nypost.com:
- Pop quiz: Is the proportion of American children suffering from the disease known as attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder . . .
a) Less than 5%, as we believed before the early 1990s? b) More than 11%, and rising, as suggested by CDC statistics? c) Zero?
The correct answer is (c), says neurologist Richard Saul in his forthcoming book, “ADHD Does Not Exist: The Truth About Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder” (HarperWave), which is sure to cause controversy when it comes out in February.
After a long career treating patients complaining of such problems as short attention spans and an inability to focus, Saul is convinced that ADHD is a collection of symptoms, not a disease, and shouldn’t be listed in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual.
how can i say 'this' without getting yelled at for leaving stupid comments
I'm very skeptical of a lot of the diagnoses around me. A friend of mine, let's call her Jissanthepuss, is diagnosed depressive, underwent elective electro-shock therapy, and is prescribed a galaxy of little pills. I'm convinced that she's secretly suffering from narcissistic personality disorder. She's a narcissist. This author puts it well I don't mean the traditional Kernberg, Kohut, or even Freudian descriptions. In the modern times, I think narcissism has evolved. A narcissist isn't necessarily an egotist, someone who thinks they are the best. A quick screen is an inability to appreciate that other people exist, and have thoughts, feelings, and actions unrelated to the narcissist. These thoughts don't have to be good ones, but they have to be linked to the narcissist. ("I'm going to get some gas-- because that jerk never fills the car.") The narcissist believes he is the main character in his own movie. Everyone else has a supporting role-- everyone around him becomes a "type." You know how in every romantic comedy, there's always the funny friend who helpes the main character figure out her relationship? In the movie, her whole existence is to be there fore the main character. But in real life, that funny friend has her own life; she might even be the main character in her own movie, right? Well the narcissist wouldn't be able to grasp that. Her friends are always supporting characters, that can be called at any hour of the night, that will always be interested in what she is wearing, or what she did. That funny friend isn't just being kind, she doesn't just want to help-- she's personally interested in the narcissist's life. Of course she is. A comedian I can't remember made a joke about actors in LA, but it's applicable to narcissists: when two narcissists go out, they just wait for the other person's mouth to stop moving so they can talk about themselves. So on the one hand, the narcissist reduces everyone else to a type, as it relates to himself; on the other hand, the narcissist, as the main character in his movie, has an identity that he wants (i.e. he made it up) and requires all others to supplement that identity. I agree with the OP's post that there is a total over reliance on some diagnoses. I don't think they're rigorously made.A quick primer on the new Narcissism.
Jizanthapus. Must-see. The last 2 minutes were absolutely glorious, a true masterpiece.
I'm pretty sure I'm going to get prescribed with ADD or ADHD or whatever at my Doctor's appointment this Tuesday. I've been struggling with even bringing the topic up with my doctor. In my culture, stuff like this is just considered a sign of weakness, or laziness. I've always wondered if I actually have it, or if I'm just lazy. But the thing is, if it really were just laziness, I would only have trouble focusing on things I'm trying to avoid, right? The stuff I like I could certainly focus on. But that's not the case. I've been pretty down about this all day, actually. I feel like I can't get a grip on anything, whether I like it or not, because of how scatterbrained I am. I have to take breaks writing this damn post because I'm too busy bouncing my knees around, or looking at the water bottle next to me, or scrolling aimlessly through iTunes, or what-have-you. Whether it's lazy or not, I figure I should at least talk to my doctor about it. I feel pretty crummy anyways, so it couldn't hurt. Perhaps I will make my own post about how it works out, when I do go.
If you are diagnosed with ADHD I'd be interested to know how they came to that conclusion, how quickly and if you think it was appropriate.Perhaps I will make my own post about how it works out, when I do go.
Good luck at the appointment 8bit. Do you trust your doctor? If so and you value their expertise, my advice would be to be as honest as possible.
Yeah, my Doc is aces, and what I'm not worried about is his honesty. If he thinks I'm being a lazy sad-sack that definitely doesn't need medication, he'll have zero problems telling me. I'll let you know how it goes. I think I'll deem it appropriate or not based on how quickly he diagnoses me. There's also that aspect of skepticism due to the fact that I'm a grubby college kid looking to score some adderall. I'll be interested to see if he addresses that. It feels like ADHD is one big self-fulfilling prophecy of self-doubt. At least I'm struggling with whether or not I should label my issues as ADHD, as opposed to blaming my problems on ADHD, I suppose.
OH BOY, REPOST TIME! I just wrote this in another thread. Here we go... I was officially diagnosed at eight years old. My parents always had trouble getting me to "listen" to them. When they would ask me to do something whilst on the computer, the situation would go something like this: Delta, you need to go downstairs and wash the dishes while I run an errand. Okay? Okay mom, will do. Delta, why didn't you wash the dishes? Oh...sorry. I guess I forgot. --- It was things like this that happened on a regular basis that caused my parents to take me to a doctor. I was tested for ADD and ADHD. This involved tests to make sure it wasn't another condition, surveys for teachers, interviewing my parents (my father's opinion carries weight, he is a high school counselor), and questioning me. Everything came together to point to a conclusion: I have ADD, but not ADHD (no hyperactivity). The doctor didn't give me any kind of medicine when I was first diagnosed. He instructed my parents to use psychology to attempt to manage it. They utilized physical contact to grab my attention so I wouldn't "pass them off." I think the technique had a minimal effect. Fast-forward to years later--I'm having trouble with grades in school. This shouldn't be the case, and my parents know it. I tested into my school's gifted learning program in the third grade, and gifted kids normally make all "A" grades in elective classes. I was making low "B" grades. They knew something was up when I made a genuine effort to get good grades and couldn't. I told them what was going on--I just could not pay attention in class. It was more difficult in classes I didn't enjoy, but the difficulty was present in all of my classes. I told my parents I wanted to know if I had ADD. They had been pretty enigmatic about the subject up until that point, an effort in which I assume was to keep me from making excuses for laziness. My parents took me to my general practitioner, who questioned me about why I wanted to be medicated for ADD. I explained some of the above to him. He told me I needed to see a psychiatrist first, to make sure I wasn't attempting to abuse amphetamines. I turned to my dad and asked him, "Was I diagnosed when when I was eight with all of those tests?" He responded with a yes, the doctor checked the records, nodded, and told us that it wouldn't be necessary to re-diagnose. He prescribed me with Adderall. This stuff makes me feel like a genius. I can learn anything I want...get any grade I want. I can pay attention to anything. I'm by no means addicted (I haven't had a need to take meds over break and have not taken any), but it works wonders for me. I can pay attention in any class. I haven't dropped a single dish at my restaurant since I started the medication. My grades have improved significantly. If you want a bit of evidence that I need it, then here you go. Normally when people take Adderall when they don't have an attention disorder, their heart races and they are jittery. I don't experience this. It has to do with the mind's stasis. My natural level of stimulation is lower than the average person's level. The Adderall brings me to a "normal" level because it is a stimulant. If someone with a normal level took the Adderall, their stasis would be above average, inducing the symptoms described above. TL,DR: I love amphetamines.not to bug you but this ADD thing is really itching my brain, I'd love to hear how you came about getting checked and prescribed.
Mom walks in room
I turn around in my chair
I go back to working on the computer and the conversation is immediately eliminated from my attention
Mom comes home hours later
I remember the conversation
That there are some people who can function while on amphetamines are well known. Then there are millions and millions who doesn't. I'm not refusing you the right to use whatever substance you want that you think is helping you, in fact: I urge anyone to help them self wisely. I'm no anti-drug advocate. However, and here's the point. "Success stories" like this does in no way take away the fact that what we are talking about here is amphetamines that are distributed to small children like it was some kind of "wonderdrug". The results are catastrophic, and in time this will be another of those stories where people were lied to, because big farma only thinks about money.
ADHD is a blanket term that can used to cover any "unwanted" behavior. It's a made up term that has no business being used as criterias which if deemed fulfilled means that a person can be prescribed highly addictive and dangerous drugs which does nothing but further fucks things up in the long run. Related. http://www.naturalnews.com/040938_adhd_fictitious_disease_ps...
Yep. ADHD and ADD are sets of behaviors that can be ascribed to many causes. I can attest to exhibiting ADHD behaviors myself when my work life and family life have me maxed out. Doesn't happen often, but it does happen. Fortunately for me though, I am normally able to find balance in my life that prevents me from exhibiting this behavior often. As public educator of 16 years (have taught 4, 5, and 8th grades), every student that I've had that carried with him/her a label of ADD or ADHD had either 1) a very complicated and stressful home life, or 2) An underlying hurdle that made their education more difficult than the typical student. These hurdles might be some form of learning disability (so often expressive or receptive language difficulties) that made their learning especially difficult for him/her.
On the positive side of medicating, I've seen medication help, as a cast and crutches help a student with a broken leg recover. The medication, along with family counseling to address the underlying stressors, helps an ADD/ADHD student develop positive habits in and out of school to produce positive outcomes.
Unfortunately, more often as well, the medication is used to address only the symptoms long-term, without ever addressing the underlying causes.
As someone who is also working with kids who has ADHD, Autism, Asperger syndrome. I have seen no long term positive effects from medication and ADHD. Instead what I have noticed is that kids who are taking Ritalin etc stop responding logically to other treatments and positive changes in their environment. With these medications, what you are left with are young children who suddenly experience extreme highs and lows. Looses appetite. Starts "seeing things" that are not there. Some become introverted, some become the opposite. There's suddenly no logic to anything when on medication. The side effects are awful and we really don't have any evidence that the medication work or indeed that ADHD really exists. The answer is that this is really just big business and creating junkies out of our kids is highly profitable. Related: Playlist with criticism about psychiatry and big pharma
As someone who is currently prescribed Adderall, I did have some issues with the appetite factor when I first started taking it, but I've grown past the lack of appetite by forcing myself to eat until it became a natural urge. I wouldn't want anyone younger than teenage taking it. Too much of a risk for children to not feel like eating.
If people were given the known "facts" about ADHD and the drugs which are used to treat it, I would have very little problems with it.
I actually say: Let people use whatever they want to themselves, if they use it without inflicting pain or suffering on somebody else. I'm no anti-drug advocate. But today, ADHD is portrayed as a real disease, much like cancer or malaria. Which in turn comes with medicines like Adderall that is said to treat it. But ADHD is nothing factual like Cancer or Malaria, it cant be compared to real diseases.
There isn't a doctor in the world that can point to where "ADHD" is suppose to be in the brain. There's nothing to look at or measure. It's a fictional disease. This information needs to be given to all parents which at this time are sitting in front of a psychiatrist who is giving out dangerous drugs while only attesting to their positive values and merits.
I think Adderall and other stimulants have a real potential to be abused by those with disordered eating patterns or full-blown eating disorders. I'm not saying I think these people would try to get a prescription just for that benefit, but if you have a child or teen with those underlying issues who also is considered ADD or ADHD, I think you have a potential recipe for disaster. On a less severe level, I've heard more than once of people who want to lose weight so they just "take their medicine" until they lose it, and then they go off of it - which teaches terrible eating patterns and dependence, by the way. (In both cases these people were in the group that felt that ADD medication made them boring, so instead of taking it daily they took it "as necessary." Which is an interesting tactic to think about in and of itself, I guess.)
I agree with this so much. I struggled at school from about 16 and it took me six years to complete my degree. Everyone thought I was ADD, but when I finally got myself into therapy, it turns out my dad had NPD and mum was very likely BPD. Their behaviour stressed me out so much, I couldn't cope at school. Once I addressed these emotional issues, my life did a complete 180 and I've never been this consistently happy ever. I think sometimes it's best to try and search for underlying issues first, before just slapping a prescription for ADD/ADHD in every kid's hand.
I have a family member that takes Adderall and I'm not convinced he needs it. I think it's become more recreational if anything.In a few cases, there was simply no diagnosis. One adult who thought she had ADHD and had been prescribed stimulants by another doctor got a different take from Saul. He advised her to instead return to her habit of exercising regularly and cut back on work hours.
“I now realize it wasn’t ADHD,” she told him later, pleased with the progress she made as a result. “It was just life.”
my guess is that a large percentage of people diagnosed with ADHD could see similar outcomes with lifestyle changes as opposed to drugs.