Children are healthy most of the time. Beyond the typical falls and tumbles, the boo-boos that can be healed with a Band-Aid and a kiss, beyond the normal childhood illness that sweeps through classrooms as if by the power of suggestion, children do tend to be healthy.
Yet, the impression that young children are rarely seriously ill is one of the main reasons they are more likely to be misdiagnosed than adults. But without a detailed examination and assessment, it would be absurd for the medical personnel to misdiagnose your little one with flu or brain tumour, both of which can give you a headache. Not to mention that the treatment for a brain tumour and a virus would look quite different.
The same goes for mental illness: most common symptoms occur for different reasons and can reflect a variety of diagnoses. That's why an experienced mental health professional will give your little one a thorough evaluation based on a broad range of information before proposing the diagnosis. Take ADHD medications. They won't definitely work if your kid's disruptive behaviour or inattention is caused by anxiety, not ADHD. As with every treatment that doesn't work, whether it's pharmaceutical or therapeutic, one of the things an upright clinician will do is reexamine the diagnosis.
About 1 million children are potentially misdiagnosed with ADHD.
Research shows that approximately 1 million children in the U.S are potentially diagnosed with ADHD or attention deficit hyperactivity simply because they are the youngest and therefore, are catalogued immature in their kindergarten class.
As a consequence of this misinterpretation, these children are considerably more likely than their older peers to be prescribed behaviour-changing stimulants like Ritalin. This unsuitable treatment is particularly worrisome because of the unidentified impacts of long-term stimulant use on kids' health. The study's evidence is that ADHD diagnoses depend on the kid's age relative to the teacher and classmate's perception of whether the child presents symptoms.
For instance, if your kid is behaving poorly if he’s restless, if he's inattentive, it may simply be because he is five and his peers are six. There's a huge difference between a 5-year-old and a 6-year-old, and both teachers and medical experts need to take that into account when evaluating whether the children have attention deficit hyperactivity.
When Parents Concerns are Dismissed
Most of the time, the diagnostic error happens gradually, and there is no time to catch it and course it rightfully. But every so often it happens lightning fast. As of parents, they will all experience the need to balance between respecting and trusting the doctor, and trusting and respecting our knowledge of our own child. However, when your child has been harmed in a way that could definitely be avoided and can prove that the duty of owed to your child was breached, legal advisory services like how-to-claim.co.uk could help you support your medical misdiagnosis claim.
What are some examples of common psychiatric symptoms that are easily misinterpreted in teenagers and children?
Inattention (common diagnosis: ADHD) Teachers are always the first to observe inattention in students – they may notice the student being prone to daydreaming, unusually easily distracted, and has difficulty following directions and completing homework assignments.
While all kids, especially the younger one, struggle to maintain their attention, some simply have much more trouble focusing than others. So, when a child seems abnormally distracted, ADHD tends to be the first thing clinicians and parents suspect. However, obsessive-compulsive disorder, learning disorder or post-traumatic stress disorder could also be a possible diagnosis.
Restricted Speech (common diagnosis: Autism)
As far as we know, autism causes children to have impairments in communication. Those struggling with autism may have a complete lack of or a delay in the development of spoken language. The most prevalent signs of autism are typically noticed between 2 and 3 years of age.
While most children on the spectrum do speak, they may avoid eye contact, use language in unusual ways, and prefer to be alone. Autism can be noticed by teachers, who become aware when the child cannot interact socially with his colleagues in an appropriate way. But what most medical professionals, parents and teachers tend to overlook is that selective mutism, hypothyroidism or an anxiety disorder could also be possible.
Repetitive distressing thoughts (common diagnosis: PTSD)
Intrusive memories and thoughts that a child can't control are one of the major symptoms of PTSD. Medical experts view PTSD as a damaged "fight and flight" response in a child who had experienced a disruptive experience, whether it was a pattern of domestic violence or abuse or an upsetting event. While the experience is relatively still in the past, the child will keep releasing anxiety.
That anxiety can either be relieved in the form of flashbacks, experiencing frightening thoughts that get" stuck" or thinking about the event over and over. What are some other possibilities?
OCD: In both PTSD and OCD, patients can experience thoughts that intrude, thoughts about which the patient doesn't want to be thinking about. These thoughts occur, without your control and volition. In both instances, they cause distress, and you have to work to manage them. However, there is a big difference between PTSD and the repetitive thoughts in OCD: With PTSD, it's an actual memory of something that happened, with OCD it will be a concept that causes distress.
Getting the full story
Medical experts and legal advisors suggest that the most common reasons patients of all ages are misdiagnosed are that the nurse or doctor don't get all the important facts.
One reason might be that children have more hurdles to telling the full story than we do. The biggest impediment is communication. A bruise or short of a cut, very young children can explain what they're feeling. So, it's in our duty as parents to put our children's symptoms in context for the paediatrician, and even speak up and advocate when we sense it's the case.
