ADHD – Child Abuse By Professionals?

Essay by arthurmdCollege, Undergraduate April 2009

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Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a label given to children with undesirable behaviours. It is seen as a result of modern life, fast living, fast food and little quality time. Behaviour characteristics are described as the effect of how the environment and neurobiological factors interact. Yet the behaviour characteristics in a child diagnosed as having ADHD are seen as abnormally inattentive and impulsive (Lefton & Brannon, 2006). It is a very controversial 'disorder' and the primary medical treatments are questionable at best. In this essay I will explore the 'symptoms' of ADHD, the history of this problem as well as the effectiveness of the different types of treatment available.

A diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is common. Although the assessment of ADHD varies widely, it is generally confirmed in children, mainly boys, with symptoms such as inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity and distractibility. It has been blamed on chemical imbalances in the brain, abnormal motor function, and many other types of brain abnormality.

These typically appear as a deficit in inhibitory control, a loss of self control and poor self regulation. The existence of it is generally accepted in medical fields, yet the correct diagnosis and assessment of it is still debated (Dryer, Kiernan & Tyson, 2006).

Aphasia, Asymbolia, Brain Damage, Cerebral Disrhythmia, Dyslexia, Hyperactivity, Hyperkinesis, Minimal Brain Damage, Minimal Brain Dysfunction, Learning Disability, Organic Brain Damage, the Strauss Syndrome. These are all the other names for ADHD. By the mid-forties, physicians who believed that it was damage to the brain that caused the symptoms described and the above named disorders, decided to create a new label for the defective child who wouldn't stay in his seat at school, that would encompass many different problems. The 'disorder' spread through America slowly, but boomed in the sixties drug-culture. It is...