Diagnosing mental disorders can be a (*)(*)(*)(*)(*). They are harder than medical diagnosis, (since medical relies more on physical readings from the body, blood, x-ray, etc) but medical professionals still make their share of mistakes as well. Because of the complexity of mental health diagnosis, people tend to misunderstand the disorder.

Are you saying that ADHD is probably misdiagnosed when it should be poor parenting or that eating disorders are caused by kids not being active enough? These statements indicate ignorance of the topic, which unless you've had the bad fortune to be involved with it or with a loved one, you don't really know about it. So its not your fault--why should idiots on teh radio take half truths about an issue and make it into conservative entertainment. At minimum, entertainment can be done in a way that educates people as well.

Of course, I like NPR. The idea is to find out about something I don't know anything about. Not hear something that reinforces some negative stereotype. There is no mental disorders, it all just pansy ass people who make stuff up, right?

__________________
The woman in my avatar is Cristina Scabbia and the woman in my profile picture is Tarja Turunen
Sun flames and moons glow, timeless the tides will flow, what will I face, what will be mine, fortune and fate the other side...

Post of the week:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Inferno You just don't relate to my sense of humor. How about this. Gosh darn funny man living in a whale. doncha know that gawd could do that I betcha he could. wink wink.

I agree.

No. I'm insinuating that not all diagnoses are accurate.

Oh, like American Idol? Survivor? Entertainment comes in all forms. If it pays the bills, it's successful entertainment.

Again...you're dealing with extremes. I never said those disorders don't exist. I'm just saying that perhaps not 100% of those diagnoses are accurate.

__________________
"It's the rich people's fault they earn more." - Makedde

Oh, no disagreement. One way to tell if a diagnosis is incorrect is whether or not the treatment works. This is true both in medical and psychological. I just think these shows tend to go too much in absolutes and extremes and people start believing it because its the only information they know about a particuliar disorder.

I guess my first question is what do you mean by something being overdiagnosed or over medicated? Can you put a percent on it? What do you base your view on?

Again, because both you and ABNS are saying "most" are misdiagnosed, I think that sounds like you believe that over 50% are misdiagnosed? I think that is inaccurate but I blame shows like this because you may think you've observed a few cases and then somebody on the radio says the same thing and suddenly your opinion is "most" are misdiagnosed. You really don't understand the specific mental disorder from these shows.

OK, let's give a quick quiz. How long should a kid exhibit certain symptoms before he can be diagnosed as ADHD? What are the two automatic ruleouts (other possible diagnoses)that have to be made before you can determine most mental disorders.

I've always been kind of an anti-medication person. I think such thinking can be shortsighted, because many drugs are beneficial. I've seen it medically first hand. Whats cool is that they've found things that 30 years ago probably would have killed me if I had lived back then.

Then please explain to me how is this out of context:

So you support his statement that only 1% of autism diagnoses are real? So you think my child is just a "brat"? Does that mean you think I'm a lousy father because my child is in the autistic spectrum? Then how do you explain my other child who is as normal as can be?

Savage knew exactly what he was saying, and he is going to take responsibility for it. If you want to be an apologist for this kind of nonsense, go right ahead.

Just don't expect me to have respect for you, because you just burned it.

__________________
Member of the vast Radical Middle conspiracy.

There's a major difference between some and "99%" who are "brats". And as far as overreacting goes -- it's hard not to have a strong reaction to this piece of human garbage when your child is autistic.

__________________
Member of the vast Radical Middle conspiracy.

I'm definitely anti-medication myself, and fortunately, we don't have to go that route in our case. We're already experiencing amazing results from just some occupational therapy and changes around the house in how discipline is laid down (I highly recommend "1-2-3 Magic", it has calmed our house considerably).

My son has always been a "walking encyclopedia" instead of a normal conversationalist, but he's already beginning to learn the fundamental social skills he needs for school this fall. It isn't cheap, it isn't easy, and my wife and I have zero free time because we're constantly involved with our kids' lives -- but the difference is already so amazing. Just in a month.

Unfortunately, some people would just rather believe I'm a bad parent. The fact I haven't seen my friends in many weeks, been to several doctors, and spent many hours on the phone trying to get the help we need... bah. It's all just fake, right? That my son is finally holding normal conversations for the first time in his life... baloney.

And then they wonder why I'm so ticked off.

__________________
Member of the vast Radical Middle conspiracy.

I understand your anger, Robo. I remember when Limpball was on his tear against Michael J. Fox, and he did the "Parkinson's Wobble" for the delight of his idiot listeners. He got basic facts about the disease wrong, and even when corrected by experts on the disease, he refused to admit that the experts might just know a little bit more about it than he does.

Limpball is a gas bag, Weiner is a psychotic idiot. If you believe there is a Hell, then you have to believe there's an extra hot corner for people like this.

Intelligent people know the truth. And they refuse to dignify this kind of garbage by even listening to it.

__________________
Let's see which attack angle will work:

Trying to tie 8 year old Barack Obama to William Ayers.

...or...

Trying to tie 50 year old John McCain to the savings and loan scandal and following his mavericky path of deregulation for all his time in Congress.

Hmmmmmmmm, what will voters care more about??

www.keatingeconomics.com

From where I sit it appears that autism is not necessarily overdiagnosed as much as it is not easily defined. I can usually tell after about an hour with a given program participant what the diagnosis in their file will be - I'm usually right. But if you look at the various conditions that are classified as autism, you'll see that some of them have almost nothing in common.

Asperger's is almost the opposite of classic autism, for example. People with Asperger's are totally outgoing and often have inadequately opne personal boundaries, while those with classic autism are usually completely withdrawn and will not initiate or respond to communication with others.

Of course, this just gives an idiot like Savage the opportunity to attack innocent people, which seems to get him off.