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ADHD doesn't exist?
- Thread starter burk48237
- Start date
"...[scientists] invent words that mean industrial disease!" -- Dire Straits/Mark Knopfler
I think this is what the author is trying to say; that what we call "ADHD" is a symptom, not a disease or disorder in itself. A lot of ADHD treatments in his view, are treating symptoms (with varying degrees of success) but doctors then fail to address whatever real problem might be the underlying cause of the symptom.
Anecdotally, I recall a story of two boys who were diagnosed ADHD and had failed to respond to any of the meds prescribed to them. They were sent to live with their uncle in the country who kicked them out of the house to run around playing frisbee with the dogs and whatever all day. Their "ADHD" disappeared - all they had really needed was an outlet for their energy. No, I don't think that's the case with all people with ADHD symptoms, I think many do have some real condition that needs treatment. But I also think that our culture is too quick to respond to every "problem" with pharmaceuticals.
Hey, where were you when I slipped in an obscure Industrial Disease reference in the evangelism thread a few weeks ago?
I used to think ADHD wasn't real. Then I adopted a boy that had it.
I agree with aborg and hrod. It seems to be more like a continuum along with autism, asperger's, OCD, LDD and a host of other D's. In many cases it's a mixture which is what can make it so hard to diagnose and treat. Every brain is different. There is no one size fits all magic bullet solution.
It exists. I have it. Wasn't spoiled as a kid, in fact my ADHD got me hundreds of spankings. Haha. The fact that children with ADHD get lumped in with kids who are just brats doesn't mean it isn't real.
Yes, it's real. One of my brothers most definitely had/has it, but back in the '50s-early '60s there was no name, and no treatment for it; he was just an unruly brat who wouldn't pay attention, and (I thought) needed many more spankings than he got. 
And yes, it's very, very over-diagnosed, and the reason is very simple. It's $$$$$s; the Feds hand out cash for every "Problem/special needs" child in a school district. And, NO, I'm not saying that there aren't any children who don't really qualify; sadly, there's far too many for a country like ours is supposed to be. And, NO, I'm not saying that school districts don't need and shouldn't get the money, to help the kids who really qualify. But it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the more kids you can diagnose with something, the more $$ you get. And they figured it out real quick. Makes the drug companies very, very happy, too. As an added "benefit", a classroom full of tranked-out little zombies is a quiet, well behaved classrom, without all those little boys acting-well, like little boys. :scowl:
And yes, it's very, very over-diagnosed, and the reason is very simple. It's $$$$$s; the Feds hand out cash for every "Problem/special needs" child in a school district. And, NO, I'm not saying that there aren't any children who don't really qualify; sadly, there's far too many for a country like ours is supposed to be. And, NO, I'm not saying that school districts don't need and shouldn't get the money, to help the kids who really qualify. But it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the more kids you can diagnose with something, the more $$ you get. And they figured it out real quick. Makes the drug companies very, very happy, too. As an added "benefit", a classroom full of tranked-out little zombies is a quiet, well behaved classrom, without all those little boys acting-well, like little boys. :scowl:
I also read that according to AMA and APA standards, most Americans suffer from some kind of signficant disease or disorder and more than 1/3 could qualify as being legally disabled.
I don't want to minimize the seriousness of significant disorders and disabilities, which can often become extreme hardships for individuals, as well as friends and family, but it seems that there is an increasingly widespread conception that to be different is to be faulty in some way. If this trend continues, then in about 20 years, everyone on Earth will be disabled or have some disorder.
I don't want to minimize the seriousness of significant disorders and disabilities, which can often become extreme hardships for individuals, as well as friends and family, but it seems that there is an increasingly widespread conception that to be different is to be faulty in some way. If this trend continues, then in about 20 years, everyone on Earth will be disabled or have some disorder.
You know i have originality problem when the basic idea behind what i was gonna post has already been done in the first reply.
My wife and I have discussed this. In trying to determine what was best for our son we looked at many things. If you go down the list of symptoms for the various "D's" it's easy to diagnose yourself and others with most of them. But in most cases it's just part of a personality.
One son is very absent minded. This trait can be endearing and irritating but it's not debilitating. The other can remember where most everything is. When we can't find something we often put him on it. But he can't focus and has impulse control problems.
He was 5 years old when I picked him up from his foster home for the 6 hour drive to our house. He kept asking "how much longer?". There was a digital clock on the dash. Teachable moment, right? So I pointed at the clock and asked him what time it said. He had no idea. I asked him to tell me what numbers he saw. Again, no idea. So I told him. I explained what numbers he would see when we were getting close. Every time he asked we'd go through the same thing. I'd explain the numbers and then ask him to repeat what they were and two minutes later he couldn't tell me. My other 5 year old son was already reading at this time.
It was about 2 incredibly frustrating years before we started using medication. The first one helped but put him in a daze. Currently using vyvanse. It helps him focus on learning without draining all his energy. He's anything but zombified.
He has other issues that come from having a birth mother that probably used drugs during pregnancy, being pulled from his home at 2 and later abandoned by his birth mom, living 3 years in foster care and then pulled from there to come live with us.
In my experience the psychological experts were reluctant to diagnose and medicate. It's irritating to hear the "they're drugging them because they're lazy and back in my day we just called it being a boy and they just need a good whippin" mantra. But, having said similar things before, I understand because it's really something that's impossible to comprehend without experiencing it day in and day out. Actually I still have trouble comprehending it.
- Dec 21, 2007
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Nutdog - much respect for adopting a kid who clearly needed a loving, safe home, and for doing all that you are (and can) to help him along.
I have adult ADHD and take medication for it. If my folks had had it diagnosed when I was a child I have no idea how different my life would be today. Since I went to the doctor as a 30 year old and got treatment it's made a world of difference in every aspect of my life.
Not shocked the New Republic is promoting dribble.
Not shocked the New Republic is promoting dribble.
No - but the fact that it may be an umbrella diagnosis for a number of other ACTUAL causes MAY mean that.
Think of 200 years ago and a disease called "consumption". It was associated with vampires because the other infected members of the family would lose their health slowly after the death of the originally ill person.
Does consumption exist? No. Were all those people faking their deaths? No.
It was just a misdiagnosis because medicine hadn't reached a sufficient level to understand those people were dying of tuberculosis.
My "Industrial Disease" quote/remark may have seemed a bit flippant, but I think that it does hold.
If you think back to 10,000 years ago, ADHD was probably assessed by tribesman as something like, "Wow, that guy Grog can really poor on the energy in the hunt." Females were probably impressed by the trait and it contributed to the success of the tribe. Thus, the trait was passed on.
Now, in a classroom or business meeting the trait is not as desirable. So it needs to be subdued and "treated". IMHO, big pharma and the medical community have latched on to this. Does this de-legitimize the diagnosis? Actually, probably not. Since it is a now a critical skill for people to function properly in certain settings (conditions which did not exist 10k yrs ago).
FWIW, I probably would have been diagnosed as ADHD if it had been "discovered" back in the sixties. Actually, one of my teachers had pushed my mother--a practicing physician--to get me evaluated by a psychiatrist, which my mom resisted.
It's likely that I still have the trait, but, through both martial arts and maturity, I have learned how to focus and concentrate and beat it.
If you think back to 10,000 years ago, ADHD was probably assessed by tribesman as something like, "Wow, that guy Grog can really poor on the energy in the hunt." Females were probably impressed by the trait and it contributed to the success of the tribe. Thus, the trait was passed on.
Now, in a classroom or business meeting the trait is not as desirable. So it needs to be subdued and "treated". IMHO, big pharma and the medical community have latched on to this. Does this de-legitimize the diagnosis? Actually, probably not. Since it is a now a critical skill for people to function properly in certain settings (conditions which did not exist 10k yrs ago).
FWIW, I probably would have been diagnosed as ADHD if it had been "discovered" back in the sixties. Actually, one of my teachers had pushed my mother--a practicing physician--to get me evaluated by a psychiatrist, which my mom resisted.
It's likely that I still have the trait, but, through both martial arts and maturity, I have learned how to focus and concentrate and beat it.
It does... but I have more into it. You moslty see the A.D.D. Side. I don't take anything for it.
