Cases and diagnoses of ADHD have been rising rapidly over the past few years. According to the American Psychiatric Association (APA), 5% of American children have it. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) put the number higher, more than double the APA’s figure. The CDC stats proclaim that 11% of American children between the ages of 4 and 17 have the disorder. The percentage of children taking drugs jumped by more than a quarter, from 4.8% of the population between 4 and 17 to 6.1% between 2007 and 2011 according to a CDC survey. In fall 2011 and spring 2012, there was even a brief shortage of ADHD drugs, particularly generics, because the demand was outpacing the supply.
Our memories are not perfect reconstructions of the past. Instead, remembering a past event is a combination of processes, piecing together many separate details, and making inferences to fill in the gaps to create a coherent whole. Normally, these inferential processes serve us well, allowing us to make fast and accurate decisions about what we’ve seen and done. But no system based on inferences will be 100% accurate. Our current drives, biases, stereotypes, and expectations can all affect that inferential process, fundamentally distorting what we ‘remember.’ While it might be easy to accept that our memories for mundane experiences can be distorted in such a way, people have long clung to
