Trauma is 'measurable'. Exposure to Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) increases the risk of being trauma impacted. Eg, studies have shown brain scans of children who were neglected as babies and the differences in brain anatomy between a trauma-impacted child's brain and a healthy child's brain are astonishing. I have a vested interest in this as I was a Romanian orphanage adoptee in the late 80's which is where it was first discovered that neglected babies' brains grow/wife differently.
There is so, so, so much emerging research into trauma and misdiagnosis of autism/ADHD. It was not just this one neuroscientist who said all this, he was referring to other people's work and he is one of the highest regarded leaders in complex childhood trauma in the world. I am about to be a co-supervisor on a PhD research paper which is about adverse childhood experiences and the prevalence of complex trauma, so I have been reading so much over the past six months, though I am not an expert in the slightest. I am just responding here to answer the questions raised from my previous post (and to thank those who agreed).
There are many research papers on google scholar for those interested in looking at the links in children who are trauma-impacted being incorrectly diagnosed with ADHD or autism. These concerns were initially raised in 2006, so it is nothing new.^^
For those of you who do not like to read journal articles, there is a good article in the Atlantic by Rebecca Ruiz titled 'How childhood trauma could be mistaken for ADHD.
And yes, doctors do give ADHD medication to children under pressure from parents who are desperate for respite who present at the doctor's office listing off symptoms. One of the videos shown during the class was a USA GP who explained how schools were pressurising parents to get their children medicated as the schools could not cope with the behaviours. The parents were desperate and believed their child did have ADHD as the schools said so.
I was given an asthmatic inhaler as a child by a doctor because I had a cough. This was when I was in England. Literally everyone in my entire class had an inhaler. I do not for one second believe we were all asthmatic. I cannot see why you think it is not easy to be given medication that you do not need.
The really horrific thing is: children who are trauma impacted are being given medication to suppress any feelings they have so they are "more manageable" for the adults in their lives, thus therefore never addressing the trauma they are impacted with.
So yes, I do still believe that MANY children are diagnosed worldwide with autism or ADHD and then medicated, when all they needed was positive relationships to assist them with overcoming their trauma. The prevalence of trauma is astonishing, Approximately 92% of children have been exposed to at least one adverse childhood experience (ACEs) and 76% more than one ACE. The more exposure to ACEs, the higher the chance of being trauma-impacted. Being exposed to ACEs in early childhood can change the structure of the brain, thus the behaviours mimic behaviours presented in ADHD/Autism, thus the misdiagnosis. This is worldwide.