The Business of ADHD - Over-Diagnosis of ADHD

I don't think the pharmaceutical companies are affecting what the National Institute of Health is funding. I think that the reason why that's considered the gold standard is, to get funding from the National Institute of Health, you have to have a scientific research project that is peer-reviewed. Your peers review it and decide whether or not they think it's scientifically sound to use federal funds to study it.

The other question, though, about sales reps, is worthwhile. I think that doctors who are in private practice are overwhelmed with new challenges, and they are working harder than ever. Managed care has turned out not to be managed care, but managed money. We are just trying to keep the costs down of the healthcare system. So you find that doctors are seeing more patients that they ever saw before, especially if you're a primary care physician. . . .

Quite clearly, if a rep comes to your office and quickly tells you about a medication that's effective and easy and safe, that may influence your prescription practice more than reading a peer-reviewed journal. . . . And I think that that's a real problem when you have doctors who don't have enough time to keep up to date.

next: Steps in Making an ADHD Diagnosis
~ adhd library articles
~ all add/adhd articles