title: Childhood: a suitable case for treatment?
abstract: We examine the contemporary debate on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, in which concerns about medicalisation and overuse of drug treatments are paramount. We show medicalisation in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder to be a complex issue that requires systematic research to be properly understood. In particular, we suggest that the debate on this disorder might be more productive and less divisive if longitudinal, evidence-based understanding of the harms and benefits of psychiatric diagnosis and misdiagnosis existed, as well as better access to effective, non-drug treatments. If articulation of the values that should guide clinical practice in child psychiatry is encouraged, this might create greater trust and less division.
authors: Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. Electronic address: ilina.singh@psych.ox.ac.uk.
authors: Ilina
authors: I
authors: Singh
authors: Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry (IoP), King's College London, London, UK.
authors: Simon
authors: S
authors: Wessely
mesh_terms: D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000628:therapy*; D002648:Child; D002665:Child Psychiatry; D006801:Humans