A Whopping 9% of American Children Have ADHD? I Don't Think So

Fresh off the presses:

9% of U.S. Kids Have ADHD

OK, so can someone tell me why ADHD did not exist when I was a kid (and that wasn't that long ago), and now all of a sudden, certain scientists are claiming that upwards of 10% of our children need to be put on lifelong medication?

This statistic, by the way, was arrived at through the following "scientific" method:

1. 3,082 children participated in the survey.
2. "Using interviews, the researchers were able to establish the presence of ADHD."

So based on 3,000 kids who were interviewed (or their parents were interviewed), the scientists made a firm "diagnosis" of ADHD...and for all we know, this was based on a telephone survey.

In the article, ADHD is described as being characterized by "hyperactivity, inattention and impulsivity." Ummmm. Yeah. That's what it means to be a KID. You are hyperactive (have lots of energy), inattentive (when school gets BORING), and impulsive (because you are a KID).

So the "obvious" solution? Let's just put these kids on drugs. Let's NOT look at their nutrition. Let's NOT look at problems that might be happening in their homes. Let's NOT look at our crumbling school system and overcrowded classrooms. (Although, ironically, a story came out the same day about how too much television might cause attention problems in children.)

What amazes me is that there are smart, well-meaning people behind these studies. The lead researcher is a woman who has a ridiculous amount of credentials. So why are such smart people being so completely blinded by pharmaceutical solutions to normal variations in personality?

Could it be that if you spend too much time in a lab, peering into a microscope at the bits and pieces of a person, that you forget to step back and look at them as living, breathing, evolving entities?

Meanwhile, we're posed to raise a whole new generation of drug-addicted zombies, thanks to Ritalin.