Rates of diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are skyrocketing, throughout America and the rest of the world. U.S. rates of youth diagnosis have increased 40% from just a decade ago. Adults with ADHD are now the fastest-growing segment of the population receiving diagnosis and medication. The disorder is painful and sometimes disabling for individuals and tremendously costly for society; yet, widespread misinformation, skepticism, and unanswered questions have jeopardized effective diagnosis and treatment. Researched and written by Stephen Hinshaw, an international expert on ADHD, and Katherine Ellison, a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist and author, ADHD: What Everyone Needs to Know is the go-to book for authoritative, current, accurate, and compelling information about the global ADHD epidemic. This book addresses questions such as: Is ADHD a genuine medical condition or a means of pathologizing active and exploratory behavior? Do medications for ADHD serve as needed treatments, or are they attempts at social control, designed to bolster profits of pharmaceutical firms? Has the ADHD label become a ruse by which parents can game the educational system for accommodations? How do symptoms and impairments related to ADHD differ between girls and women and boys and men? Why are ADHD medications often used as performance enhancers by college and high-school students?ADHD: What Everyone Needs to Know clears the air of the most polarizing and misleading information that abounds, providing straight talk and sound guidelines for educators, policymakers, health professionals, parents, and the general public. It shows the reality of ADHD but does not ignore the forces that have pushed up rates of diagnosis to alarmingly high levels.
