ADHD Is Fake

ADHD, as it is now commonly known, was determined to be a mental illness by a vote of the American Psychiatric Association members at their annual meeting in 1987, and the new definition was then added to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.  Children (and increasingly adults) who exhibit behaviors such as inattention, distractibility, trouble in following directions, a tendency to lose things, and difficulty awaiting their turn to speak or participate in activities are now seen as victims of ADHD.  In the past, these behaviors were labeled as achievement-ability discrepancies, poor impulse control, or perhaps simply unruly classroom behavior, but they are now redefined as a type of mental illness requiring treatment rather than self-control.

Relieved to find that their children’s behavioral problems are the result of a neurobiological disorder rather than a failure of discipline, large numbers of parents have willingly allowed their children to be diagnosed and medicated — with no scientific confirmation of the origins of ADHD, and even less information about the side effects of the medication.  A report by the National Institute of Mental Health in 1998 admits that “after years of clinical research and experience with ADHD, our knowledge about the cause or causes of ADHD remain largely speculative.”  Even the NIMH cautions that “further research is necessary to establish ADHD as a brain disorder.”

Yet despite the lack of compelling scientific evidence about ADHD, there continues to be a significant increase in the diagnosis of children as suffering from this “mental illness.

Anne Hendershott, The Politics of Deviance, p. 50-51