The ADHD Advantage

The ADHD Advantage sheds light on one of the most falsely assessed health conditions of the 21st century, by explaining how ADHD is overdiagnosed, overmedicated and why people with ADHD should embrace it as a means of success.

Out of all 6.4 million diagnoses of ADHD, up to 1.1 million might be falsely diagnosed. That’s one in six!

The reason medical science is horrible at diagnosing this disease is that the set of criteria used is terribly old and outdated. It’s a simple set of 12 symptoms, as soon as you have six of which, you’re diagnosed with ADHD.

You can’t just check a couple boxes to determine whether someone has this disease. Its symptoms are a lot more fluid. But it gets worse. Since children are the majority group suffering from ADHD, the diagnosis is usually made on account of the observer, not the victim.

It doesn’t help that all children are easily distracted, don’t pay a lot of attention, and are full of energy – that’s just being a child. But these natural behaviors are often falsely connected with ADHD.

Lastly, because there are seven times as many family doctors as there are ADHD specialists, it’s often the wrong doc making the diagnosis. Thus, ADHD is often the wrong diagnosis altogether.

I’m no doctor, and you should definitely read the book and consult an ADHD specialist, when it comes to your medication, but according to Dale Archer, ADHD medication is often abused and comes with terrible side effects.

The number of people falsely being prescribed ADHD medication is almost as big as the number of people falsely diagnosed (oh wonder).

Of course, that’s partially the fault of the pharmaceutical industry with its giant lobby. But ADHD drugs have addictive qualities as well, making it all the more difficult to get off them, once you’re hooked.

Even worse, they can offset growth and weight gain or loss. This is bad in adults, but in children, it’s devastating.

So whatever you do, don’t abuse ADHD medication or excessively medicate your child. There are much better ways to deal with it (and they don’t have to cost a cent).

For example, children with ADHD learn a lot better after exercising, so more exercise in school breaks is an easy way for them to focus. Better yet: it makes them great at sports. Especially team sports often require paying attention to many different things. Take basketball, for example. You have to see who’s available, guess where the ball will be next, estimate opponents’ moves, figure out your own path across the field, and so on. Kids with ADHD switch the direction of their attention a lot, and this comes in handy in…