1. How Childhood Trauma Could Be Mistaken for ADHD

In this article, Rebecca Ruiz talks about how childhood trauma (traumatic experiences that occur to children from ages 0-6) has lately been mistaken for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). How does this "mistaken diagnosis" affect anyone?  ADHD is not a detrimental disorder. However, children diagnosed with ADHD are often labeled badly and communities and schools have difficulty accepting these children into their close-knit circle. That is why children who are mistakenly diagnosed with ADHD instead of childhood trauma are facing an unhealthy judgment. Children who suffer from childhood trauma have to be embraced by society because of the trauma they had been put through when they are younger. However, society tends to repel them because they believe that the child suffers from ADHD. [Morally speaking, both a child with ADHD and a child suffering from childhood trauma should be embraced by society, but sadly enough, that is not the case.] In order to elaborate and support this topic, Ruiz uses reliable evidence- a doctor.The author talks about Dr. Nicole Brown's study on the ADHD-childhood trauma comparison as if she were telling an anecdote. Dr. Brown discovered that children diagnosed with ADHD were not carefully examined, and that they did not actually have the disorder. Ruiz then states the symptoms of ADHD and that about 6.4 million U.S. children are diagnosed with it. Following that, Ruiz explains that the symptoms of ADHD and those of childhood trauma overlap; in other words, she is saying that both the disorder and the trauma have common symptoms- which is why many children who suffer from childhood trauma are mistakenly diagnosed with ADHD. Then Ruiz introduces another reliable "evidence"- a psychologist called Caelan Kuban. Ruiz makes a short introduction about Kuban- stating Kuban's workplace, job and finally talks about how she relates to the whole "childhood trauma/ADHD comapirson." Kuban says that traumatized children cannot control their behavior and that they can have very fickle moods (especially when they are in a state of reliving a bad memory). To a common person, these symptoms mean that the child has ADHD.

In her article, Rebecca Ruiz utilizes studies and evidences from doctors and psychologists in order to support her findings. She repetitively uses a format in which she states the "problem" from the view of a doctor or psychologist- then following that she gives information that surrounds this "problem" stated by both. For example, Ruiz first wrote about what Dr. Brown had to say about ADHD: “Despite our best efforts in referring them to behavioral therapy and starting them on stimulants, it was hard to get the symptoms under control,” she said of treating her patients according to guidelines for ADHD." Then in the paragraph immediately following that, Ruiz informs the readers about ADHD: "Considered a heritable brain disorder, one in nine U.S. children—or 6.4 million youth—currently have a diagnosis of ADHD. In recent years, parents and experts have question whether the growing prevalence of ADHD[...]." Ruiz constantly uses this format throughout her article. She only utilizes text in third person and uses a formal, informative tone for the entire article instead of colloquial, informal language. Her usage of professional interviewees and thoroughly researched information makes her whole article a reliable and clearly informative source. She does not state her opinion, which makes this article unbiased. The author then concludes her article by (again) using the words of a professional, Dr. Heather Forkey (pediatrician), who hopes for a better future in clinics and hospitals who deal with the "ADHD/ Childhood trauma" comparison.

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/07/how-childhood-trauma-could-be-mistaken-for-adhd/373328/

*The statement in brackets are my opinion; therefore can be a little irrelevant to the topic of the article...