Overdiagnosis claim made on Australia's 'Today' show
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'It's just outrageous': Concerns doctors are over-diagnosing children with ADHD and autism
Today medical expert Dr Nick Coastworth spoke with Professor Patrick McGorry, the man behind the claims and he said he agrees with what Professor McGorry has said.
"I spoke to Pat yesterday and we are clearly over-diagnosing autism and ADHD," he said.
"You've got two different groups, the kids who are really suffering from it and require intensive therapy and then you've got kids on the margin of the diagnosis who are seeking the diagnosis for extra assistance, but maybe could do without it.
"And it's that group which is driving the over-diagnosis phenomenon that Pat's talking about."
Dr Coatsworth said part of the issue was these are criteria-based diagnoses and aren't like other health conditions where patients either have it or don't.
"There is a spectrum called the autism spectrum disorder, so there is going to be people on the cusp who have very mild illness but there is also services and financial benefit that's attached to having these diagnoses, he said.
"We have to be honest, the NDIS is partly responsible for this, particularly with autism, ADHD is not covered by the NDIS and nor should it be but this is what's driving the over-diagnosis."
Dr Coatsworth said with this over-diagnosis, psychiatrists are swamped, so the fees go up, with costs hitting around $3000 for the consultation to be officially diagnosed.
"Social media is undoubtedly responsible, you are rewiring kids when their brains are developing and they're sitting there and scrolling away and we wonder why there is an explosion in ADHD.
"That's why people over the age of 60 are saying kids need to get outdoors and run free, there was no mobile phones back then, no scrolling, so the amount of so-called ADHD was a lot less."
NDIS is Australia's Disability Insurence
I am one of those over 60 types who say kids should get out more.
Autism is being overdiagnosed claims go back to the mid-20th century when Leo Kanner said he undiagnosed 90 percent of the patients he saw.
I have partially changed my mind about the overdiagnosis issue. I do not know about Australia's Disability insurance but in America, I believe the frenzy to get very young children into ABA is causing overdiagnosis.
Apparently as far as this psychiatrist is concerned Autistic adults don't exist. This is very typical of mild/Aspergers/Level 1 Autism deniers. In this section, we have a thread about people faking autism. In that thread, I lay out the harm that is being done by the perception that there is an epidemic of Autism wannabes. The perception of widespread overdiagnosis is causing the same harm.
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DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
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Certainly ADHD is probably over diagnosed as its not always easy to recognise against other things like kids just being kids especially boys.
There`s probably a laziness among teachers now days that would rather medicate a more challenging subgroup of active boys than make their teaching more interesting or engaging.
I don't believe ADHD & Dyslexia belong in the same category as autism anyway, as is commonly done now days labelling as "neurodiverse".
Many kids outgrow ADHD & anyway this & dyslexia can be mitigated much of the time and most go on to have normal independent lives abit a few minor bumps on the way.
The same cannot be said about autism, which can be a major disability destroying someone's ability to live a full life and also linked to significantly reduced intelligence among a large percentage, with anywhere between 35-45 % intellectually disabled as adults depending what stats are used.
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