They have to meet the requirements to be diagnosed, it's not like doctors are idiots, they know their shit. It is just a fairly common disorder brought on by the over stimulation of the 21st century.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I think he means people try and do too many self-diagnoses on ADD and ADHD

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Too bad the criteria for diagnosis are vague and could be met by basically anyone who's hyper. There aren't medical tests to confirm/deny ADHD.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Exactly. The qualifications for being diagnosed have been significantly lowered so that basically anyone with a wandering mind or short attention span are now being diagnosed with the disorder. And it's unfortunate because doctors treat it by giving kids drugs(medicine,not weed or anything) that they later become dependent on and it teaches kids that problems are solved by taking pills: People don't learn how to cope and deal with the problem head on without the use of medication

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Childhood abuse has gone from spanking to pills. http://amirite.net/584863 This is basically my view of the whole ordeal.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Well said.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

And rightfully so, the benefits of certain ADD medications (preferably methyphenidate/ritalin rather than dexies/vyvanse or adderall however they can all work just as well under the right conditions) are amazingly beneficial. This is the biggest issue I have with people and medicine, they assume and they don't use logic. The ADD pills keep the minds of those with ADD stimulated! What I mean by this is, those with major ADD/ADHD do not have sufficient stimulation in there brains(THEY DON'T HAVE ENOUGH CONTROL/POWER OVER THERE OWN MINDS TO PAY ATTENTION). In other words, their brain is boring them, so they're looking elsewhere for fun. Therefore they spend their lives trying to seek that stimulation through illicit drugs, unhealthy addictions and alcohol(and never finding it.) ADD is by far the most important mental condition worth treating, because otherwise(and I know this first hand) treatment is literally is impossible. You cannot change the stimulation of your brain without the right chemicals, enough said. Whoever says medicine is wrong, bad, hurtful, is an ignorant fuck and needs to go jump on a boat.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Except for the thousands who are affected by it and are greatly helped by the medications. Just because parents do no know how to give their children the medication properly (which is the case in most instances), doesn't mean that it's not real and medication isn't extremely beneficial to many.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

You may say it's not drugs like weed, but the Ritalin pills are just speed in less high dosage...

by Anonymous 11 years ago

WRONG! Why make such an ignorant statement? Ritalin pills are abuse-proof, you cannot crush them up and snort them, trust me I've tried. They only work as an extended release, the only way to abuse them is to take a lot of them, and that won't really get you high. Ritalin has just as high a dosage as any other ADD medicine.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Because I've been on Ritalin myself and it had some pretty bad side effects.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

All that means is that it wasn't the right medicine for you, that's why you mention this to your doctor and have him put you on dexies. Not every medicine is tailor-made for every person.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

My psychiatrist actually told me how I could take 10 pills and they would have the same effect as speed has. Also that I could sell it for a lot on the black market.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

if you took 10 pills you probably wouldnt sleep for about 3 weeks lol

by Anonymous 11 years ago

You know people with Ritalin prescriptions can sell their drugs illicitly to other interested parties, right? I know someone who, back in high school, was approached by other students offering her money for her pills.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

There are brain scans now though. They're like $2000 though.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

If we have the technology, then it's a real shame we're not using it yet, considering mental disorders are treated by default with brain-altering drugs.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I should say claimed mental disorders; as I stated above and below, it's unclear at times whether or not the diagnoses are accurate.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Right, but sometimes there is a problem, not necessarily caused by ADHD. However, sometimes people exhibit symptoms typical to ADHD, which need to be dealt with regardless. The problem is that everything is being medicated when people might not need to be.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Just for clarification to everyone, I am in no way saying that ADD/ADHD medication is unbeneficial. I am simply stating that the medication is given too readily and the disorders are being over diagnosed

by Anonymous 11 years ago

There are psychological tests, and i'd like to know what you actually think the criteria is. Cause i doubt you know more than a searching it on the internet.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

For one thing, people put pretty important and reliable information on the internet these days. It's not all 4-chan and Yahoo answers, y'know. Here, let me pull out my copy of the DSM-IV (2000 edition). I'm aware that a newer edition was released this year, but perhaps you can look it up online and see how they compare. Below are the listed criteria, verbatim, for the hyperactivity component of ADHD, the part I mentioned in my previous comment [text in these brackets is added by yours truly]: "Six (or more) of the following symptoms of hyperactivity-impulsivity have persisted for at least 6 months to a degree that is maladaptive and inconsistent with developmental level [because every functional person develops in exactly the same manner, and "maladaptive" is totally an objective clinical term]: Hyperactivity a) often fidgets with hands or feet or squirms in seat b) often leaves seat in classroom or in other situations in which remaining seated is expected c) often runs about or climbs excessively in situations in which it is inappropriate (in adolescents or adults, may be limited to subjective feelings of restlessness) To be continued...

by Anonymous 11 years ago

d) often [a precise clinical term, by the way] has difficulty playing or engaging in leisure activities quietly e) is often "on the go" [read: "busy" or "energetic"] or often acts as if "driven by a motor" [such as a stomach filled with a carbohydrate- and sugar-heavy breakfast] f) often talks excessively Impulsivity g) often blurts out answers before questions have been completed h) often has difficulty awaiting turn i) often interrupts or intrudes on others (e.g., butts into conversations or games)" So there are the clearly objective and scientifically rigorous criteria for loading the average schoolchild up with Ritalin and various other drugs.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Yes, but to have 6 or more of these symptoms out of a possible 9 is pretty significant evidence towards having ADD. Although I still agree that this may not be the most efficient diagnosis test, it is the most cost-effective and ultimately beneficial to the children as those who don't have it won't take the medicine like I said in another post.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

The newer one: http://www.dsm5.org/ProposedRevisions/Pages/proposedrevision.aspx?rid=383# There's a bit in the rationale part about PDDs to take a bit of interest in, I think.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Sometimes the doctors are idiots though.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Yeah like what, 2% of them?

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Yeah, real idiots, only made it through 7 years of medical school, what a joke, they must be the scum of the earth. :)

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I don't mean that doctors are all bad. My last doctor was actually really great from what I can remember. But some seem to be lazy and just say that a kid has ADD or ADHD after a teacher suggests they have it

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Just like a_fetus said, it's pretty vague. ADD/ADHD is quite over-diagnosed, actually. This happens a lot with mental illnesses that get a lot of attention (Like dissociative identity disorder, better known as multiple personality disorder, after the Three Faces of Eve was released) and are promptly over-diagnosed. It's not even the doctors' fault; it's the teachers' job to report kids they think have the disorder. In this way it gets wayyy over-diagnosed. Diagnoses have tripled since the 80s, and, while this may be due in part to "over stimulation", the more realistic possibility is misdiagnoses.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Yes but overdiagnoses are necessary to make sure we help everyone with this brand new, amazingly beneficial medicine with no serious side effects. It's a good thing! If you don't have ADD, you'll be off the medicine, trust me. It will bore you and you will forget to take it and eventually stop taking it alltogether(since your brain already has sufficient stimulation). So in the end only those with the actual ADD/those who are drug addicts(who seek the stimulation just like those with ADD) remain.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

No duh, diagnoses have tripled. You know what has also tripled since the 80's? electronic stimulation. TVs, electronic advertisements, the internet. All of these had a significantly smaller impact in the 80's. As i stated before, its the 21st century, there is a lot more mental stimulation surrounding childre.n

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Its not that they're idiots- its just that its often easier to diagnose ADD and say "here, have some ritalin".

by Anonymous 11 years ago

There's really no evidence supporting your point. It's all just speculation.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

There isn't. I speak from experience. I myself have ADHD, and I've struggled a lot throughout my life. Instead of taking medication though, I do behavioral therapy. While medication would have been much easier, I think it is better to be able to function without it, and evidently I can, even though it is difficult. I've been suggested medicine, and I turn it down. I think that more people need to actually work with their problems, rather than just medicating themselves, which is making you dependent on an external object. </rant>

by Anonymous 11 years ago

To Jarden: I could not agree with you more, and I admire your resistance to medication. There'd be less drug addiction an coping problems if more people chose not to receive medication

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I was looking at a quiz once that was supposed to determine if you had ADD. One of the questions was "Does your mind wander while doing boring tasks"

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Fuck, guess I've got the ADD

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I think that over-medication is more of a problem than over-diagnosing. Sometimes there just is a problem, whether you have a disorder or not, and that problem can sometimes be treated without medication. Some people do need medication, and some don't. But behavioral therapy yields decent results for a lot of different problems.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

And OCD.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Maybe not over-diagnosed But certainly many cases of misdiagnoses I was misdiagnosed with ADD :D That week on ritalin was fun though

by Anonymous 11 years ago