Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is being diagnosed more frequently than in the past, especially in children. Over the past ten years, diagnoses have increased by approximately forty percent. Frequent symptoms of ADHD, such as an inability to pay attention or focus, negatively affect a child’s progress in school. In order to diagnose a child with ADHD, doctors look at the severity of a list of symptoms the person displays in different environments. Because the current diagnosis of ADHD is very subjective, many people are diagnosed unnecessarily. With false diagnoses sometimes leading to further problems, stricter guidelines for diagnosing patients with ADHD may be helpful.

In the past few decades, the number of children on medication for ADHD has increased from 600,000 to nearly 3.5 million. From 2002 to 2012 alone, the demand for drugs that treat this disorder increased fivefold. According to the New York Times, “Today, 1 in 7 children receives a diagnosis of the disorder by the age of 18.” This increase in demand for ADHD medication has not gone unnoticed. In a running Wall Street Journal poll asking if “ADHD medications [are] overprescribed,” eighty percent of respondents agreed that ADHD drugs are indeed overprescribed.

Why such a large increase recently? First, awareness of ADHD has increased. Over the last decade, advertisements in health magazines, commercials, and doctor’s offices have increased significantly. Before this marketing push, the disorder was rarely talked about, let alone advertised. Another reason for this surge may be due to an increase in the pace of daily life, coming from a rise in technology, daily tasks, and academic standards. This hurried lifestyle also leads to doctors diagnosing people too quickly. According to Sanford Newmark, a Clinical Professor at UCSF, “Many children are diagnosed after a visit of 15 to 20 minutes with a pediatrician or other professional.” There’s no single test used to diagnose someone with ADHD. The two charts below display ways that doctors get information to determine if the child has ADHD. The checklist in the first picture leaves room for error. For example, how does one determine sometimes vs. often? Tests like these are so subjective that it’s hard to determine exactly where the child stands. Another reason these tests may be inaccurate is because a lot of these behaviors are normal, child-like behaviors, which makes determining whether the severity of the behavior is a valid ADHD symptom is very hard to tell. In the second picture, a child must have five or six of the symptoms to be considered ADHD. Because ADHD cannot be diagnosed by a certain test, a simple exaggeration of one’s symptoms may lead to a misdiagnosis.

Another factor that may impact the diagnoses is gender. Faulty diagnosis is more common in boys. In a study performed in Germany, two identical cases were diagnosed differently. The only difference in the two was that the boy was diagnosed with ADHD, and the girl wasn’t. This may be because boys’ behavior is more prone to show hyperactivity. This is affected by not only the gender of the patient, but the gender of the psychiatrist as well. In the same study, it was found that male doctors were more likely to diagnose a patient with ADHD than female doctors.

Not only are people who prescribed the medicine taking it, but it has also become a popular drug in colleges. According to the New York Times, “Psychiatric breakdown and suicidal thoughts are the most rare and extreme results of stimulant addiction, but those horror stories are far outnumbered by people who, seeking to study or work longer hours, cannot sleep for days, lose their appetite or hallucinate.” People who don’t need this medicine have more to lose by taking it. One could argue that even those who may need the medicine are better off without it.

Alex, a seventeen year old who has ADHD, has been on prescription medicine for it since the age of seven. She was first prescribed with Ritalin, and it had very negative side effects on her. Her mom commented, “Her weight started to fluctuate a lot — like really unhealthily and then she would go to school and just sit in class and basically stare at the wall. She was literally a zombie. She would come home and just sit down on the couch and do nothing, which is obviously odd for a little kid. It was like it had too strong of an effect. She wasn’t herself anymore at all.” After realizing the medication was doing more harm than good, she got off Ritalin and eventually tried Adderall, which was more suitable for her. To maintain a healthier balance, she doesn’t take medication on weekends and her family can tell a difference in her focus. Her mom says, “It’s very apparent when she does and does not take it, the medication helps her in areas related to academics and general behavior.” Although the medication has helped Alex in many ways, she has become very reliant on it, which may lead to her being on medication her entire life. If other treatments were pursued, such as behavioral therapy, her dosage may be lowered and she may be able to eventually get off the medicine.

Because medication can have negative side effects, it’s important to look at other treatment options before treating ADHD with prescription drugs. Exercise, good nutrition, and getting quality sleep on a regular basis are all healthy treatments that reduce symptoms of ADHD. Of these, exercise can be the most helpful. “Physical activity immediately boosts the brain’s dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin levels—all of which affect focus and attention.” Behavior therapy is another effective treatment and usually helps to lower the dosage of a child’s medication if they are on a stimulant. When using behavioral therapy, consistency between home and other environments is very helpful in increasing the power of this treatment against a child’s ADHD symptoms. There are also programs that children can start such as Brain Balance and Transcendental Meditation that help children focus better on schoolwork. These are only some of the alternative treatments; none of which come with any side effects like medication does. This is why it’s important to consider the options before jumping straight to prescriptions.

With more careful examination in diagnosing a child with ADHD and the use of alternate treatments, the current surge of ADHD prescription drugs would calm down. If this happens, the negative effects on people will decrease and lives can be changed. Every person diagnosed with ADHD is different. Therefore, treatment will not be the same and should be monitored to see what works best from case to case. Trying alternate forms of treatment is a glimpse of hope for those who think ADHD can only be treated with a pill.