A friend of mine recently was sent to a doctor because his parents believed he had ADD. He, however, does not believe that ADD, along with other psychiatric disorders like bipolar disorder and depression, exists. I had to agree with him.
People decide whether another person has ADD or not through data that is not completely reliable. Most fill out surveys asking questions such as, "Does this person fidget a lot?" or "Does he/she have trouble learning at school?" Who is to decide what fidgeting "a lot" means or why a person is having trouble at school? The tests done to check people for ADD usually don't provide them with hard scientific facts, which makes finding the disorder more difficult.
Useful tests that have been done usually go against ADD-believers. Most show no difference between people with ADD and "normal" people. Others show that ADD usually disappears by the time a person becomes an adolescent.
Though I did not go into depth with my research, I have noticed personal experiences that contradict the existence of psychiatric disorders: my grandmother, who supposedly had depression that was not helped by medication, but instead through therapy; an old friend, who was said to have ADHD and took medicaiton, but never had a change in the way he acted in school; and a student at my school, who takes too many medications to count and constantly seems to be affected negatively by trouble that she tends to start.
This is my opinion. Knowing what other people have come across would be interesting as well.
My sisters both have been diagnosed with ADHD. And you can definitely tell the difference from when they take their medicine and when they don't. And since their medicine is a stimulant, and would make any normal person more hyper, I'm inclined to believe that ADHD is real.
I'm interested in why you don't think bipolar is real, though. I have a friend that struggles with it and it can be scary when she's in her manic phase. It drives her insane to try to control it as well.
~C
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I am supposedly ADD, Bipolar and depressed. I don't take medicine, but I don't believe in ADD. I'm perfectly fine, if I took medicine it would minimize who I am and block off the real me. I refuse to take drugs for these things.
But Bipolar and Depression probably exist, but I doubt ADD and ADHD are really that big of a deal.
My family has a grab bag of emotional, neurological, and psychological disorders, and they are very real to us. My mother has a Generalized Anxiety Disorder, my sister has ADHD, my father is Bipolar, my Aunt and I have Depression, and I also have Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) as well as a Generalized Anxiety Disorder and slight ADD. Some of us are medicated, others of us are not and should be medicated. I have also worked with a number of children, many of whom suffered from ADD or ADHD. The fact of the matter is, there are neurochemical imbalences which indicate these disorders, and associative symptoms caused by these chemical imbalences. The questionairres and tests involved with diagnosing someone with a Neurological disorder are meant to determine if someone is expressing these symptoms due to a Neurochemical problem or something else. The only way to be absolutely certain if someone has a disorder is to perform a Lumbar Puncture and analyze the spinal fluid; this, however, is rarely necessary, as the symptoms are usually evidence enough.
I benefit from taking anti-depressants, and my sister is absolutely unable to control herself without her ADHD medication. She is congnatively competant enough to be aware of what she wants to do, but without the medication to supply the appropriate chemical corrections, she cannot focus for any length of time on the tasks she wishes to accomplish, nor can she control her emotional swings. She expresses frustration and embarassment when she realizes that she is not as in control of herself as she wants to be, but she is aware that this is a chemical problem, not a psychological one. Chemical imbalences are real genetic problems, and not simply the result of someone being "lazy" or not wishing to control their emotions.
Surely, you aren't questioning the existance of Diabetes too? Or are insulin problems simply the result of emotional apathy? What about Cruzfeldt-Jacobs or Autism? Are the sufferers of these ailments just a bunch of introverted lazy kids?
And how about struggling with school? How do you explain the child who wants so very badly to do well in school, but stuggles to maintain linear thought? If the child did not feel embarrassed or angry with themselves after spending hours pouring through material, yet retaining nothing, then I suppose that one might argue that the children are simply idle. However, since I have known many cases in which the child in this example has become quite upset and annoyed with their inability to concentrate, I cannot simply write off this phenomenon as "imagined".
Also, there are several decades' worth of peer-reviewed journals and articles numbering in the ten thousands which quantitatively demonstrate the existance of these disorders. Ass.
-His Royal Dude-ness
sheesh. I was only expressing thoughts that came to mind because of a recent experience. I posted it online because I was curious as to what other people had to say. I am open to new ideas from people...until that person starts being a jerk about it. Ass.
Don't be mean. Jerk and Ass are unneccessary, and puts you down at the level you accuse them of being, except lower because then you are a hypocrite. He was expressing his opinion just like you wanted, and if he chose to express it in a way you found offensive, get over it.
Hug a musician, they never get to dance.
"ADD" or "Attention Deficit Disorder" is not currently recognized as a legitimate diagnosis per the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV). "ADHD" or "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder" is recognized, and many of the kids commonly treated for "ADD" don't actually meet the criteria necessary for a legitimate diagnosis of the medically recognized condition.
percivale
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"Vi Veri Vniversum Vivus Vici." ~ V.
You know, I said the same thing for a while, then did some research to prove that they weren't the same thing, and a lot of websites use the two terms interchangeably. Just saying.
~C
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Depression certainly exists, unfortunately.