One of the country’s most distinguished child psychiatrists, Dr Mike Shooter has recently said that autism and ADHD are ‘vastly over diagnosed’, with parents wanting their child who has a behaviour problem to be diagnosed with these conditions because ‘it’s a way for a parent to set the blame on something else’.
Writing in the Daily Mail, Dr Shooter claims
‘Such conditions are vastly, and dangerously, over-diagnosed. As a former president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, I am convinced that something else is going on — something that most parents don’t want to acknowledge and won’t thank me for saying.
Of course, autism and ADHD can wreck the lives of children and their families. And I have seen many genuinely heartbreaking cases of children struck down with these conditions.
But, very often, the children I see with these diagnoses plainly have not got these conditions at all. Instead, they happen to be troublesome children reacting to awful situations in their families.
To put it bluntly, they are heartily sick of being tossed around on a sea of adult wishes. But, instead of being listened to, they get labelled with a disorder. These incorrect diagnoses are deeply damaging. Yet, I am one of the very few child specialists who are fighting against this trend.
So why is this chilling over-labelling of the nation’s children taking place? First and foremost, it is my view that some parents love a diagnosis. It lets them off the hook because it means their child’s behaviour is not their problem or their fault. They do not have to address their own role in their children’s unhappiness.
Secondly, a behavioural diagnosis on a child is seen by many as some kind of badge of honour. For example, a diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome — a condition on the higher functioning end of the autism spectrum that is often linked to super-cognitive function — is something you’ll find many parents boasting about.
Whilst the doctor continues to say he has seen, in his belief, genuine cases, he still believes the ‘conditions’ are over diagnosed.
But what do you think?
Are doctors too quick to diagnose these conditions, or is Dr Shooter over-stepping the mark with his comments?
I agree,you can not tell if a two year old has autism and alot of parents its away out of dealing with the childs problems sorry but true,all children need to ne patented diffidently I have 5 children and I parent them all differently as they r all different from each other my oldest son is the one who jas been hard work,bad at school,kicking off,but he does not have autism just needs discipline thanks