Pre-diagnosis Misperceptions

Do you ever read news stories that raise giant red flags of ADHD yet never mention it by name? I  just read two such stories, and my mind was flooded with the thousands of posts I’ve read over the years from partners of adults with ADHD that touched directly on the topics.

The first story reported a study indicating that children in day care are more impulsive and bigger risk takers than children who did not go to day care or who spent less time in day care. The second story explored the effect of  electronic  devices on the human brain, including addiction.

But first, I’d like to point out a common error with  psychological (and sometimes even medical) research: confusing association with causation.  That is,  researchers claim research shows cause-and-effect (“causation”) when really all it shows is a  relationship between two variables (“association”).  More often, researchers do not make this claim; they merely suggest “risk factors” (a risk factor for Alzheimer’s is advanced age).  But reporters overstate the connection between cause and effect. Read the rest of this entry »