sciencedaily | You can't catch attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Yet
the diagnosis and treatment of this behavioral condition is spreading
like a contagion -- surging as much as tenfold in some countries.
Call it an economic and cultural plague, but not necessarily a
medical one, says Brandeis professor Peter Conrad. In a recent paper in
the journal Social Science and Medicine, Conrad and coauthor Meredith Bergey examined the growth of ADHD in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and Brazil.
Until recently, North America tallied by far the most ADHD diagnoses,
and the United States consumed 90 percent of all Ritalin, one of the
most common ADHD drugs. ADHD diagnoses continue to grow in the U.S., but
Americans account for only 75 percent of Ritalin users today.
Conrad and Bergey attribute ADHD's growth to five trends. Drug
companies are effective lobbyists, and have spurred some countries to
relax marketing restrictions on stimulants. Psychoanalytic treatment
with talk therapy is giving way to biological psychiatry -- treating
psychological problems with drugs. More European and South American
psychologists and psychiatrists are adopting the American-based
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) standards, which are broader and
have a lower threshold for diagnosing ADHD. Vocal ADHD advocacy groups
work closely with drug companies to promote pharmaceutical treatment.
Lastly, the easy availability of ADHD information and self-diagnosis via
the Internet empowers consumers to ask for prescription treatment.
Many websites promoting ADHD drugs offer checklists with questions like these:
- Do you fidget a lot?
- Is it hard for you to concentrate?
- Are you disorganized at work and home?
- Do you start projects and then abandon them?
"These
checklists turn all kinds of different behaviors into medical
problems," Conrad says. "The checklists don't distinguish what is part
of the human condition and what is a disease."
According to the study, in the U.K., diagnosis of the disorder in
school-age children grew from less than one percent in the 1990s to
about five percent today. In Germany, prescription ADHD drugs rose from
10 million daily doses in 1998 to 53 million in 2008.
Growth in Italy and France has been slower, in part due to those
countries' more restrictive pharmaceutical drug laws. However, even
those nations are becoming more lax, says Conrad. In Brazil, a rising
number of ADHD advocacy groups, many with close ties to the
pharmaceutical industry, are raising awareness of the disorder.
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