[Chris Altman]

Do you know if ADHD has the stigma of not being real?

[bufferlo]

Somewhat. It's got the problem of having to deal with "how come this was never a problem before?" or "how do we, all of a sudden, have millions of people dealing with this when we didn't before?"

The thing is, it wasn't easy to detect in the past, so how would it be diagnosed?

[Miswimmy1]

It is a huge controversy. Some people who are uneducated about the disorder believe that it's simply of lack of motivation or will power of the person. Others believe that everyone's attention span can be variable at times and people with ADHD just have it more extreme. Even some of those in the medical profession wonder whether ADHD is the result of the abundance of stimuli that people are inundated with nowadays- life has gotten so much more crazy than it was a hundred years ago. It's not a surprise that human beings struggle to divide their attention.

There has also been criticism because the percent of people diagnosed with ADHD has grown tremendously over the last few decades. Part of it may be do overdiagnosis but it is also plausible that developing research may just be bringing an always present disorder to the forefront of people's minds and therefore people are being identified when they previously had not been.

[alwaysin6thgear]

Originally Posted by Chris Altman

Do you know if ADHD has the stigma of not being real?

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.

[unbreakablej]

I was diagnosed and even so, a part of me remains skeptical. But at the same time I am so relieved and I really want to believe it is real.

When I tell people, some goes, I am not surprised. The rest remains a little skeptical and thinks that I am just using it as an excuse for my laziness, lack of self control etc.

But in any case, I am glad I started the medication for it because it has really helped alot. Except that I am supposed to be working on some urgent piece of work right now but instead I am on some forum. Grrrr.

[kanasi]

There are some people who have been actively pushing the idea that it isn't real because they are anti-meds. Scientology is only the tip of the Iceberg. I was so angry when I heard Lee Camp making the "point" through his comedy news show that folks are overdiagnosed and either him or (I think) somebody else talking about how it's so much better in France where they change the environment around the kid and teach kids with ADHD ways to manage their differences. Sure that WOULD be better if those of us in other countries had access to that level of service but most of us don't. Also, many folks with ADHD would still need the meds temporarily at the least (if not permanently) in order to help them form habits that counteract their symptoms. Also, because there's a common stereotype of neurotypical kids in high school and college popping stimulants to supposedly help them get better grades (debatable whether that's actually the case), that those with ADHD are just lazy.

This may be part of the reason Dr. Leon Eisenberg — ADHD Is a 'Fictitious Disease'? : snopes.com

[NoId]

"Experts speak of 5.4 million American children who display the symptoms typical of ADHD."

Anti-psychotic medication is prescribed all of the time to people who clearly do not have schizophrenia. If anyone had a valid complaint it would be these people. Yet schizophrenia is treated as conservatively or aggressively as one may choose. It is the mental illness that gets the lions share of the resources. The medication prices are locked to fit the most meager of budgets. So they take no personal issue with someone else taking their meds. Are these meds abused? Sure. Do they detract from the patients natural personality? Yeah.

People who don't have ADD are sometimes diagnosed with ADD. Children may have developmental lag. This could produce ADD like symptoms. And it may well technically be ADD. Medication may just mask symptoms and delay proper development. But that's true with all medications of the psychiatric class and even some used in more classical medicine. I think Doctors may have a valid argument is saying that medication assists development, healing or recovery.

That someone else's problem, eh? Heck, if it were an epidemic you'd be on easy street.

[kanasi]

Do you have any evidence medications-- especially in the case of ADHD-- delay development? I was under the impression that what evidence we had (under longitudinal studies) showed a slightly increased chance of developmental delays going away by adulthood than in people who took no medications at all. (ADHD itself involves developmental delays, remember.) That could be a false claim by drug companies, but this isn't the kind of thing it would be hard to prove, and my sources for that info were university researchers. The downside of meds seems to be in their side effects and potential addictiveness.

I highly doubt there is a serious problem with overdiagnosis. I think it's more theproblem that meds really shouldn't be the first choice of how to treat ADHD (as with depression and other illnesses) unless a person is expected not to respond to other interventions. The reason it goes first is because psychological care is lengthy and expensive, and adjusting a child's environment simply isn't practical in most cases.

[NoId]

I don't have any evidence of stimulant medications causing delayed development. I was saying that the stimulants assist in development.

In my case I was given Ritalin which is about as effective as a cup of coffee. It was agitating. It mimics the warrior gene in action. I wouldn't say it delayed development for me but it did not solve my problem either. And I sure as **** didn't start doing homework. The adrenal effect had me in cramps. Just made the fact I couldn't do it that much worse. For someone who can preform these tasks to begin with, it is a push in the right direction.

But then my ADD was not diagnosed properly as non-developmental ADD. From the medical standpoint at that time and probably today as well these are one and the same. It should have been rather obvious but since I look normal, it must be something I will grow out of. I never did.

They just thought I was being belligerent. There was a lack of understanding in how the material was not an issue, it was the objectification of the book, assignment and so on that prevented me from continuing. I read books and stuff all the time.

But I would have rather not have learned habits and attitudes that I did in school.

And still ticks me off when I can't get the medication because they are determined to give the bare minimum every month on the specified day. I don't know much about heart attacks, can't really pin that down. For every amphetamine heart attack there are 100 birth control pill aneurysms. No one else has to do this type of thing with their medication. OK some people need liver tests but this is rare and with good reason. If it were that they wouldn't leave me alone that is one thing. I'd just as soon source the medication on my own.

I think the twisted logic and sharp engagement may have thrown them off. But nobody really ever cared. People need to guard their own interests. It's as if the laws of primal existence falter in the clinical setting.