The Truth (Inglés)

Truth number one: Children can and do have mental health problems.

Truth number two: Without treatment,  youngsters -- who soon become adolescents and then become adults -- stand greater risks for all kinds of undesirable behaviors and outcomes including academic underachievement, school failure, substance abuse, difficulty getting along with peers and problems dealing with authority.

Truth number three: With appropriate treatment children, adolescents and adults can and do thrive.

Truth number four: Few disorders have actually received anything approaching the exhaustive and exacting scrutiny that the medical and scientific establishment has given AD/HD.

For example:

• In 1998, the American Medical Association published an exhaustive review of the scientific literature concerning AD/HD, concluding that the disorder is real and that while there may be instances of overdiagnosis, there is a greater problem of underdiagnosis.

• In 1999, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) published its first results from The Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with Attention- eficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, a multicenter study evaluating the leading treatments for ADHD, including various forms of behavior therapy and medications, in nearly 600 elementary school children.
  The results indicate that long-term combination treatments as well as medication management alone are both significantly superior to intensive behavioral treatments and routine community treatments in reducing AD/HD symptoms.

• In 1999, the U.S. Surgeon General released the landmark Report on Mental Health, which devotes an entire section to the evidence-based science behind AD/HD.  Among the important findings are that stimulants are highly effective for 75-90% of children with AD/HD, while the most effective interventions for AD/HD are multimodal treatment - which involves the use of medication with psychosocial, behavioral and related interventions.
  Finally, "recent reports found little evidence of overdiagnosis of AD/HD or overprescription of stimulant medications.  Indeed fewer children (2-3% of school-aged children) are being treated for AD/HD than suffer from it."

• In 1999, the U.S. Department of Education released regulations implementing the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and specifically named AD/HD under the Other Health Impaired category.

• First in 2000 for assessment, and then in 2001 for treatment, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) published clinical practice guidelines for AD/HD.  These groundbreaking guidelines include endorsement of stimulant medications when appropriate monitoring and behavior interventions are also used.

• In 2002, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) published practice parameters for the use of stimulant medications in the treatment of children, adolescents and adults. The parameters rely on an evidence-based medicine approach derived from a detailed literature review and expert opinion.

[REGRESAR]