Under-medication and over-medication

Doctor Thomas Insel discusses the issue of over-medication and under-medication in relation to disorders such as ADHD.

I do several congressional hearings in the course of a given year, and the question that gets raised is, ‘Why are we overmedicating America’s children?’ There is a lot of concern in the public that something like 10% of 6th grade boys are on psychostimulants. How can that be? It’s an interesting question because I think there is another question that goes with it that is often not asked, which is, ‘Why are there so many children that could be helped by medication that are not receiving appropriate care?’ So you have both under-medication for those who might really benefit, and over-medication for those who may not need it at the same time. I don’t think it’s as simple as saying that Americans tend to overmedicate for all problems. I think we’ve got a true health disparity here where we have to try to understand why it is that many children who really would benefit greatly, because ADHD is a real disorder and it is responsive to really good treatments, why the children who have that disorder aren’t getting the treatment they need. And to me that’s every bit as pressing as the question of, ‘Are there children that are getting these medications that probably don’t need them?’ I think there is some truth in both sides of this, but I wouldn’t want to focus on one without remembering the other one which is just as important.