It may be expedient, but also risky.

Behavioral therapy provided by experienced and logical therapists, although by no means a panacea, remains the treatment of choice in terms of relative effectiveness and low risks.

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