ADHD Does Not Exist

http://time.com/25370/doctor-adhd-does-not-exist/?hpt=hp_t3

Well.  I've read it twice now.  And I'm kind of angry about it.  I think part of what I'm angry about is the definitive way he states his case, as though he's the end-all-be-all on the topic.  No room for other ideas or theories.

I think the other reason I'm bothered is that I think he's wrong.  Don't get me wrong, now.  I do think that ADHD may be over-diagnosed, and perhaps even over-medicated.  But I've seen enough kids (and been the kid) with ADHD to know that there's something there.  And who's to say that ADHD is the made-up disorder and not the anxiety/bipolar/etc options?  (Don't get upset with me, internet.  I think ALL of the disorders are real.)

I do know that a vast majority of children and adults wouldn't need medication if our society were different.  The agrarian society of 200 years ago would've suited my son and I just fine.  My house wouldn't be all that clean, but I'd have been able to survive.  My son would spend his days collecting firewood, planting and weeding the garden, herding livestock, and all those other farmy sorts of activities.

But I was expected to sit through hours of classes each day, listening and taking notes and retaining information and inferencing.  And my son is required to do the same, on an even stricter level since the introduction of No Child Left Behind and high-stakes testing.  Doctors want to point a finger somewhere?  I think current educational practices are a large part of the problem.  All kids, especially high-energy children with the symptoms seen with ADHD, need to play.  Hours of play.

I'd like to see what other people think.  What does big wide world think of this?