It was over 3 years ago that I wrote Is It ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder)?, but for some reason in the U.S.A. the psychiatric community is slow to act like the real medical doctors (MDs) they ARE. Many still are not looking for WHY a child is exhibiting symptoms we label "ADHD." Instead, they simply slap on the label itself, which only serves to say, "This child exhibits attentional difficulties and possibly hyperactivity." That simple "mental" illness label, eliminates all their obligation to investigate the true underlying cause of any particular child's symptoms.
One of the things so many of us have been saying is that SLEEP issues (ranging from sleep apnea to narcolepsy or even just staying up a little too late) can contribute to or even cause psychiatric symptoms that are getting diagnosed as many kinds of "mental illness" ranging from Depression and ADHD to Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia!
At least even the U.S. mainstream newspapers are starting to warn people that many of these increasingly numerous "ADHD" (and Depression) diagnoses we and our children are getting may actually be manifestations of SLEEP-related issues.
