Poll: How do you feel about A.D.D.

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

Anyone who said Physical discipline is a...a...crap! I don't quite know what to call them...

Smacking your kid, or whatever the heck "popping" them means is NOT going to cure an actual medical condition.

Look, I have ADD. As a kid, I had a ton of trouble concentrating. My parents confirmed that I had ADD with some doctors, and got me on ritalin. I was then able to focus and get work done. I'm now 23, and I've been off of it for at least 2 years. Once I discovered how to motivate myself, I stopped needing it.

As long as it IS ADD and not teachers thinking that child-standard hyperactivity IS ADD, then it ought to be treated. It's a valid medical condition. So give the kid the medication, but try to make sure he gets off of it when they no longer need it.

Personally, though, I hate my ADD. I hate it being harder for me to focus on stuff than everyone else. >_>

 

[lSHaDoW-FoXl]

Speaking as a person that had/has ADD I used to be put on pills. I can't deny that I was a bit of a brat growing up, but all the same I didn't do half the things I was blamed for. My middle school years were hell but very luckily I managed to get off the pills around high school.

Right now I'm an anti - social, unemployed 20 year old that can't get a job because I have great troubles even socializing with people. And you know what's really funny? Back when I was a selfish brat - before I was put on pills - I was very social and I had no problem talking to people. So tell me, can you connect the dots?

Sure, there's no denying that I brought some of the problems upon my self. But really now, those pills did far greater damage to me than I ever did to my self. Who knows, maybe if I hadn't taken them I'd have a friend or two and I'd be able to actually look someone in the eyes.
Heck, maybe I wouldn't even fail so much interviews simply because I was so socially awkward.

I'm against pills and I fucking hate them with a passion. It doesn't matter whether your problems are emotional, mental, or physical. In the end all pills really do is fix a problem by giving you another.

I'm against pills from personal experience. The only good that ever came from any of the bull shit I had to go through was that I was diagnosed as having Asperger Syndrome. Which doesn't help me too fucking much because people always think it's just a self serving self diagnosed title to make me feel better.

 

[Lilani]

-snip-

I'm certain it exists, however I think it's a bit overdiagnosed in children. Specifically young children whose parents won't discipline them. My mom has worked at an elementary school for 15 years, and she has seen a steady decline in children's behavior and a steady increase in ADD diagnoses. And it's because parents don't want to be parents anymore. They want to be buddies, because it's easier to be a child's friend than their parent.

And the worst part is when the parents use ADD as an excuse to not discipline them. Once they get a doctor to sign off on it, they see it as an excuse to never discipline them again. Some even try to tell teachers and school administrators to not punish them "because it's ADD." That makes me so mad. I think the parents should have to go to detention every time that happens. It's ridiculous and, quite frankly, neglectful. If you don't even want to try to keep your kid out of trouble, and legitimize all of their missteps because it's easier than doing something about it, then you don't deserve to be a parent.

 

[Kryzantine]

I've seen people who were diagnosed with ADD, and one friend of mine who honestly might actually have it. He's not in the first group, so I can't say for sure; then again, a diagnosis doesn't have much value these days.

I can't even say he's worse off for it. Despite being distracted VERY often, it's not as if he is unable to work, communicate or live effectively. It may even work better for him in a few regards, he certainly proves more interesting to others.

I say leave the kids off the drugs. Yeah, ADD exists, but the vast majority of cases, even those of actual ADD, simply don't limit the ability to live freely. Parents should perhaps behave like parents in these kinds of cases. I grew up around friends with so-called "tiger moms" - rigorously teaching their kids and pushing their kids to learn, to memorize, to do well on tests. That kids with ADD aced those tests and even met me is proof enough that it doesn't exactly limit their ability to perform well. Obviously, there are extreme cases, but in a discussion on a large population, those people only live up to their name and are negligible upon the greater conclusion.

 

[FalloutJack]

People with A.D.D. should have every opportunity to grow into functional individuals without having to suffer more complexes or some negative side-effect. People need to communicate with those with A.D.D. and not try to destroy them, but ease them along into a development that can cope with the world around them.

Pills are handy, but they are a bandaid. You have to keep re-applying them because the thing they're dealing with doesn't go away. Verbal and physical discipline only invites more mental complexes/conflicts. You're just scaring the hell out of the kid. Ignoring it means you're gambling. Maybe he turns out fine, maybe not.

I say therapist because therapists are trained to help and would know how to guide such people in a positive direction.

 

[biggskanz]

The vast majority of cases diagnosed as ADD are actually just bored kids doing what bored kids do. Kids don't want to go to school, they don't want to learn boring old math, so why is it such a big surprize to today's parents when they find ways to amuse themselves instead of doing their homework?

That's what I was gonna say. I would add that often it's teachers who are pushing for the medication of their students since it's the teachers who have to deal with rowdy kids.

You know ADD is bullshit if it just magically disappears when the kid is interested in something.

And according to this [URL="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5ilBNpu4oa62i2RHvWrWC362LFLaA" ]link[/URL] American kids are 3 times as likely to be drugged than European kids.

 

[Palademon]

Did you know ADD doesn't just mean acting bad or not paying attention?

Becuase I am neither of those things and I have ADHD.
And I refuse to take pills to make me think better because why bother achieving something if I needed help?

EDIT: Oh, and by the way, my 59 year old mum has ADD

 

[DarthFennec]

I have ADD. Verbal and physical discipline have been tried for years on me and they have failed miserably. Only the pills work for me (I'm on Adderall). Previous generations did have ADD, there was the odd kid every once in a while that simply couldn't focus no matter what they tried, but they never thought anything of it. The reason for the perceived increase in ADD patients nowadays is because ADD has become a popular excuse for not focusing. While a lot of us actually do have the disorder, most kids diagnosed with ADD don't really have it. Kids can't focus on schoolwork, it's boring and stupid at that age, so symptoms of ADD crop up whether the person actually has it or not. It's really hard to deal with, if you actually have the disorder. Being scolded doesn't help. Nothing helps. No matter how hard I try, no matter what I do, no matter how much effort I put into something, I can't do shit unless I'm taking the medication. Which sucks, because I have absolutely no form of income at the moment, yet I have to somehow come up with $50 a month so I don't fail my university courses, not to mention my tuition and housing fees, and food ...

So, I chose pills. But I also want to say that the diagnosis should be a little more comprehensive than just asking `are you having trouble focusing'. Too many kids are drugged for no reason, just because of this excuse, when it could be fixed by some discipline. For the rest of us though, drugs are necessary.