EP 114: ADHD Nation: Children, Doctors, Big Pharma, Amphetamine Abuse and the Making of an Epidemic with Pulitzer Prize Nominated author and journalist, Alan Schwarz

“I struck a match and I didn’t know how much tinder was around” – Keith Conners 

At the current rate, in 2017, half a million American children will be taken to their doctors and be newly diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Many of them will receive thoughtful and reasonable evaluations and benefit from medication. Another sizable number will be seen by casual clinicians who either bypass the child’s real problems or give in to his frustrated parents and teachers.

Some of the adolescents will be faking ADHD just to get Adderall for themselves or others. Whatever the actual breakdown, there will be 500,000 new diagnostic visits, millions of follow-ups, tens of millions of pills, and hundreds of millions in sales. Lots of business for everyone. 

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) will soon be the most frequently diagnosed chronic condition among children, surpassing asthma. Yet research shows that ADHD can't be that prevalent.

On this week’s show, we talk to the author of ADHD Nation, acclaimed New York Times journalist, Pulitzer prize nominee Alan Schwarz.

Alan takes us behind the scenes to tell the full story of this billion-dollar industry.

We talk about the history of ADHD, the history of diagnosis, the marketing of drugs and the mishandling of diagnosis. We also discuss the fake diagnosis problem where pressurized college students are taking ADHD drugs as amphetamines to get through high-pressure college exams.

You can find out more about Alan here:

https://www.alanschwarz.net/