ADD is Quite The Overused Excuse, it Would Seem...
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You know, I'm starting to wonder if ADD misdiagnoses are evidence of a more prevalent cultural malady rather than a physiological one.
It could be that traditional schooling and most jobs just aren't stimulating enough to keep children and young adults interested. I don't think this is necessarily a problem, considering that human children used to spend their early youth frantically learning how to survive in the wild before all their parent's teeth fell out and not sitting in desks listening to some sixty-year-old woman drone on and on about improper fractions.
I can think of three possible solutions to this problem.
1) Make education more stimulating in general. This has to be done without diminishing its intellectual value.
2) Give children more training in discipline and learning strategies. Let children develop a mechanism by which they can calm themselves down instead of having to rely on drugs. Also, it might help to give them a clearer picture of what all that learning is for in the first place.
3) Give children more recess. The more time they have to churn out all that nervous energy, the less they'll be inclined to be antsy during class.
It could be that traditional schooling and most jobs just aren't stimulating enough to keep children and young adults interested. I don't think this is necessarily a problem, considering that human children used to spend their early youth frantically learning how to survive in the wild before all their parent's teeth fell out and not sitting in desks listening to some sixty-year-old woman drone on and on about improper fractions.
I can think of three possible solutions to this problem.
1) Make education more stimulating in general. This has to be done without diminishing its intellectual value.
2) Give children more training in discipline and learning strategies. Let children develop a mechanism by which they can calm themselves down instead of having to rely on drugs. Also, it might help to give them a clearer picture of what all that learning is for in the first place.
3) Give children more recess. The more time they have to churn out all that nervous energy, the less they'll be inclined to be antsy during class.
That's not having ADD, that's being distracted and thinking of something else while you're reading- that's being SCATTERBRAINED. And don't call me out and say I'm wrong, because I know I'm right- I have the same issue, and I know I don't have ADD. It's overdiagnosed not because Doctors are dumb and can't tell hyperactivity from ADD, but because Doctors would rather turn a blind eye for profit.wkrepelin said:
While we are raggin on ADD, could we throw in pretty much every other self-diagnosed mental illness as well?
People that think they have OCD because they are pretty tidy or people that confuse "being a bit of a nerd" with having autism/asberger's syndrome.
Firstly, unless you are a professional psychiatrist, you have no right to diagnose yourself.
Secondly, these things so often just get turned into poor excuses to not try and improve things that are within your grasp. Its so much easier to say "I have no friends, .'. I must have autism" than saying "I have no friends .'. I should work on myself, get out the house more, speak to people and try to build up a social circle".
People that think they have OCD because they are pretty tidy or people that confuse "being a bit of a nerd" with having autism/asberger's syndrome.
Firstly, unless you are a professional psychiatrist, you have no right to diagnose yourself.
Secondly, these things so often just get turned into poor excuses to not try and improve things that are within your grasp. Its so much easier to say "I have no friends, .'. I must have autism" than saying "I have no friends .'. I should work on myself, get out the house more, speak to people and try to build up a social circle".
As you may know, ADD doesn't mean you can't pay attention to anything, it means you can't pay attention that doesn't interest you. It is possible that school just interests them. I do agree that people need to learn the difference between ADD and being six.Eggsnham said:
My little bro has ADHD and it is very visible and was a pain to deal with until het went to his special needs school. Unfortenately the public school he went to treated him pretty badly for the most part. Now he is doing very well and has made leaps and bounds in progress.
My dad might have had it because he remember's being more or less the same. I have a very hyperactive mind but I don't think that has anything to do with ADD/ADHD.
My dad might have had it because he remember's being more or less the same. I have a very hyperactive mind but I don't think that has anything to do with ADD/ADHD.
It is way overdiagnosed, and its sad. Science is still working to find any biologcial cause for the disorder, and they are not doing well. Its mostly speculation and grapsing at straws at this point. Then again, many medical breakthroughs resulted from "grasping at straws"
Most kids that "have it" just need a good smack or a bit more discipline. It is just a get out clause at this point really. A bit like the race card or something like that being pulled unnecessarily. It is used too much and too often really. Well the former the latter being misused is for another thread.
Does ADD exist, as a chemical imbalance that can cause a reduced attention span? Possibly, even likely.
Do I know a vast number of people diagnosed with it? Yes, nearly as many as I know diagnosed with "CLINICAL depression" (in which they always emphasize that first word as though proclaiming knighthood). And yet... not a single one of those people has ever had a MEDICAL test done that checked any hormone/chemical/neurotransmitter levels in their brains. They underwent certain COGNITIVE tests--books, questions, puzzles, and so on.
My problem isn't the existence of vague disorders like this. My problem is how they are diagnosed and how they are TREATED.
WHY PARENTS LIKE THEM:
My kid is misbehaving or getting bad grades. I don't know what's causing it, but I would rather not think that it's because there's something I could be doing to help and I'm not doing it... or that there is something I'm doing that is harmful. So, if there's a doctor will to tell me there's a pill for that, I'll take it. (NOTE: I will also buy pills that promise to make me skinny and buff without making me face my bad habits in those areas, too)
WHY TEACHERS LIKE THEM:
(NOTE: I am a teacher, and of middle school kids) Johnny is misbehaving and disrupting class, drawing a disproportionate amount of my attention and the class's time. We've called and called and called Johnny's mom, but she just won't do anything substantial about it. And we are not empowered by the state to take necessary steps to fix the problem in any way. So, instead, we will GLADLY sign on to give the kid a pill. Not because it will help him, but because it will get him OUT OF THE WAY so we can teach the dozens of other kids that are there.
WHY KIDS LIKE THEM:
If you tell me "You know, this ATM machine has a special code that you can enter. It will give you money even if your account is empty," I'm going to be SEVERELY tempted to use it. And I'm a grown-ass man! A mature, morally-okay adult with strong principles.
In the THOUSANDS of years that human society has functioned on this planet, kids have NOT CHANGED. They have always been selfish little buggers who will do whatever they can get away with--because that's our animal nature, nothing more. When you tell a child, "The reason you do these things, and can't do those things, is because you have this disorder," you are giving the child information well beyond their maturity to handle. You just gave that "ATM code" to a TWEEN CHILD.
Even children with LEGITIMATE and very PROMINENT disabilities (cerebral palsy, asthma, diabetes) will have a tendency to go through stages in which they USE these disabilities for extra attention or to get out of something difficult. It's HUMAN NATURE. But at least with THOSE, there are measurable ways that we can verify the problem--and you can eventually identify when a child is "bluffing," and they'll usually work themselves out of that stage.
But when it's something as nebulous as ADD/ADHD? It's a license to shirk work and cause disruption, and since it's classified as a "manifestation of disability," you can only get into so much trouble for it--if any. KIDS ARE KIDS, and they will EAT THAT SHIT UP.
WHERE WE GO WRONG:
Treatment. Not just how we treat the disorder chemically, but how we treat the kid with our expectations.
For instance, if you know your car's speedometer is always 5 mph high, that doesn't mean "Hey, that means I get to drive 5 mph over the speed limit!" It means YOU have to pay attention to YOUR speed a little closer, so that you're still following the same rules as everyone else. EVEN IF YOU CAN'T GET THE SPEEDOMETER FIXED, EVER. It will always be your responsibility to compensate for that.
Or what if you break your knee, and you've got a leg cast? Yeah, while it's healing you keep off of it... but eventually, you've got to put weight back on it, or it'll atrophy, or even heal wrong. You don't just write off the weak leg and use only the strong one forever... or it'll never be useful again. And when you use the weak leg, it will be HARDER, but you HAVE to do it.
So, the fact that a kid has trouble paying attention doesn't mean we just EXPECT him not to pay attention. It means we demand he try EVEN HARDER. It's not a license not to work hard, it's a MANDATE to work HARDER.
But what about medication? Absolutely useful! They help a kid get to a point where they can learn how it FEELS to pay attention. And then you know what? They can learn how to create that feeling for themselves, bit by bit, and phase out the chemical assistance. Medication is meant to be a CRUTCH, not a PROSTHESIS.
So, yeah, nutshell time: We love ADD/ADHD because, as a modern culture, we accept REASONS for EXCUSES and stop working toward SOLUTIONS.
Do I know a vast number of people diagnosed with it? Yes, nearly as many as I know diagnosed with "CLINICAL depression" (in which they always emphasize that first word as though proclaiming knighthood). And yet... not a single one of those people has ever had a MEDICAL test done that checked any hormone/chemical/neurotransmitter levels in their brains. They underwent certain COGNITIVE tests--books, questions, puzzles, and so on.
My problem isn't the existence of vague disorders like this. My problem is how they are diagnosed and how they are TREATED.
WHY PARENTS LIKE THEM:
My kid is misbehaving or getting bad grades. I don't know what's causing it, but I would rather not think that it's because there's something I could be doing to help and I'm not doing it... or that there is something I'm doing that is harmful. So, if there's a doctor will to tell me there's a pill for that, I'll take it. (NOTE: I will also buy pills that promise to make me skinny and buff without making me face my bad habits in those areas, too)
WHY TEACHERS LIKE THEM:
(NOTE: I am a teacher, and of middle school kids) Johnny is misbehaving and disrupting class, drawing a disproportionate amount of my attention and the class's time. We've called and called and called Johnny's mom, but she just won't do anything substantial about it. And we are not empowered by the state to take necessary steps to fix the problem in any way. So, instead, we will GLADLY sign on to give the kid a pill. Not because it will help him, but because it will get him OUT OF THE WAY so we can teach the dozens of other kids that are there.
WHY KIDS LIKE THEM:
If you tell me "You know, this ATM machine has a special code that you can enter. It will give you money even if your account is empty," I'm going to be SEVERELY tempted to use it. And I'm a grown-ass man! A mature, morally-okay adult with strong principles.
In the THOUSANDS of years that human society has functioned on this planet, kids have NOT CHANGED. They have always been selfish little buggers who will do whatever they can get away with--because that's our animal nature, nothing more. When you tell a child, "The reason you do these things, and can't do those things, is because you have this disorder," you are giving the child information well beyond their maturity to handle. You just gave that "ATM code" to a TWEEN CHILD.
Even children with LEGITIMATE and very PROMINENT disabilities (cerebral palsy, asthma, diabetes) will have a tendency to go through stages in which they USE these disabilities for extra attention or to get out of something difficult. It's HUMAN NATURE. But at least with THOSE, there are measurable ways that we can verify the problem--and you can eventually identify when a child is "bluffing," and they'll usually work themselves out of that stage.
But when it's something as nebulous as ADD/ADHD? It's a license to shirk work and cause disruption, and since it's classified as a "manifestation of disability," you can only get into so much trouble for it--if any. KIDS ARE KIDS, and they will EAT THAT SHIT UP.
WHERE WE GO WRONG:
Treatment. Not just how we treat the disorder chemically, but how we treat the kid with our expectations.
For instance, if you know your car's speedometer is always 5 mph high, that doesn't mean "Hey, that means I get to drive 5 mph over the speed limit!" It means YOU have to pay attention to YOUR speed a little closer, so that you're still following the same rules as everyone else. EVEN IF YOU CAN'T GET THE SPEEDOMETER FIXED, EVER. It will always be your responsibility to compensate for that.
Or what if you break your knee, and you've got a leg cast? Yeah, while it's healing you keep off of it... but eventually, you've got to put weight back on it, or it'll atrophy, or even heal wrong. You don't just write off the weak leg and use only the strong one forever... or it'll never be useful again. And when you use the weak leg, it will be HARDER, but you HAVE to do it.
So, the fact that a kid has trouble paying attention doesn't mean we just EXPECT him not to pay attention. It means we demand he try EVEN HARDER. It's not a license not to work hard, it's a MANDATE to work HARDER.
But what about medication? Absolutely useful! They help a kid get to a point where they can learn how it FEELS to pay attention. And then you know what? They can learn how to create that feeling for themselves, bit by bit, and phase out the chemical assistance. Medication is meant to be a CRUTCH, not a PROSTHESIS.
So, yeah, nutshell time: We love ADD/ADHD because, as a modern culture, we accept REASONS for EXCUSES and stop working toward SOLUTIONS.
I've been diagnosed with ADHD several times throughout my life. I don't take medication for it. People that really have ADD and ADHD have a mind that works faster than most peoples, and I see that as an advantage, not a disorder. I have a short attention span, yes, but because I use it to my advantage when I multitask.
I think rather than medicating people, they should be taught. I have ADHD, though I don't suffer the hyperactivity often. But when I do I can play multiple games, watch movies, and read all at the same time with perfect memory retention.
I think rather than medicating people, they should be taught. I have ADHD, though I don't suffer the hyperactivity often. But when I do I can play multiple games, watch movies, and read all at the same time with perfect memory retention.
I completely understand your frustration. It sucks seeing ADHD used so lightly when people like us who've had it for real grew up facing all the drama and bullshit that they never dealt with.Eggsnham said:
It has been badly over-diagnosed because the behavior which identifies it can be easily exaggerated of just imagined.
There are no medical diagnostic tools available to distinguish a legitimate sufferer, like yourself, from children who have simply not been taught to hold their hyper-activity in check.
But if you want to do anything about it you should become a doctor...or a government lobbyist
There are no medical diagnostic tools available to distinguish a legitimate sufferer, like yourself, from children who have simply not been taught to hold their hyper-activity in check.
But if you want to do anything about it you should become a doctor...or a government lobbyist
I never had that problem but I have really bad handwriting and when we learned joint writing and I was slower than anyone else that meant I had (god I hope I spell these right) dislecsia and then despraxia it just never occured to anyone that I was just bad at handwriting.
OT: It is hell for people with ADD here in Ireland because we do Irish a subject so boring it simulates an entire class with that condition.
OT: It is hell for people with ADD here in Ireland because we do Irish a subject so boring it simulates an entire class with that condition.
i have aspergers syndrome, and it always annoys me when TV shows think they can mix things up by adding a character with aspergers syndrome (i'm looking at you, boston legal).
also when they pronounce it ass-burgers syndrome. or when they clearly have autism, not aspergers syndrome.
also when they pronounce it ass-burgers syndrome. or when they clearly have autism, not aspergers syndrome.
I agree with you on the part that kids and PARENTS must learn to live it. If the parents can make a good example for the kids,I am quite sure that they will follow them. The metaphor with the ATM code is a very,very good one and it's true and sad. If younger kids (toddler to 15) learns that he got a diagonsis,he will mostly likely use it to his advantage as you said. ("It's not my fault I punched her,I got ADD!")dastardly said:
As I said,kids must learns to live it and people must learn to respect those who actually got it.
Yeah, I'm sure that you're better equipped to diagnose me from one forum post than all the PhDs who spent time actually talking with me and such. I wish I had that sort of power of insight.Teh_Lemon said:
EDIT: rephrase b/c of awkward phrasing in original post.
I was diognosed ADHD, got a prescrition for Ritalin. It made me a total asshole. I fiured I'dd rather have the concentration of a goldfish than a douche. Later they invented the name ADD, got labeled, and didn't care. I'm pretty functional, grew over it a bit, I guess.
I hate it when people diagnose themself with it. ADD and Asperger's are favourites of those home-made M.D.'s...
I hate it when people diagnose themself with it. ADD and Asperger's are favourites of those home-made M.D.'s...
I'm 23. I have it. It has its ups and downs. I can fail to remember the most important things in the world (lost my car that way), but recall the most minute details of things that I don't even think I'm absorbing (stopped 1:47:32 into the Seven Samurai; need to rememebr to finish that.) Stimulants calm me down, but some part of my body is always in motion, even in my sleep if my girlfriend is to be believed. When I go outside my usual discipline of doing tasks one-at-a-time, I lose efficiency quickly. I'm a human SIMD unit.
For the record there is only ADHD. It comes in three types.
For the record there is only ADHD. It comes in three types.