Attention Deficit (±Hyperactivity) Disorder is not new, and not news, but as it – or rather they – are mostly associated with children, they are conditions which have an unusual capacity to create moral panic. This usually turns up in terms of: “Is this real, or an artefact of modern diagnostic attitudes?” – or: “Is it right to give medicines to children for behavioural problems?”. And of course: “Is it right to medicate children who are just being naughty”? (This particular one has always irritated me; it makes so many unspoken assumptions I find it difficult to think of a response and keep breathing.)
So this is an area where clear, easily comprehended information is likely to be welcome, right?
Enter ADHD Voices, an international (i.e. United States & English) project which intends to bring “the perspectives and experiences of children into international debates around rising child psychiatric diagnoses and the increasing use of drugs in child psychiatry”. The project has recently released a report which can be freely downloaded and read by anyone interested. Having done so, I must say it is informative, presented in a readable way, and probably ... though I am not a child psychiatrist [1] ... representative of the limited number of cases Iʼve been aware of.
