ADD Drugs Do More Harm than Good

[Triple Zero]

The article in question didn't link to any publications or anything, btw. It's chock-full of links, but they're all auto-generated keyword links to other pages on NYTimes.com.

BTW, there's also plenty of adults with AD(H)D. I dunno about cases that go away after puberty, I was always told [by a psychiatrist] you either got it or you don't, it's for life because dopamine receptors in the "filtering useless info" part of the brain don't work at full power. Then, lots of brain changing during puberty, so I could see it happen.

That said, I also (personally) agree with Roger that information overload in modern times is definitely part of the problem. I come across articles about how consuming all that info via the Internet can actually be harmful to the brain. However, that doesnt mean AD(H)D isn't a real thing. Apparently some people deal better with the info overload than others. So in that way it makes perfect sense, if people with AD(H)D have been around always during history, it's just that only in the recent decennia it's become much harder for them to deal with all the information constantly blasting everybody's brain, which causes some people to malfunction sooner than others.

Oh and I read somewhere that the thing about kids getting hyperactive because of consuming sugar doesn't actually have a physiological basis, it does happen, but it's caused partly by placebo effect and partly by kids acting on parents expectations of becoming hyperactive due to sugar.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Monkeys are designed to deal with 5 stressors:

1.  Is there any food?
2.  Is that a leopard coming through the tall grass, or is it just the wind?
3.  Is this a safe place to go to sleep?
4.  What are my chances of getting laid today?
5.  Where do I stand in the tribe?  Am I the alpha, watching out for young bucks, or am I a beta, trying not to piss off the alpha?

That's about it.  Now look at the stresses we face every day, without even necessarily consciously noticing them.

[Bu🤠ns]

I read a book a loooooong time ago (so i'm probably messing up my facts a little but...)  that the person with AD(H)D had, now what was it...something more like a 'hunter mind' describing characteristics like, being able to scan and process information quickly for predators and having a hyper-focus in certain activities (and obviously not others, as is common in add or adhd iirc?).

The main thing being that while it does have some behavioral disadvantages, does ADD and ADHD have any behavioral advantages ?

[Phox]

In some alternate timeline, people are talking about how kids these days can't sit through a silent film without complain about the "long boring non-talking parts". 

Not an alternate timeline at all. I'm taking a film class that's full of 18-20-somethings that can't sit through Lang's Metropolis because they get bored based on the fact that there's no audible dialogue. Granted, the restored version of the film is like 4 hours long, but they said the same more or less of The Great Train Robbery.

[Triple Zero]

An ex of mine once made a study of that movie, she told me that if you took all the cuts and deleted scenes there was even 7 hours of material

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I have ADHD. So does my oldest daughter. I've read quite a few books on it, as well. My daughter and I were diagnosed by proper neuropsychologists with extensive tests, not some school nurse or random GP.

I try to keep up on current developments but I don't really have time.

The main gist of ADHD is that a part of our brains are always on the verge of falling asleep, which is why we are distractible, hyper (STIMULUS TO STAY AWAKE! MORE STIMULUS!) and often fail to pay adequate attention to things that could kill us. That's why stimulant medications work.

I think that a lot of people have very uninformed opinions on ADHD, which to me is similar to all those yahoos proposing cockamamie "why don't they just" cleanup ideas for the Gulf oil spill. IMO, if you haven't actually researched it enough to KNOW what you're talking about rather than just guessing, you should stuff your opinion up your butt.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I have ADHD. So does my oldest daughter. I've read quite a few books on it, as well. My daughter and I were diagnosed by proper neuropsychologists with extensive tests, not some school nurse or random GP.

I try to keep up on current developments but I don't really have time.

The main gist of ADHD is that a part of our brains are always on the verge of falling asleep, which is why we are distractible, hyper (STIMULUS TO STAY AWAKE! MORE STIMULUS!) and often fail to pay adequate attention to things that could kill us. That's why stimulant medications work.

I think that a lot of people have very uninformed opinions on ADHD, which to me is similar to all those yahoos proposing cockamamie "why don't they just" cleanup ideas for the Gulf oil spill. IMO, if you haven't actually researched it enough to KNOW what you're talking about rather than just guessing, you should stuff your opinion up your butt.

I was misdiagnosed as ADHD, and was put on the Feingold diet for 3 years, because I refused to swallow Ritalin.

It turns out that I was just a rotten kid. 

[Placid Dingo]

I have ADHD. So does my oldest daughter. I've read quite a few books on it, as well. My daughter and I were diagnosed by proper neuropsychologists with extensive tests, not some school nurse or random GP.

I try to keep up on current developments but I don't really have time.

The main gist of ADHD is that a part of our brains are always on the verge of falling asleep, which is why we are distractible, hyper (STIMULUS TO STAY AWAKE! MORE STIMULUS!) and often fail to pay adequate attention to things that could kill us. That's why stimulant medications work.

I think that a lot of people have very uninformed opinions on ADHD, which to me is similar to all those yahoos proposing cockamamie "why don't they just" cleanup ideas for the Gulf oil spill. IMO, if you haven't actually researched it enough to KNOW what you're talking about rather than just guessing, you should stuff your opinion up your butt.

That's useful for you to share Nigel. In schools around where I've worked there isn't a phenomenally deep understanding of things like ADHD. It's good to hear a clear explanation from someone who understands properly.

[Golden Applesauce]

I read a book a loooooong time ago (so i'm probably messing up my facts a little but...)  that the person with AD(H)D had, now what was it...something more like a 'hunter mind' describing characteristics like, being able to scan and process information quickly for predators and having a hyper-focus in certain activities (and obviously not others, as is common in add or adhd iirc?).

The main thing being that while it does have some behavioral disadvantages, does ADD and ADHD have any behavioral advantages ?

The whole hunter vs. agriculturist is 100% pure Lo5 bullshit.  Take the sentence "Kids with ADHD aren't mentally ill, they're just natural born hunters born into a world designed around sheep people" and count how many semantic leaps you have to make to get to "Kids with autism aren't mentally ill, they're just vibrating at the frequency of the New Age while their teachers are stuck in the green-blue spectrum."

e.g., people with ADHD are a lot more likely to get into auto accidents.  They have hard time keeping track of all of the things around them that could kill them dead.  I have a very hard time buying the idea that that quality predisposes them to the patience and alertness required to bring home a deer.

My younger sister was one of the people who fell into "would not have graduated highschool without ADHD meds" camp.  Nothing about her is remotely hunterlike.  Now, she is a genius, but so are all the non-ADHD people in my extended family.

[Golden Applesauce]

FTR, there is no such thing as ADD.  It's just ADHD.

Anyone who carries a ADD diagnosis was either diagnosed before the psychologists worked out what their terminology meant, or was diagnosed by a guidance counselor or something.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I have ADHD. So does my oldest daughter. I've read quite a few books on it, as well. My daughter and I were diagnosed by proper neuropsychologists with extensive tests, not some school nurse or random GP.

I try to keep up on current developments but I don't really have time.

The main gist of ADHD is that a part of our brains are always on the verge of falling asleep, which is why we are distractible, hyper (STIMULUS TO STAY AWAKE! MORE STIMULUS!) and often fail to pay adequate attention to things that could kill us. That's why stimulant medications work.

I think that a lot of people have very uninformed opinions on ADHD, which to me is similar to all those yahoos proposing cockamamie "why don't they just" cleanup ideas for the Gulf oil spill. IMO, if you haven't actually researched it enough to KNOW what you're talking about rather than just guessing, you should stuff your opinion up your butt.

I was misdiagnosed as ADHD, and was put on the Feingold diet for 3 years, because I refused to swallow Ritalin.

It turns out that I was just a rotten kid. 

OMG, the Feingold diet! I'd forgotten about that idiocy.

People often mistake "rotten kid" for "ADHD". EFO is the best kid around; smart as hell, sweet, affectionate, and the very opposite of a "problem child". The only reason I took her in for screening last year was because of her own frustration with her inability to focus.

LO, on the other hand, is evil, but not ADHD.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I read a book a loooooong time ago (so i'm probably messing up my facts a little but...)  that the person with AD(H)D had, now what was it...something more like a 'hunter mind' describing characteristics like, being able to scan and process information quickly for predators and having a hyper-focus in certain activities (and obviously not others, as is common in add or adhd iirc?).

The main thing being that while it does have some behavioral disadvantages, does ADD and ADHD have any behavioral advantages ?

The whole hunter vs. agriculturist is 100% pure Lo5 bullshit.  Take the sentence "Kids with ADHD aren't mentally ill, they're just natural born hunters born into a world designed around sheep people" and count how many semantic leaps you have to make to get to "Kids with autism aren't mentally ill, they're just vibrating at the frequency of the New Age while their teachers are stuck in the green-blue spectrum."

e.g., people with ADHD are a lot more likely to get into auto accidents.  They have hard time keeping track of all of the things around them that could kill them dead.  I have a very hard time buying the idea that that quality predisposes them to the patience and alertness required to bring home a deer.

My younger sister was one of the people who fell into "would not have graduated highschool without ADHD meds" camp.  Nothing about her is remotely hunterlike.  Now, she is a genius, but so are all the non-ADHD people in my extended family.

Yep. TOTALLY. When I was reading the ADHD newsgroup a few years ago I was kind of horrified and embarrassed by the whole "It's not a disorder, we're just speshul mahadgickal hunter warrior crystal genius children!"

[minuspace]

If anything it was school that failed to perform.  Distraction and diversion were the only way out.  Creative, sure.  Smart, not very.

[Juana]

I read a book a loooooong time ago (so i'm probably messing up my facts a little but...)  that the person with AD(H)D had, now what was it...something more like a 'hunter mind' describing characteristics like, being able to scan and process information quickly for predators and having a hyper-focus in certain activities (and obviously not others, as is common in add or adhd iirc?).

The main thing being that while it does have some behavioral disadvantages, does ADD and ADHD have any behavioral advantages ?

The whole hunter vs. agriculturist is 100% pure Lo5 bullshit.  Take the sentence "Kids with ADHD aren't mentally ill, they're just natural born hunters born into a world designed around sheep people" and count how many semantic leaps you have to make to get to "Kids with autism aren't mentally ill, they're just vibrating at the frequency of the New Age while their teachers are stuck in the green-blue spectrum."

e.g., people with ADHD are a lot more likely to get into auto accidents.  They have hard time keeping track of all of the things around them that could kill them dead.  I have a very hard time buying the idea that that quality predisposes them to the patience and alertness required to bring home a deer.

My younger sister was one of the people who fell into "would not have graduated highschool without ADHD meds" camp.  Nothing about her is remotely hunterlike.  Now, she is a genius, but so are all the non-ADHD people in my extended family.

Yep. TOTALLY. When I was reading the ADHD newsgroup a few years ago I was kind of horrified and embarrassed by the whole "It's not a disorder, we're just speshul mahadgickal hunter warrior crystal genius children!"

My aunt has changed her tune about it all now, but a few years ago she was saying that about her oldest. It was very hard not to laugh at her.

My youngest sister has ADHD and would be pretty fucked without the meds for it.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I read a book a loooooong time ago (so i'm probably messing up my facts a little but...)  that the person with AD(H)D had, now what was it...something more like a 'hunter mind' describing characteristics like, being able to scan and process information quickly for predators and having a hyper-focus in certain activities (and obviously not others, as is common in add or adhd iirc?).

The main thing being that while it does have some behavioral disadvantages, does ADD and ADHD have any behavioral advantages ?

The whole hunter vs. agriculturist is 100% pure Lo5 bullshit.  Take the sentence "Kids with ADHD aren't mentally ill, they're just natural born hunters born into a world designed around sheep people" and count how many semantic leaps you have to make to get to "Kids with autism aren't mentally ill, they're just vibrating at the frequency of the New Age while their teachers are stuck in the green-blue spectrum."

e.g., people with ADHD are a lot more likely to get into auto accidents.  They have hard time keeping track of all of the things around them that could kill them dead.  I have a very hard time buying the idea that that quality predisposes them to the patience and alertness required to bring home a deer.

My younger sister was one of the people who fell into "would not have graduated highschool without ADHD meds" camp.  Nothing about her is remotely hunterlike.  Now, she is a genius, but so are all the non-ADHD people in my extended family.

Yep. TOTALLY. When I was reading the ADHD newsgroup a few years ago I was kind of horrified and embarrassed by the whole "It's not a disorder, we're just speshul mahadgickal hunter warrior crystal genius children!"

My aunt has changed her tune about it all now, but a few years ago she was saying that about her oldest. It was very hard not to laugh at her.

My youngest sister has ADHD and would be pretty fucked without the meds for it.

I refused to take meds for years, until the second time I almost got killed because I walked out into traffic.  Me and crossing streets; not such a good combination.

For that matter, I have almost had my car hit by trains a couple of times because I just didn't notice them.