Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a behavior problem this is certainly characterized by hyperactivity, inattention, restlessness, and impulsivity and, until recently, was diagnosed primarily in children. It was first thought as Hyperkinetic Disorder of Childhood in 1957 and was popularly known as hyperactivity or hyperactive syndrome until it had been renamed ADHD in 1987. The renaming also represented a shift in focus from hyperactive behavior towards the inattention as a characteristic that is major of disorder.

In the us the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates 7 percent of school-age (6-10) children have ADHD, with a ratio of 3 to at least one boys to girls. White children generally have higher rates of ADHD diagnosis than minority children. The definition of ADHD has broadened in recent years. Now, along with school-age children, ADHD is diagnosed in preschool children, adolescents, and adults, which plays a part in the prevalence that is rising.

The most frequent medical treatment for ADHD has been psychoactive medications, especially ethyl-phenidate (Ritalin) as well as other stimulant medications (Cylert, Adderall, and Concerta). Treatment rates have increased enormously in modern times; in 2004 the Department of Health and Human Services estimated 5 million children ages 5 to 17 were treated for ADHD in 2000-02, up from 2.6 million in 1994. The diagnosis and treatment of ADHD is a lot higher in america compared to other countries, but evidence suggests that considering that the 1990s it has been rising in other countries as well, for instance, in britain.

The causes of ADHD are not well understood, although various theories have been offered, including dietary, genetic, psychological, and social ones. In the past 2 decades, medical scientists have reported genetic susceptibilities to ADHD and discovered variations in brain imaging results from those with ADHD and individuals without ADHD. The causes of ADHD are still largely unknown although bio-medical theories of ADHD predominate essay writing. Some contend that even if you can find biological differences when considering children with ADHD and other children, what is observed may be a reflection of variations in temperament in the place of a specific disorder.

ADHD and its treatment have already been controversial at least since the 1970s.

Critics have expressed concern with the drugging of schoolchildren, contending that ADHD is just a label for childhood behavior that is deviant. Others grant that some children may have a disorder that is neurological but maintain that there has been an overdiagnosis of ADHD. Some educators and parents have raised concerns about adverse effects from long-term use of stimulant medications from time to time. Child psychiatrists see ADHD as the most common childhood psychiatric disorder and consider psychoactive medication treatment as well established and safe. Parent and consumer groups, such as for example CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), have a tendency to offer the medical perspective of ADHD.

Since the 1990s there’s been a rise that is significant the diagnosis and treatment of adult ADHD. Whereas childhood ADHD is normally parent or school identified, adult ADHD appears to be largely self-identified. Some researchers have noted that many adults that are apparently successful an ADHD diagnosis and medication treatment as a consequence of learning about the disorder from professionals, the media, or others, and then seeing their own life problems reflected in the description of ADHD (e.g., disorganized life, inability to sustain attention, moving from job to job). Adult ADHD remains controversial, however. Many psychiatrists have embraced adult ADHD as a major problem that is social with claims of tens of billions of dollars in lost productivity and household income as a result of disorder, whereas critics have suggested it really is “the medicalization of underperformance.”

Sociologists view ADHD as a vintage case of this medicalization of deviant behavior, defining a previously nonmedical problem as a medical one together with remedy for ADHD as a form of medical control that is social.

Whereas some have pointed out that when a challenge becomes medicalized it really is less stigmatized, because its origin is seen as physiological or biomedical as opposed to as linked to volitional behavior, others point out the social consequences of medicalizing children’s behavior problems. Some have suggested that medicalizing deviant behavior as ADHD individualizes complex social problems and allows for powerful forms of medical social control (medications) to be used. Secondary gain, accruing social benefits from a diagnosis that is medical is also a problem with ADHD. You can find reports of adolescents seeking an ADHD diagnosis to get learning disability status in order to have certain benefits, such as for example untimed tests or alternative assignments. From a sociological view, the meaning of ADHD is a prime exemplory case of diagnostic expansion, the widening definition of a recognized diagnosis. For some, ADHD is now deemed a disorder that is lifelong with an expanding a long time for diagnosis (from preschool to adult) and a decreased threshold for psychoactive medication treatment. It is more likely that an increasing number of individuals are being identified, labeled, and treated as having ADHD although it is possible that the behaviors characteristic of ADHD are increasing because of some kind of social cause.