Diagnosing children with psychiatric disorders is even more problematic and potentially harmful than diagnosing adults. Here are some of the reasons why.
There is no consensus in the medical community about what behaviors constitute a particular "disorder." One psychiatrist might diagnosis a child with ADHD, another might say that the same child has oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and a third doctor may diagnosis this child with bipolar disorder. In 2008, an article in the New York Times Magazine chronicled the story of a little boy who was diagnosed over the course of time first with ODD, then ADHD and finally with bipolar disorder. By the time he was nine, this unfortunate child had taken the anti-psychotic Risperdal, two stimulant drugs for ADHD, followed by Depakote, Lamictal, Abilify and Lithium. None of these powerful and potentially toxic psychotropic drugs helped this child, and in the end his parents sent him to residential treatment on the recommendation of a psychiatrist. Unfortunately, this story is repeated every day in the lives of more than 7 million children in the United States who are drugged far more than their counterparts in other developed countries....![]()
