Is ADHD just an excuse or is it a real issue?

Question

There is a medical excuse for everything. I just wonder sometimes about it. Like when children supposively have ADHD, what makes them different then supposive normal children,

Answer 1

I think it's bogus for a lot of kids. I know I do medical transcripts and patient/doctor interviews on the subject and it's clear that many kids are not ADHD by the side effects they experience. If they were truly ADD or ADHD then the medicines would be working and they would not have the terrible side effects of losing weight and inability to sleep and rise etc. Also, these kids end up being drug addicts addicted to narcotics because of the misdiagnosis.

A true ADHD cannot concentrate or focus and may show symptoms of not being able to sit still or much worse symptoms but doctors often just classify them as such and put them on meds...teachers are happy...parents never get to see what these meds do to their kids because they pop one in the morning and it's worn off by the time they get home.

I don't get it. Everyone in the USA trys to find an answer to all their problems through a pill...I bet two out of three people are on meds and I can't believe that more than half the kids in your schools are all ADHD unless there is something really wrong with the air or water or food you eat.

They tried to classify my son as ADHD and treated him badly because he wasn't "normal" and didn't conform...so I had him tested myself as they kept hinting that was his problem...well you know what? He is not ADHD as I suspected...his teacher was just a lousy teacher. What he WAS was GIFTED...which meant he was bored stiff in his class, picked things up much faster than most of the kids in the class and thus had his work done, processed the lesson, whatever, and then turned his attention to his classmates. Solution? He needs responsibility, attention and extra projects to keep him going...nobody wants to do that...so what? I'm supposed to let them stick him on meds and ruin him? No friggin way. I met with the school and social worker and told them I'd go to the board if they didn't provide for him and meet his needs like they do for slow kids who need special educational needs...he is the same...except on the other end of the scale...so don't believe everything they try to shove down your throat. Question it all and get second and third opinions if you need to.

Answer 2

It's a real issue.

When I first heard of it in the UK it was the mid 80's and I thought it was a load of rubbish. Since then I have started teaching in an EBD (emotional and behavioural difficulties) school for boys where a number of pupils are diagnosed as having ADHD. Working with them, my opinion has certainly changed over the years - yes, many of them are from deprived homes but many are not and their entire persona is completely different. I've found the kids with ADHD want to learn, but their attention levels make it difficult for them. The ones who give me the grief are the pure and simple badly behaved ones.

However, the thing that's really clinched it for me is the fact that last year I started seeing a chap who I later found out has ADHD. He is an extremely intelligent person, having just completed a degree and very well-balanced. We have had many conversations about his experiences and the way he is and I am now 100% on the side of this disorder being a real issue because he is not like anyone else I've ever met! If it's not ADHD he's got then he's definitely got something!

Answer 3

It is real, but it has been around for a very long long time. We have become a society who masks everything with drugs. Teachers and administrators have convinced parents that children who are non-conformants or learn differently should be medicated. The real problem is laziness among both teachers and parents. In the past, teachers just dealt with it.

What they forget is that most geniuses have ADD and ADHD. By medicating kids, it takes away creativity and drive.

I made a big mistake by listening to a teacher with just a degree with a local state college - she thought she knew better and like an automatons, I accepted her answer. I tell my son I am sorry for letting him live in a haze for the first 6 years of school. Now, after 3 years of being off of the drugs (you might has well be on meth -- just as bad a Ritalin) - he is one of the most creative musicians at school. I am proud of him - and hang my head in shame thinking of the wasted years on this terrible legal drug

The lesson learned -- never let a lazy teacher or administrator, or doctor tell you what is normal. Normal kids are mediocre kids. I use the example of Einstein and Mozart, or my father, all men who had ADHD. All men who had vision and creatively beyond the average person.

Answer 4

ADHD is VERY real. I have add in fact and I am 25. I however was never medicated for it. ADHD along with related conditions occurs for various reasons, one of which is drug use by the parents, and sometimes the children are just unlucky enough to be born w/ a chemica imbalance. The difference between a "normal" kid and one w/ adhd is the cognitive ability to make reasonable decisions before acting (impulse control disorders) and your ability to focus...these are just a couple problems you have. Hyperactivity is also one of the worse symptoms, and not just and oh, i've had too much sugar hyperactiveness...more of a please help me calm down, this is exhausting type situation. (my little brother also has adhd, his is much more severe than mine) as an adult...and it's different for women, add or adhd causes lack of focus, often depression, moodiness...for example, it takes me FOREVER to clean my house, because to complete one task is extremely hard...i travel from room to room sometimes doing this and that, never actually completing one thing. people often say "Just do it..." but it's not that easy, it's often much easier and less stressful to watch a movie where you can flip through channels and get a constant flow of new things...fyi, people w/ add are often obsessive channel surfers.
it is very true that add/adhd is over diagnosed and over medicated, and often not properly treated...(i've personally seen several therapists turn irresponsible parents loose w/ a add child and a bottle of ritalin....terrible combination) there are so many environmental factors that aggravate the condition, what you eat, what you watch, how much sleep you get, interaction w/ family, it's hard to control w/ just meds and no therapy for the WHOLE family. sadly a lot of docs fail to recognize the result of bad parenting and label and medicate a kid too hastily, but the disorder is VERY real, and hard to live w/. anyway, i hope this long rant helped! good luck in finding good answers to your question

Answer 5

I definately think in some circumstances ADHD does trully exist for the child, though unfortunately it is often overly diagnosed.
Medication is a quick solution for everything--it's much easier to give a child medication than to work with them to understand what's causing their figiting, or their inability to pay attention, or their desire to jump from one activity to the next.
I'm pretty sure that in most cases, behavior modification would work rather well as an alternative to medication. In fact, talking to the child about how to help them would also work well as an alternative to medication. Often kids are just bored. I had a psych professor tell me once (hes a psychologist specializing in children) that he had a child brought to him once who was thought to have ADHD because he was constantly squirming around in his chair. After speaking to him for a bit, my professor found out the problem was that the child's underwear was too small and he was uncomfortable.
It's a silly story yes, and really illustrates a good point that the behaviors associated with ADHD are very often pretty simple. Unfrotunately the drug companies have such strong control, and it's an easy and avaliable quick fix.

Oh, and just a final thought. Not to say that ADHD doesn't exist in some children...it does. Though not nearly as many as said to. And one more final thought...I'm not sure if this is still the case, but a few years ago the largest non-profit organization providing information about ADHD (I forgot their name, I'm sure someone knows it) was receiving a majority of their funding from the pharmaceutical company that makes Ritalin. Just some food for thought about highly potential conflict of interest.

Answer 6

With ADHD, There are 2 kinds, there is true ADHD, in which a doctor has done a medical study of the patient and actually diagnosed it, the other is a word that escapes me, but it means the same as taking advantage of the situation.

Answer 7

Unfourtinatley some parents just need to whoop their out of control bastard offspring. But it is a real disorder Ive been fighting with since the moment I began school and I will fight until they day I die, it doesent have so much to do with being hyper, but its an attention problem, no matter how hard u try to focus on something, how many times uve seen the consequences, just to stay on task for a few min is a challenging fight, even when your yelling at yourself not to fail agian, it is chronic. Unfourtinatley the drugs used to treat it are now a popular choice for abuse amongst college students whom have become aware of its abililty to keep a normal person glued to their task while it just keeps us, with actual ADD, from wandering in thought simpley trying to go about our day. If I had not been treated properley I would no dought have dropped out and done nothing with my life. But through years of struggeling and with the help of the medications and support from thoes around, I was able to graduate, go to college and obtain a career in the technology field which I would have never anticipated. As a 21 year old I still have to seek extensive treatment to maintain good performance at work, and it is still very difficult but I owe EVERY BIT of my accomplishments to the aid of the treatment and the program, thankyou

Answer 8

I think most of the time it's a lame excuse. I do believe that some kids do have ADHD but I don't think even half the kids diagnosed with it really have it. People need to start looking at what's causing the kids to act out. Unstable home life without consistency can do it.

Answer 9

DEFINITELY not an excuse -- because one of my children has ADHD and it is a problem with genetics -- it runs in my ex's family. Refer to CHADD (the Organization) on the web to find a good explanation for ADD and ADHD.

Answer 10

i think ADHD is an excuse for things children are doing that doctors can't blame the parents for. in the 70's and 80's there was no such thing as ADHD. also look at the lifestyles of children then and today.