In an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal (3/12, A19, Hinshaw, Scheffler, Subscription Publication), Stephen P. Hinshaw, PhD, a professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of California-Berkeley, and Richard M. Scheffler, PhD, a professor of health economics and public policy at the University of California-Berkeley, call for physicians in countries around the world to use medications for AD/HD more cautiously. The pair recommend that physicians first need to diagnose AD/HD using medical association guidelines, taking into account a patient’s full medical and behavioral history, before deciding to prescribe medications. While acknowledging the value of stimulant medicines in certain cases, Hinshaw and Scheffler assert that medication should not always be the primary or sole treatment for AD/HD.
Related Links:
— “How Attention-Deficit Disorder Went Global,” Stephen P. Hinshaw, , March 11, 2014.