I remember when my dad was near retiring from NIMH they were putting together a study regarding misdiagnosis of ADHD in children. Some children didn’t respond well to medication for the disorder and they hypothesized it might be a wrong diagnosis so the treatments weren’t very effective. It wouldn’t surprise me if some of the kids might be bipolar.
ADHD is a popular diagnosis. I’ve seen stats where some parts of the country diagnoses it much much more than others. Are there actually more kids there with ADHD? Or, the schools and doctors are more inclined to give that diagnosis.
A wrong diagnosis can last a long time. Meaning, people often accept a diagnosis and not question it. Getting a second opinion can help, but not always, not if the second doctor is aware of the first doctors diagnosis. Don’t let a second doctor know the previous diagnosis.
Now, it seems to me diagnosing depression in children is becoming more commonplace. There seems to be a tide change. They say depression rates are up in children. It wouldn’t surprise me if that’s true, but it also wouldn’t surprise me if the doctors were missing it in the past when it was there. Both depression and bipolar.