More and more children are diagnosed with ADHD. Gustav Elmberger has previously worked at hvb homes, among others in Södertälje municipality, and now specializes in trauma.
He believes that it is problematic that the diagnosis for repeated trauma, complex PTSD, has not yet been recognized in Sweden and that it can lead to incorrect diagnoses.
Sharp increase in adhd diagnoses
Psychotherapists sound the alarm about child psychiatry’s shortcomings: More than ADHD diagnosis and medication is required
Responsible politician in the Västernorrland region about children who have to wait for help with ADHD – “Not acceptable”
– If you do not have knowledge about how trauma and high stress affect children, you can easily misinterpret their behaviour, says Gustav Elmberger.
“Gang crime is the tip of the iceberg”
Research shows that many young people who end up in crime have an ADHD diagnosis.
Gustav Elmberger believes that the lack of knowledge about how children are affected by trauma has led to psychiatry failing to provide the right support. Which could be an explanation for today’s gang problem.
– There has been a rhetoric that you should lift all the stones, I mean that this is one of the biggest bummings. Sweden has too many times failed to catch children and families who need support.
Psychotherapists sound the alarm
SVT has been in contact with a number of psychotherapists who believe that this leads to children running the risk of being medicated unnecessarily.
– The consequences will be catastrophic. Because they don’t get the right help, says psychotherapist Anders Klingström.
“Is it possible to specify”
In an email, the National Board of Health and Welfare responds to SVT’s questions about why complex PTSD is not recognized in Sweden:
“(…) In Sweden, ICD-10 has been used for almost 30 years now. There is no specific code to specify that a patient has a more complex condition of PTSD, but the healthcare staff may describe it in the text of the medical record.
(…) In 2019, the WHO adopted a medically updated classification and it also includes a code for “Complex post traumatic stress disorder”. With that, there is the possibility of being able to specify whether a person has also received that diagnosis.”