Overworked doctors tend to misdiagnosis ADHD: Expert

JEDDAH — Too many patients and overworked doctors could lead to poor diagnostics results, especially in the case of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), a report revealed recently, Al-Watan reported. A number of patients are diagnosed with ADHD in a hurry. This is due to the fact that doctors are stretched and do not spend enough time with the patient to get at a precise diagnosis. If the patients exhibit signs that are symptomatic of ADHD then the doctors, who generally have a few minutes to make a call, make their diagnosis on the broad symptoms, rather than delving deeply into the symptoms to ascertain whether it is ADHD or not. According to Vox.com, Dr. Allen Francis, who believes ADHD is being over-diagnosed, there several studies done in the US, Taiwan, Iceland, and Canada show that the youngest kid in a classroom was consistently more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than the oldest kid. He said this problem is also due to time constraints faced by doctors. “The problem is that most doctors don’t have the time and some don’t have the training to make an accurate diagnosis to know when medication is necessary and when it is not. Sixty percent of stimulant drugs are prescribed by non-psychiatrists — pediatricians, GPs, and family doctors — and they usually only have a few minutes with each patient. They don’t really get the time to get to know the patient and their family. “If we did deep evaluations, the diagnosis would be more accurate. Many kids would not be on medications. We wouldn’t be spending $11 billion on ADHD medications; we would have more money available for the school systems,” said Francis. Alternatively, Dr. David Goodman argued that ADHD is being under-diagnosed — especially in women. ADHD is harder to diagnose in women because while hyperactivity is common in men and boys, inattentiveness is more common in women and girls. He also argues that there is a pattern in psychiatry where mental disorders are dismissed before being taken seriously. If one goes back to schizophrenia 60 years ago, people said it wasn’t a psychiatric disorder — it was a choice of lifestyle. We don’t have that conversation anymore. Thirty years ago, the same was applied to depression. One thing is for sure: A professional evaluation will always be better than Googling and self-diagnosing for ADHD, because misdiagnosis happens often and can be dangerous.