Do you think ADHD and ADD are made up illnesses?

Question

Im not bashing people with this problem or anything but where were all these different kind of ailments when I was growing up?I never heard anything about this stuff in the 80s.Has anyone noticed a trend in diagnosing every little problem people have and make it a disorder?

Answer 1

No, it's REAL. The people from the 80's didn't know so those kids were just "weird". It keeps getting worst because the generations are mating with each other and making even more ADHD people and so on, and so one. Same thing is happening with Bipolar disorder. It's only going to get more prevalent as time goes on!

I do have a theory though. My THEORY is that someday we will find that ADD and ADHD is the childhood forms of Bipolar Disorder.

Answer 2

These were around before this, but maybe not to the degree they are, now, and maybe they were not diagnosed as readilly. Additionally, diets have changed quite dramatically, and many people believe that diet can affect people in regards to ADD and ADHD symptoms. Not everyone accepts this theory, but it would tend to work along with the changes we see in general behavioral changes. This definitey is not made up. My son had ADHD, and I can tell you that it is real. As a baby, he did not sleep more than about 2 hours at a time. He was very collicky, and cried a lot. He could not sit still as a child, and had a very difficult time with homework, due to the sitting still problem. He would also get very irritated at things you would not have expected. This is real. By the way, he was born in 1982. It is true that we are a lot better at diagnosing things, but don't you think our general health is not quite what it should be? In a country that has plenty, we also have plenty of obesity, health problems, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes. These are real, too. They don't seem to be on the decline, either.

Answer 3

I've seen kids with ADHD and ADD, and it's a very real disorder. I grant you that there are too many wrong diagnoses of ADD and ADHD, but once you've seen someone with the actual disorder, you will have no doubt in your mind that it exists.

About diagnosing "every little problem" and making it a disorder? Well, at one time there was no such thing as a diagnosis of schizophrenia. That didn't make schizophrenia cease to exist. Instead, people with schizophrenia were beaten, used and abused, locked in attics and treated like animals. They were considered possessed by demons and died in misery. Was that a better time?

Science and psychology attempts to treat people who are suffering by finding a way to alleviate their suffering. If you have ever actually seen someone with ADD or ADHD, you would understand what it can do to them and to the people around them. It's a very real disease.

If you had cancer and someone told you, "You know, they didn't have cancer when I was a kid! Doctors are just making this **** up, people think every time they have a little lump it's cancer!" wouldn't you think that they were idiots?

People with ADD and ADHD were around and they were suffering from the disorder. There was no attempt to help them. Doctors and psychologists studied for a long time to be able to help these people, and finally these disorders were recognized, and medications and therapies were developed to help them. It's called PROGRESS.

Answer 4

I don't think they're made up, I think that some people really do have a problem like that, but the frequency is a lot lower than the number of people that are getting diagnosed with it nowadays. They've done studies in which they presented doctors with a variety of kids and compared which doctors said which kids had ADD and the doctors rarely agreed... aka doctor #1 would say the child had ADD but doctor #2 would say the child doesn't, etc. Kids get diagnosed with ADD for their parents' or teachers' convenience mostly... except for a few rare cases.

Also, keeping kids in a classroom sitting still at a desk having to do boring stuff several hours a day is not natural... kids that fidget under those circumstances don't have a disorder, they're NORMAL.

Answer 5

No, I believe some children really do have an attention deficit, so in that sense, this is a "real" condition. The question is (that not many people seem to be asking) is what causes this kind of behavior? Bad parenting. Paying attention, and self control are skills that children must learn from the adults close to them. Drugging your children into submission is a lot easier than providing a stable home environment, being a good role model, and spending quality time with the kids. Medication can only address the symptoms and not the root cause of the problem; your children have not learned the necessary life skills of self control/dicipline, paying attention, and the principal of delayed gratification. No drug can teach them these things. Parents have to know and demonstrate these things in all areas of their lives on a daily basis for their children to learn them.

Answer 6

I believe it's real becaused I've been diagnosed with it.
I grew up in the 80s. I always had to work extra hard at school work and just sort of accepted that fact. I also focused very hard on maintining good behavior. And swallowed my family's "dumb jokes".
When I became an adult, I mentioned the problem to my general practioner. I had problems with insomnia, hyperactivity (I did everyhting there was to do and more), and extreme perfectionism. I wasn't looking for a diagnosis or a pill.
He suggested I start with the insomnia, becuase it was becoming bad for my health. It lead down a road with several doctors, finally a diagnosis and medicine.
I was shocked to be diagnosed with ADHD at first, but now have a happier and more productive life.
Just my 2 cents.

Answer 7

No, I think they are genuine conditions.....people had them in the 80's just the same....they just weren't called the same thing.
I'm sure people had cancer a thousand years ago, it just wasn't called that

What I do think however is that many people are diagnosed with the conditions that are just plain badly behaved and not ill at all.
After a while you get to see so many people apparently afflicted that you start to doubt it's real.

I see kids diagnosed with it all the time when really they are just little shits and the parents shouldn't be allowed to keep a dog, never mind a child.

It's a cop out for bad parenting and bad behaviour and it does an injustice to those people that are really affected.

Answer 8

They are definitely real. However, I think some kids get stuck with the diagnosis and don't really have it. Sometimes I wonder how many kids have behavior problems because of poor parenting, and other times I wonder if anybody can tell the difference.

But some kids are so hyper and impulsive, it seems obvious to me that they have some kind of disorder. I was at a party once, and there was this little boy who was kind of obnoxious. He asked an adult woman "what's your bra size?" I told him, "I have some Ritalin for you in my car." He said "I'm not on Ritalin, I'm on Concerta!"

Answer 9

No, it is very much real and it was there in the 80's trust me on that fact. I have a brother and he was diagnosed with this but it was not called that. They were just considered hyper in different degrees. His was one of the worst cases then. I also have an eleven year old daughter who was diagnosed when she was seven. Pills were not there because I did not want to take care of my daughter they were there to help her with things. They also helped her to feel better about herself. We have been to counseling for years. When they did not have her medicine right the school didn't want to help her just ship her out. She is now doing great Home schooled, out of counseling, not wetting the bed anymore, and she feels good about her. That is the main thing not an escape.

Answer 10

Just b/c you didn't hear of it doesn't mean it wasn't a real problem. I'm sure there were people back in the 80's that actually faced this problem but they had no idea b/c they hadn't yet considered it to be a disorder.