ADD/ADHD is very real. To say it didn't exist when I was young just shows how ignorant people can be. There are many things that existed when I was young, when my parents were young, my grandparents and so on, illnesses that killed 100's of thousands or crippled are basically non-existent because of medical research. What was devastating to whole generations is now controlled or cured by a pill or vaccine. This is no different than ADD, it was always there it just didn't have a name to until medical researches took risks and studied peoples behavior. Alzheimer's didn't exist 30 or 40 years ago by name it was called "going senile" and basically society tossed the elderly aside and called them crazy. It took someone like Ronald Reagan to get Alzheimer's to be taken seriously, Nancy Reagan was instrumental in getting the medical community to devote resources in research. ADD is somewhat over diagnosed in some young kids because of the lack of knowledge and education. You have impatient teachers that will claim a kid has ADD because he is just being a kid, kids lose focus, daydream or have energy at times. It's easier to give a kid a pill. It's very difficult to explain to someone who doesn't have ADD what its like to have ADD. Most of the negative criticism I have received and heard regarding the existence of ADD comes from an older generation or people that are associated with religious organizations, Scientology is notorious for there anti-med's, psychiatry and Pharmaceutical Industry views. If you believe you have it you need to educate yourself, the information and resources are easily available. I recently heard this quote that a doctor used to explain to a patient of his about ADD/ADHD: A person with ADD/ADHD has the brain of a Ferrari, extremely powerful but with brakes that came from a bicycle. There are more adults ,that because of ADD research now live a much better quality of life because they now know what caused the difficulties they had as kids.