Volume 3 • Issue 1 • 1000112 Bipolar Disord, an open access journal ISSN: 2472-1077 Mini Review Open Access Balbuena, Bipolar Disord 2017, 3:1 DOI: 10.4172/2472-1077.1000112 Bipolar Disorder: Open Access B i p o l a r D i s o r d e r : O p e n A c c e s s ISSN: 2472-1077 *Corresponding author: Francisco Balbuena, Professor, Department of Psychology and Experimental, Universidad de Huelva, Avenida Tres de Marzo s/n (Campus de El Carmen), Huelva, 21007, Spain, Tel: 34 625945506; E-mail: balbuena@uhu.es Received December 27, 2016; Accepted January 06, 2017; Published January 13, 2017 Citation: Balbuena F (2017) High Prevalence of ADHD: How Best can we Identify Cases of ADHD from the General Population? Bipolar Disord 3: 111. doi: 10.4172/2472-1077.1000112 Copyright: © 2017 Balbuena F. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Abstract The high prevalence of attention defcit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) demonstrated in the last decades in the child and adult population carried us to examine how best we can identify cases of ADHD from the general population. In doing so, we note that different methodologies are used for obtaining data, as well as different diagnostic criteria. An additional fnding of considerable interest for this line of reasoning is the medicalization of ADHD. Our assumption is that this tendency for prescribing certain medications is caused by the relentless pressure of pharmaceutical companies and not only as a result of clinical judgment. High Prevalence of ADHD: How Best can we Identify Cases of ADHD from the General Population? Francisco Balbuena* Department of Psychology and Experimental, Universidad de Huelva, Avenida Tres de Marzo s/n (Campus de El Carmen), Spain Keywords: ADHD; Diagnosis; Prevalence; Comorbidity; Neurodevelopment Introduction Major advances have been made over the past decades in understanding the difculties of children and adults with ADHD (attention defcit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In spite of it, numerous research studies have documented the increase of people diagnosed with ADHD in the last few decades [1]. Tus, the aim of this paper has been to provide the cornerstones for a basic understanding of such high prevalence of ADHD. Recent population-based studies indicate that ADHD is a condition afecting approximately 5% of the child population [2]. It this is the case, yet signifcant evidence exists that far fewer children receive ADHD services [3]. As result of it, in many countries concerted serious eforts directed at earlier detection and diagnosis of ADHD are well justifed. In fact, the diagnosis in practice is made with remarkable diferences in frequency between nations. At the same time, taking into consideration individual diferences, the data over the past 10 years have shown that there is great heterogeneity in the diagnostic methods for children and adults with ADHD. Given all of the preceding, it is not surprising that McLennan [4] recently reported on the need to de-emphasize categorical conceptualizations of ADHD. To arrive at this conclusion, research fndings were reviewed to consider whether ADHD is a discrete entity or whether it is more consistent with an extreme end-of-trait distribution in the population. All studies published from this search and that involve empirically based studies support a predominately dimensional rather than a qualitatively distinct existence for ADHD. From a practical standpoint, it is clear that, whatever approach is used, this does not negate the clinical needs of those who have substantial ADHD symptoms clusters, nor the risks that such symptoms entail [4]. In addition, many clinicians, educators, and parents tend to focus their attention on diferent cognitive and behavioral measures and the like to determine the degree of expression of ADHD in the children under observation. With this in mind, it is also interesting to recall a set of studies that provide evidence of medicalization of ADHD [5]. As consequence of it, many ADHD experts have asserted that this is likely to be the case for pressure of pharmaceutical companies and not only as a result of clinical judgment. Of course, many would agree that it is unlikely that any single type of intervention will be sufcient to mitigate the complex developmental disturbances of ADHD. Rather, future efective intervention may need to combine both biological (e.g. pharmacological) and cognitive- behavioral approaches to most efectively address the needs of children and adults with ADHD. Understanding the biological substrates of ADHD may be critical to guiding the development of efective intervention strategies within both modalities. Efects of Clinical Guidelines for ADHD Diagnosis We have learned that, despite the fact of using conventional clinical guidelines for ADHD, these are not applied in the same way by clinicians and educators. To this extent, they are not the only explanatory factor postulated for such a signifcant increase in the prevalence of ADHD in recent decades. Many experts have asserted that this very likely was related to ADHD requires multimodal treatment. Because we do not know the “active ingredient” behind successful ADHD treatments, there is relatively little understanding of whether certain treatments are better than others and, if so, for whom and when [6]. In the same vein, a large body of research has also evidenced a range of factors infuencing diagnosis, irrespective of the guidelines used, and hence some part of the increase might simply be an artifact of the use of diferent clinical tools or criteria for diagnosis. Supporting these assertions there are some cases where ADHD has been diagnosed when it was manifested solely in the school context and not in the family environment. However, this way of doing diagnosis is contrary to the recommendations of many ADHD experts. It is also important to note that the measures based on reported information capitalize on the knowledge of a familiar person who interacts with the child on a daily basis. However, parents or teachers may over- or underestimate the child´s social difculties. Te accuracy of the information gathered from any source of information, such as a parent or teacher, needs to be documented.