Attention what?

[jackofallgeeks]

I don't think I believe that ADHD exists. I don't know anything, mind, I'm hardly a qualified professional and I've only done the barest amount of reading on the subject. But what I have found makes me think it's another case of self-overmedication that our society is so fond of. The 'symptoms' don't seem to be anything more than a lack of self-control or discipline, which most kids have naturally and will retain unless self-control and discipline are instilled in them by adults. That being the case, it wouldn't surprise me if more kids lacked necessary self-control because many parents can not or will not discipline their children, and 'finding' a new disease lets us medicate our children into a docile, managable state.

That's the theory i'm working on at the moment? any of you out there want to help do some of the foot work and point me toward articles et cetera that might support or contradict such a theory?

Comments

[dreamerdevie.livejournal.com]

*raises hand* Being both a qualified professional and someone who suffers from ADD, I can honestly say that yes, it exists. I've seen huge amounts of research on the subject and can link you to some of the better ones if you would like, but honestly the reasearch aside, it's what I feel and the experiences that I go through that make me believe. I am not hyperactive, and therefore do no have ADHD, but many of the signs are the same. I did not get diagnosed until I was 20 years old. Not because I only developed it then, but because I was intelligent enough and at a slow enough school that I was capable of breezing by without having to concentrate. I developed a multitude of coping skills to help me in dealing with it since I was unmedicated, but in all honesty, they were incapable of doing what a simple medication was able to do after only a month of taking it. Help me concentrate. I could go on a longer schpiel about it, but I'd rather do that talking than anything else. Over the internet, I'd rather just say this.

Try telling someone with major depression or bipolar disoder that it doesn't exist. Look in their eyes when you say that their mental illness is made up and is just an excuse for them not being able to deal with things without a pill to make htem better. Then try and say that ADHD doesn't exist again. I've been coping with this problem for 26 and a half years. Please don't tell me that it's made up.

On the other hand, I will happily and emphatically agree with you that it is overdiagnosed. But then, so are depression and bipolar disorder.

[uhlrik.livejournal.com]

I will happily and emphatically agree with you that it is overdiagnosed. But then, so are depression and bipolar disorder.

This is largely my feeling as well. I feel that I am one of those people that got misdiagnosed with it, lo these many years ago.