Diagnoses of ADD (attention deficit disorder) are soaring e ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). In the UK, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) estimates that it is affects 5% of children. Furthermore, between 2020 and 2022 the requests for diagnosis quadrupled compared to the previous two years. However, experts are extremely concerned that the explosion of diagnoses for attention deficit disorder is resulting in an increasing number of patients taking drugs they don’t need, and experiencing very serious side effects.
“Many NHS services have waiting lists so long that people go to private clinics, where the cost is around £900 just for an initial consultation. And it is extremely facile get a diagnosisJoanna Moncrieff, a professor of critical and social psychiatry at University College London and a practicing psychiatrist, told the Daily Mail. According to NICE guidelines, people diagnosed with ADHD and ADD should only get prescription medications if the symptoms cause significant impairment in their life. THE drugs prescribed are in fact stimulants, which have the purpose of increasing concentration and attention. Four types of ADHD medicines are authorized in the UK and they belong to the family of amphetamines, which stimulate the nervous system, increase heart rate and alertness levels. In short, they are similar to illegal drugs.
Attention disorders ADD and ADHD diagnoses on the rise: Amphetamines ‘doubt long-term benefits’
In the UK, the increase in diagnoses of attention disorders ADD and ADHD it is leading more and more people to take drugs – amphetamines, but at the same time also sleeping pills – which they really don’t need. Professor Moncrieff explained to the Daily Mail that these drugs “they also produce a kind of tunnel vision, making you very absorbed in what is being done. They may help focus on simple, short-term things, but have not been shown to improve long-term performance“.
Since 2017, there has been an almost 85% increase in the number of patients prescribed ADHD medications in England, of which 646,000 medications were prescribed between October and December 2022. This is a increase by 6% compared to the previous quarter and by 69% compared to the two-year period 2017-2018. Since many diagnoses are made on children, the fear of experts is that younger and younger children (the Daily Mail cites the case of a 3-year-old boy) receive these stimulant drugs or sleeping pills with devastating effects, including hallucinations.
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