Analysis of Academic Journal Alvarez, Alexander Ms.

Delis/ ENG 107 6 February 2013 Academic Journal Over Diagnosing ADHD Evaluating the Evidence For and Against the Over diagnosis of ADHD, is an academic Journal written by Mark J. Sciutto and Miriam Eisenberg, evaluating over diagnosis of ADHD in children. This journal was published in the Journal of Attention Disorders in 2007. Throughout this journal, the authors debate the common conception that ADHD is over diagnosed. They bring in support and evidence, to determine if ADHD is actually over diagnosed, a common conception throughout many people, or if it is actually being diagnosed properly. In this journal piece, the authors describe over diagnosed as children who are diagnosed with ADHD, and are merely exhibiting natural behavior, as False positives (Sciutto 2007). The main purpose of this article is to evaluate the evidence for and against over diagnosis. In this journal, since it impossible to retest every child in the country that has been diagnosed with ADHD, the authors use a different method to evaluating this conception of over diagnosis. For this reason, they developed a reasoning in which The rate of False positives must substantially exceed the number of false negatives (Sciutto 2007). In this case, False positives being children who were misdiagnosed with ADHD, and false negatives being children with ADHD who were overlooked and never diagnosed. As written in the journal, according to the DSM-IV TR, approximately 3 to 7% of schoolage children meet the criteria for ADHD. The journal continues to discuss how this

belief of over diagnosis has been Reflected in the coverage of ADHD in popular press and mass media sources (Sciutto 2007), even identifying certain show hosts such as Dr. Phil McGraw saying ADHD is so over diagnosed. In finding support for over diagnosis of ADHD, the authors of this journal discovered that yes indeed, there are various factors that are contributing to the over diagnosis of ADHD, however the rate of false positives against the rate of false negatives, shows that there is no sufficient evidence to support the conception that ADHD is over diagnosed in children. In conclusion, thee authors agree that there is no support nor evidence to ADHD is over diagnosed, and in order for it to be, the rate of incorrectly diagnosed children, must be significantly greater than the rate of undiagnosed children with ADHD. This article is considered credible, because it comes from a credible source, and it is an academic journal published from the Journal of Attention Disorders, a wellrecognized Journal. The article is effective because the authors provide a lot of factual support. They do not just through their own personal beliefs out there, and expect people to bite at it. Also, they do not seem to show any bias at all. They do not start of the essay saying they are going to prove how ADHD is not over diagnosed, nor do they say it is under diagnosed. They simply wish to find evidence supporting for and against over diagnosis. This is important because it makes the reader feel as if they are in a neutral battle zone, just like the authors, and dont have to be worried about any of the authors trying to impose any of their ideas on to them. This along with the use of logos by the authors, is an effective writing tool, as it makes the reader feel like this is a logical journal that is just trying to find and answer, rather than another article that has no reasoning or support

Analysis of Academic Journal References Sciutto , M. J., & Eisenberg , M. (2007). Evaluating the Evidence for and Against the Overdiagnosis of ADHD. Journal of Attention Disorder, 11(2), 106-113.