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I don’t have it, but have met some clinical ADHD people. It seems to be an over-diagnosed condition in the US, but I have run into several severe cases where it hinders daily tasks if not properly medicated.
It was definitely over-diagnosed back in the '80s-'00s, but I think it’s gotten better…maybe not.
I’m pretty familiar with this as my son has it. He went through a battery of tests before he was diagnosed though, but after we got him on meds it made a huge difference.
One of his doctors discribed it to me like this: Untreated, there’s a firehose of information flooding my son’s brain at any given moment essentially making it impossible to concentrate on any single task for very long.
I’m glad we caught it early and can get him on the right meds, the right doseage, and used to them before “real” school starts. Definitely a life changer.
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That’s absolutely not what ADHD is.
You mean the guy that started the thread has no clue what the thread is about. Nah, that has never happened in the Water Cooler.
I was expecting this thread to be started by SamCryBaby…I guess he’s too busy cuddling with the girl in Boston.
oooooooo he’s all quiet on that front. probably just ‘learning to code’
typical americans!! Get diagnosed for desease that doesnt exist then pump their kid full of drugs!.. Disgusting!!
^I remember I had to become seriously ill to get a simple antibiotic when I was in UK and under the umbrella of NHS.
That’s offensive.
^agreed
Pretty sure he was being sarcastic.
Definitely real and definitely overdiagnosed IMO. Too many people claim they suffer from it as an excuse for not doing well in school, job, etc…
I was diagnosed as a teenager and I never tell anyone (I mention it here because of the annonymity) because I don’t want to use it as a crutch (everyone’s got problems to overcome). I barely passed high school and failed out of college before I got a handle on it. (later went to new college and graduated w/4.0)
Someone mentioned a firehose of information which I thought was a decent analogy. It’s like information is constantly triggering your mind to jump from topic to topic. From personal experience, medication was not the answer for me. I was only ever prescribed adderall (amphetamine salts) so I can’t comment on any of the other drugs like Concerta. I will say adderall worked (amazingly) for a little while. However, after a couple of months it started to change my personality in a very very negative way and the positive effects were a lot less pronounced. My doctor’s answer was to give me more medication, so I quit taking them (the difficulty in quiting helped convince me to quit if that makes sense).
I’m not a doctor and have as much medical knowledge as the average joe, but as someone who has been prescribed adderall, I would never let a child take adderall. It’s a straight up drug (like mild meth) and it feels like it when you take it. I’m not saying adderall doesn’t help with symptoms, I’m saying who knows what kind of long term effects a kid will have from taking for years and years, I don’t believe the doctors do.
Isn’t ADHD still based on some kind of spectrum of symptoms? Let’s say everyone is ranked from 1 to 10 in attention retention ability. If you are rank 2 or below, you have ADHD. Now let’s also say that some environmental factors, like internet and cell phones, have a small but real effect on attention span - let’s say 1 point on the scale. If this is the case, then changing how we treat kids, as opposed to medication, could push some ADHD kids above the cutoff.
I am not the most knowledgeable about this condition, so maybe I am mistaken. However, it seems that erring on the “blame the disease” side might reflect some kind of societal bias and contribute to overdiagnosis. On a side note, I knew many people in college who did not have ADHD but took Aderall or other drugs to help them study. Endurance athletes also take drugs to help them focus during races. These, to me, are misuses of the drug, even if the effect is desired. So, even if a kid shows an “improvement” after medication, does that mean that the medication was necessary to begin with? Perhaps we are just pushing kids towards some idealized behavior, and preventing them from overcoming personal limitations through conventional means.
Anyway, just my thoughts.
That’s valid. And, that’s why it’s supposed to be much harder to actually get diagnosed these days. Real ADHD sucks balls (from what I understand. My son is still too young to really express his thoughts on the matter) and shouldn’t be discounted.
That said, sure, there are plenty of kids that don’t need the meds that take it to study or party for 72 hours straight in Vegas (I may or may not have done that). Just because it’s abused, however, shouldn’t diminish the problems people that do have ADHD face.
Real ADHD is where you cannot literally hold a conversation.Also contrary to popular belief ADHD people are not creative.
Real ADHD is where you cannot literally hold a conversation.Also contrary to popular belief ADHD people are not creative.
Perhaps you meant to say people with ADHD are not more creative than those that don’t have it? I’m not sure if they’re more or less creative, but having ADHD didn’t prevent my son from creating extremely elaborate scenarios with his toys (before and after meds). I’ve seen no change in his creativity since being treated.
So, I have direct evidence that at least one person with ADHD is creative.