{"title":"Editorial Perspective: Overdiagnosis of ADHD? Here we go again","authors":"Anita Thapar","doi":"10.1111/camh.70075","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>There is growing preoccupation with whether ADHD is overdiagnosed. That question has already been addressed for the United Kingdom in the recently published National Health Service (NHS)-England independent ADHD Taskforce Report. The administrative prevalence of ADHD in the United Kingdom is lower than the population rate. Regardless of prevalence or country, I argue why a focus purely on diagnosis is unhelpful and overly narrow. A diagnosis is helpful for clinical decision making but, on its own, has multiple limitations. I argue the case for why a needs-based, stepped care, holistic approach is preferable and provide evidence of what sorts of timely support are likely to be effective. The time has come for constructive rather than divisive dialogue on how best to help children and young people.</p>","PeriodicalId":49291,"journal":{"name":"Child and Adolescent Mental Health","volume":"31 2","pages":"153-155"},"PeriodicalIF":4.4000,"publicationDate":"2026-04-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13116051/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Child and Adolescent Mental Health","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/camh.70075","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2026/2/22 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PEDIATRICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
There is growing preoccupation with whether ADHD is overdiagnosed. That question has already been addressed for the United Kingdom in the recently published National Health Service (NHS)-England independent ADHD Taskforce Report. The administrative prevalence of ADHD in the United Kingdom is lower than the population rate. Regardless of prevalence or country, I argue why a focus purely on diagnosis is unhelpful and overly narrow. A diagnosis is helpful for clinical decision making but, on its own, has multiple limitations. I argue the case for why a needs-based, stepped care, holistic approach is preferable and provide evidence of what sorts of timely support are likely to be effective. The time has come for constructive rather than divisive dialogue on how best to help children and young people.
期刊介绍：
Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMH) publishes high quality, peer-reviewed child and adolescent mental health services research of relevance to academics, clinicians and commissioners internationally. The journal''s principal aim is to foster evidence-based clinical practice and clinically orientated research among clinicians and health services researchers working with children and adolescents, parents and their families in relation to or with a particular interest in mental health. CAMH publishes reviews, original articles, and pilot reports of innovative approaches, interventions, clinical methods and service developments. The journal has regular sections on Measurement Issues, Innovations in Practice, Global Child Mental Health and Humanities. All published papers should be of direct relevance to mental health practitioners and clearly draw out clinical implications for the field.
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