Increase in depression and ADHD
Just my opinions...
Check out the graphic video about psychiatry and what they are up to on the website for the Citizen's Commission on Human Rights website www.cchr.org
It will give you some amazing information.
The research numbers don't show that the vast majority of school children are being diagnosed with ADHD. They show the numbers have increased.
Part of the issue with the numbers showing increasing diagnoses of just about every mental illness is that as we learn more about the illnesses over time and how to screen for them, we catch them more often and earlier in a person's life.
Additionally, as people feel less stigmatized about admitting they have a mental illness or seeking help for the symptoms of one we will see increasing numbers.
Mental illness is like any other illness in that anyone can get one. Anyone can also successfully be treated as well - meds may or may not have to be involved. Depends on the illness.
Some people have genetic predispositions to certain illnesses (just like with certain cancers). Some mental illnesses have strong environmental components (like stress causing some people's episodes depression).
As life becomes more frantically paced you see increases in all types of illnesses, depression is no different. Stress hurts your body and your mind.
Not all ADHD kids are medicated. Its a treatment decision the parents, docs and child have to work out together. If a child can cope without meds then they are not necessary. However, there are ADHD kids who simply cannot stay on task for any length of time without meds. If we expect them to make it through a school system that requires long periods of sitting and listening then meds are an option. If the child's ADHD is severe enough that they are "not available for learning" mentally without the meds then you have to go there. But many of the ADHD meds are flushed from the body quite quickly, both a blessing and a curse (depending on how you look at it). The good thing is that just because you use meds at school does not necessarily mean you'll need them your entire life.