The parents and teachers both reported a decrease in ADHD symptoms with the administration of the medication, but this decrease in symptoms did not result in better functioning at school. Dr. Lopez-Duran argues that these results do not mean the medication is ineffective. He argues that additional interventions are required in order to garner results and that the lowering of the ADHD symptoms allows these interventions to be effective in improving school functioning. And he makes his argument very eloquently. But I really have to wonder if the interventions alone wouldn't have improved the school functioning sufficiently without the use of medications. I also have to wonder if the teacher/parent results are not a placebo effect.
I believe that ADHD is seriously over diagnosed and may not even be an authentic "disorder". As far back as 1999, CNN reported that ADHD was being overdiagnosed and the medication for it overprescribed. In 2007 the Psychiatric Times reported that the overdiagnosing of ADHD has become a "crisis". In the Times article, Dr. Mota-Castillo provides a case history of "Maria" and notes all the "diagnoses" which were administered to this 17 year old girl: ADHD, ODD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder) and "behavioral" (using her symptoms to manipulate her mother). Dr. Mota-Castillo points out this "child-blaming stance" which is so prominent in current psychiatry and the medical model. I too see this pattern of blaming the victim. The family is dysfunctional, the child acts out, so the child is taken to the psychiatrist, labelled with a "disorder" and medicated.
What is also interesting about this case history is the mother's statement that Maria is "acting just like her father" and the mother has a bad temper. There is no elaboration on what that means. I have to wonder if this isn't learned behavior from within the family.