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To the Editor: The American Medical Association (AMA) Council on Scientific Affairs has concluded that ". . . there is little evidence of widespread overdiagnosis or misdiagnosis of ADHD [attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder] or of widespread overprescription of methylphenidate."¹

Psychiatrists Marzuk and Barchas² state, ". . . the most significant conceptual shift (from DSM-III-R [Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Revised Third Edition] to DSM-IV [Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition]) was the elimination of the rubric organic mental disorders, which had suggested improperly that most psychiatric disorders . . . had no organic basis." Herein, they assume but do not prove that "most psychiatric disorders" have an organic basis. Goodwin³ writes, "Physicians are consulted about the problem of alcoholism and therefore alcoholism becomes . . . a disease." Later, he acknowledges "a narrow definition of disease that requires the presence of a biological . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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RELATED ARTICLE

Diagnosis and Treatment of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in Children and Adolescents
Larry S. Goldman, Myron Genel, Rebecca J. Bezman, Priscilla J. Slanetz, and for the Council on Scientific Affairs, American Medical Association
JAMA. 1998;279(14):1100-1107.
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