ADD/ADHD Discussion

[WahiGuard]

They didn't advance me in grades, just classes. Like I was a freshman taking some classes with Juniors and Seniors, I got bumped around in the wrong order in the system. So I was expected to know shit that I didn't learn yet. They started doing that with me in like 4th or 5th grade.

Ahh gotcha for elementary schools around here (1-4) for advanced students would be put in multi age programs(1st and 2nd graders together and 3rd and 4th graders). I remember being taught Long Division in the first grade, when most weren`t taught that until the fourth grade. Anyways not to derail @.@

Ya the biggest contributor to whether a child will succeed in school is parental investment in their child`s education. Slapping ADD/ADHD is sometimes the easy way out. Considering how much the average American spends with a medium that provides instant gratification. Then images that go to the brain before it can even decipher and assimilate the information, no wonder children cannot concentrate in school.

[Sylvrdragon]

There's something ironic about an ADD thread containing so many walls of text...

I'm not doctor/psychiatrist/psychologist, but I'm pretty damn sure I'm ADD. If it weren't for my reluctance to leave things incomplete, I would probably never finish anything unless it was just positively engaging from start to finish. As it stands, I already put off too many things that I SHOULD do (saving money, getting a better job, going to college, working out, etc), but I sometimes I put off even things I WANT to do.

[Ragnell]

I have ADD and my brother is ADHD. It was tough growing up with it, because it was not diagnosed. They actually thought it was allergies. LOL Later, after my brother was diagnosed, they realized that I was ADD. I also get the not being interested thing. The meds did help, but me and my brother dont take meds anymore.

gimme your drugs, i need them, but seriously

My gf keeps telling me I have adhd, and funny enough the first time she told it to me, I've never heard of it, I've heard of ADD, but didnt know it was similar to ADHD or there was even another "version" of it, After she told me I was still skeptical and I was like whatever, so she asked me some random questions and came back to me later telling me the results, I've been wanting to get "tested" for it to see if it's really true or not, but LOL health insurance, She wants to pump me full of drugs though, maybe I do have it, maybe I don't, either way, I still want those drugs

[Deadgye]

Blowing off an ADD/ADHD diagnosis because "kids are hyper and inattentive" is just as bad as diagnosing your children with ADD/ADHD because you don't know how to be a parent.

[Seanr]

g I've been wanting to get "tested" for it to see if it's really true or not,

I think once you get past a certain age, you become cognizant of shit and could skew a diagnosis inadvertently or on purpose

[Lyrai]

I think the outline of the diseases are too broad, so it's easy to lump hyperactive, inattentive children into that category, so I do think it's over diagnosed. I personally did bad in school from around 5th-6th grade until the middle of high school, granted I had a lot of going on in my family life, I was disinterested in schoolwork, didn't see the point of homework, but scored in the top percentiles of standardized tests, excelled in extra curricular activities and had the memory of an elephant. It wasn't until high school when I had teachers that challenged me that I did well again, when I had interest in what I was learning, and things were taught in different ways as to have relevance.

Also during an experience with foster care, I had to visit a therapist who diagnosed me with chronic depression, but after speaking with me, he gave me an IQ test, which I scored high on. It clicked with me then that I was smarter than my grades, and that I was capable of more. Environment plays a huge role in learning and I think the school environment isn't always favorable to all young minds(Not one-size-fits-all.) I believe there was a study of children who were allowed to fidget scoring higher on tests than ones who discouraged from fidgeting. The schools now are teaching more "to the test" and are less about applicable learning, so rather than change the method, disorders like ADD and ADHD are used as an excuse.

Not in all situations though, my psychology teacher admitted to having ADHD but preferred not to take medication because it was who she was and she used it to her advantage, teaching herself to multitask better and help keep classes interesting and engaging.

[notorious bum]

Psychiatric medicine is still heavily pseudo junk-science. The clinical trials for the drugs are a joke, many physicians are still encouraged to push pills, although it has gotten better in recent years.

The shit you eat could very seriously have an effect on your behavior as well. All the garbage preservatives and artificial colors/flavors kids ingest have been exposed as a contributor to the whole ADD/ADHD craze from the past decade.

This dude brings up some less-than-popular opinions on mental health problems: http://www.democracynow.org/2011/5/3..._on_the_stress

[Mjd]

Diagnosed with ADD @ 12 put me on ritalin, gave me a nervous twitch put me on adderall @ 14 cut down my dosage. Shit would fuck my brain up so badly I hated it.

[Dimmauk]

I didnt like the way the meds made me feel too. I had lived so long without them, I had already adapted to dealing with it. Its other people that have to learn and live with it too. It took my wife a little while to get used to it. One good thing about it, I am able to do multiple things at once, since I already do this all the time.

[Streak]

I kept hoping they would diagnose my son with ADHD since he wouldn't listen, was very defiant, always trying to run away at age 4.

Instead they diagnosed him with classical autism.

Oh good. *sigh*

[isladar]

I'm sorry, but as opposed to Diet Autism?

[Not Kuno]

I'm sorry, but as opposed to Diet Autism?

That's still better then the New Autism they tried in the '80s.

[Dimmauk]

That's still better then the New Autism they tried in the '80s.

LOL. I noticed that if I don't drink large amounts of caffeine, I seem to focus better.

[Tagus]

I've always felt that ADD doesn't exist, and what they're seeing is various degrees of depression in people with learning disabilities and/or laziness. I was friends with some guys in college who, when they discovered that the campus health center would prescribe ritalin for ADD, all went in and faked the symptoms. No offense to people who legitamately have been diagnosed, but it seems like there's no identifiable source, and all the people I knew who had it were pretty much potheads in it for the drugs.

[Byrthnoth]

I guess I'll just link this older thread for my opinion on this debate, because my first post was pretty thorough and I don't feel like rehashing it:
http://www.bluegartr.com/threads/97330-Mental-Health

This remains one of the most damning criticisms of Psychiatry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosenhan_experiment

[Yuri-G]

LOL. I noticed that if I don't drink large amounts of caffeine, I seem to focus better.

caffeine is terribad for anyone with ADD. truth.

@tagus: no offense but you are dead wrong. take it from someone who has ADD. it ranges from mildly annoying to terribly frustrating depending on the day, the mood, food, sleep, etc.

I agree with it being overdiagnosed, and I sure as hell agree with it being overmedicated - no question there. and those are both part of the problem, because people who legitimately suffer from it are misunderstood as a result.

it's hard to understand but I can say that I've always known I didn't function quite the same as most normal people. and I love meeting ADD friends because it's like "ok, this person gets it." people look at it as just being easily distracted or hyperactive, and that's part of it, but for me it's more of a general lack of ability to choose what to focus on. it's not that I can't focus - just that I can't generally choose when I will and will not focus. if something interests me, I can pay attention to it for hours on end (hello, videogames). if something bores me, I can't deal with it for more than a couple minutes. it makes chores around the house a real pain in the ass. nobody likes to do laundry, but imagine being incapable of mentally forcing yourself to get it done.

and of course there's more to it than that - I often wonder what it must be like to hold a conversation with me. I do a lot of pretending to know what the other person just said and trying to guess at an appropriate response - tons of "uh huhs" and "oh yeahs" when in reality I'm only half-aware of what was just said. and I lose track of even my own train of thought fairly often, which is usually pretty funny... can't tell you how many times I've been on a deep, intense rant, only to end up asking "wait... where was I going with that?" or "what was I saying, again?"

that's not a perfect description but I think it's somewhat accurate, at least in my case. it's not exactly fun, but it is what it is. makes life more difficult but everyone has their challenges.

[Seanr]

but for me it's more of a general lack of ability to choose what to focus on. it's not that I can't focus - just that I can't generally choose when I will and will not focus. if something interests me, I can pay attention to it for hours on end (hello, videogames). if something bores me, I can't deal with it for more than a couple minutes. it makes chores around the house a real pain in the ass. nobody likes to do laundry, but imagine being incapable of mentally forcing yourself to get it done.

and of course there's more to it than that - I often wonder what it must be like to hold a conversation with me. I do a lot of pretending to know what the other person just said and trying to guess at an appropriate response - tons of "uh huhs" and "oh yeahs" when in reality I'm only half-aware of what was just said. and I lose track of even my own train of thought fairly often, which is usually pretty funny... can't tell you how many times I've been on a deep, intense rant, only to end up asking "wait... where was I going with that?" or "what was I saying, again?"

that's not a perfect description but I think it's somewhat accurate, at least in my case. it's not exactly fun, but it is what it is. makes life more difficult but everyone has their challenges.

goddamn this is me to a fuckin T, like, every damn word of it

[Byrthnoth]

Half of this thread is people going, "Wow, that's exactly how *I* am!" It's hard to call it atypical then.

I'm reminded of a Psychology professor that passes out optional surveys at the beginning of each semester to his classes. He takes their answers, "analyzes" them, and returns an analysis/diagnosis based purely on them at the start of the next class. Then he goes and asks people how good his predictions were. He generally gets glowing reviews for his analysis. Secret is, he trashes the surveys immediately following class and passes out the same analysis to everyone.

People are much more similar than they realize. Different motivations, somewhat different goals, very similar internal states. Show me someone who is happy and focused all the time, and I'll show you the real outlier.

[Yuri-G]

it's not about being happy and focused all the time. it's about being completely incapable of focusing even when necessary. I think it's a problem that all people have from time to time, but with ADD it becomes more the norm than the exception. it's like taking that one moment where you just can't think straight and your mind is wandering and living that moment all day, every day.

if the way my mind works is the way everyone's mind works, I pity the human race.

[Dimmauk]

This video always reminded me of how ADD is sometimes, except there is no stain.