Post by Summre Blakely on Sept 28, 2016 3:40:00 GMT
Ok, so this is a very random thought I had while watching this documentary, so bare with me and any misshapen logic I may use in my thought process; I'm just thinking out loud here.
It has seemed in recent years that a hot topic of debate for scientists is whether or not there is overdiagnosis of ADHD and other attention disorders in children recently. Personally, it seems that more and more kids are being diagnosed with this disorder, or at least more than there were when I was younger. I do not know about the validity of this - I have looked at several journal articles that claim that yes, there is an overdiagnosis of ADHD, and that no, there is not. While watching the struggles of the young girl in Colorado in grade school, it dawned on me that maybe this growing epidemic of children growing up in food deserts and becoming hungry is correlated with more children being diagnosed with ADHD in the past years. While watching the film, the young girl seemed extremely distracted in school, and she even had to write the word "Focus!" on her desk so she'd remember to stay focused on school and stop thinking about how hungry she was. Perhaps there is a link here between hungry children and the overdiagnosis of ADHD, or perhaps not! What are your thoughts on the plausibility of this?
Articles:
jad.sagepub.com/content/11/2/106.short
jad.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/06/16/1087054715586571.abstract
pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/138/3/e20160407?sso=1&sso_redirect_count=1&nfstatus=401&nftoken=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000&nfstatusdescription=ERROR%3a+No+local+token
This article was VERY interesting. It actually pointed to a very different phenomenon going on. Rather than white children being overdiagnosed with ADHD, it pointed out that minority children are being underdiagnosed due to a lack of healthcare access and quality.
This brings in the issue of inequalities and disadvantaged minority populations, which would make this whole thought process much more complex.
It has seemed in recent years that a hot topic of debate for scientists is whether or not there is overdiagnosis of ADHD and other attention disorders in children recently. Personally, it seems that more and more kids are being diagnosed with this disorder, or at least more than there were when I was younger. I do not know about the validity of this - I have looked at several journal articles that claim that yes, there is an overdiagnosis of ADHD, and that no, there is not. While watching the struggles of the young girl in Colorado in grade school, it dawned on me that maybe this growing epidemic of children growing up in food deserts and becoming hungry is correlated with more children being diagnosed with ADHD in the past years. While watching the film, the young girl seemed extremely distracted in school, and she even had to write the word "Focus!" on her desk so she'd remember to stay focused on school and stop thinking about how hungry she was. Perhaps there is a link here between hungry children and the overdiagnosis of ADHD, or perhaps not! What are your thoughts on the plausibility of this?
Articles:
jad.sagepub.com/content/11/2/106.short
jad.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/06/16/1087054715586571.abstract
pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/138/3/e20160407?sso=1&sso_redirect_count=1&nfstatus=401&nftoken=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000&nfstatusdescription=ERROR%3a+No+local+token
This article was VERY interesting. It actually pointed to a very different phenomenon going on. Rather than white children being overdiagnosed with ADHD, it pointed out that minority children are being underdiagnosed due to a lack of healthcare access and quality.
This brings in the issue of inequalities and disadvantaged minority populations, which would make this whole thought process much more complex.
