What Dr. Saul Is Trying To Say About ADHD

After the general background on ADHD, lets pass on to the idea that Dr. Saul is trying to express in his book and several published articles related to the matter.

Could not be ADHD after all

There is a report showing that in the U.S. there was an increase of almost 36% in the use of ADHD medications, in a period of four years, with boys between the ages of 12 to 18 being the most common users. Why is this important? Medications used to treat ADHD include stimulants, such as Aderall and Ritalin. These help patients to stay focused and reduce their hyperactivity. 

Dr. Saul states that ADHD does not exist because it is not actually a disorder on itself, but it is just a consequence of an underlying undiagnosed problem, which is causing the ADHD like symptomatology.

Because these disorders are undiagnosed, Dr. Saul believes that there are many misdiagnosed ADHD patients whom are being treated with very strong medication that could potentially cause more harm than good.

What's wrong with Dr. Saul's approach? 

Dr. Saul makes a very good point in saying that ADHD diagnosis may be being abused, along with its treatment. It is possible that sometimes, doctors face difficult cases where the child is showing several ADHD symptoms and can simply be diagnosed with the disorder, based on the classification of the DSM. The problem comes when the medication doesn’t work, or only works for a while, making it necessary to increase the dosis of stimulants and risking into a mistaken diagnosis. 

On the other hand, the statement that Dr. Saul proposes regarding the existence of ADHD as a disorder has created confusion among doctors, patients and the general public, instead of shredding a light on ADHD. Many ADHD patients have expressed their concern in the believe that ADHD does not exist.

I personally think that Dr. Saul abused of the already well known marketing strategy of “controversy sells” and by doing this, he gave the wrong idea on what he wants to express, which is a true concern on the diagnostic methods of ADHD and the abuse of ADHD medications.

What is important here is to understand that sometimes, a certain disorder is not as simple to diagnose as people imagine, specially when it comes to behavioral disorders.

See Also: What Is ADHD, And Who Gets It?

Every patient is different, and so it should be his or her treatment. Dr. Saul basically says that not all ADHD patients should be treated in the same way and that an effort should be done to understand the causes of the disorder in each and every one of the patients in order to offer them the better alternative when it comes to treatment.