Many physicians may confuse ADHD with these other disorders, and this culminates to an over-diagnosis of children with ADHD. .
The criterion that applies to diagnosing a child with ADHD is categorically clear. First, the particular child must highlight some difficulty in sustaining his/her attention and he/she must often be forgetful (Kooij, 2013). Additionally, the particular child often exhibits a behavior of losing crucial material that he/she needs for various tasks. Fourthly, the child often fidgets with his/her hands and feet and this respective child tends to talk excessively. Finally, children with ADHD tend to interrupt other's conversions by playing various games (Midgley, 2009). The discussed symptoms have to be present over a significant period of not less than six months, and they do not just happen instantaneously. Many physicians do not observe children for these symptoms over an adequate period, and they end up rushing the ADHD diagnosis (Neece, Baker, Crnic & Blacher, 2012). Additionally, such physicians may not be privy to a thorough medical history of the child, and they do not provide for sufficient evaluation time. More precisely, some physicians diagnose ADHD in children based on an office visit that lasted for a few minutes, and they do not consult adequately with psychologists and other specialists when conducting evaluations. Therefore, such actions result in the overdiagnosis of ADHD in children.
aIn many countries, the prescription rates of drugs that treat ADHD in children are skyrocketing (Nucifora, 2015). For instance, in Australia there was an increase in prescribing rates for ADHD drugs by over 70% between 2010 and 2011. From a different perspective, one might say that the increased prescribing rates are attributable to greater public awareness of mental illness, and this may indicate increased rates of seeking treatment. However, this is not the case, and the increased prescribing rates are a manifestation that there is an over-diagnosis of ADHD in children.