What's Wrong with A Child?
On November 11 the NYT prominently featured an article that prominently featured ADHD and depression the title was "What's Wrong with A Child? Psychiatrists Often Disagree" by Benedict Carey.
While this article raises the problem and raises an eyebrow about the escalation of diagnoses in children and the phenomenon of children with multiple diagnoses, it doesn't answer the question of why, or attempt to solve the problem. Dr. Lara Honos-Webb in The Gift of ADHD and Listening to Depression vehemently articulates that what you focus on you get more of. If you tell a child he has a deficit disorder is it a suprise that that child continues to get worse? Her approach not only explains the phenomenon of escalating diagnoses (epidemiologically and additional diagnoses for one child) but also offers an alternative. Translate symptoms into gifts and create a positive self-fulfilling prophesy rather than a negative one.
Here's the link.
(http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/11/health/psychology/11kids.html?
what do you think? Post your comments here.
Recent Comments