For years, many experts have argued that too many kids are diagnosed with ADHD and related disorders, and that as a result developed countries may be medicating far more young children — in some cases with little-understood long-term consequences — than it should be. To take one disturbing, recent example of how haphazard diagnostic practices can be, in March a study of 400,000 Taiwanese kids published in Pediatrics found a correlation between how young a given child was for their class and how likely it was they would be diagnosed with ADHD — suggesting children were being slapped with a diagnostic label for being, well, childish.
A YouTube video called “Drugs for Kids” — full disclosure: a friend of a friend made it — takes a rather tongue-in-cheek, funny/sad approach to this problem, and it’s worth checking out, as long as you’re cool with a bit of not-safe-for-work language:
So the next time you’re worried that we’re overprescribing potent medications to tiny little kids, remember that there’s a good reason for it: Nearly seven out of every seven children act like children.
