Parents that allow their kids to be diagnosed with
phoney-baloney boutique illnesses are more likely
to get divorced than parents that don't hand their
kids over to shrinks, lazy teachers and pill-pushing
pharmeceutical companies. -- #10 | Posted by dean_buvia
There are undoubtedly a lot of false diagnoses, in part because it's widely misunderstood as a set of behavioral problems.
It's very real, though -- I wasn't diagnosed until well into adulthood, was well-behaved to the point of ridiculousness, was high school valedictorian, etc., and the diagnosis changed my life. (Like many with ADD, I will work myself to death; with treatment, I don't have to.)
Clinically, the problem is under-stimulation of the areas of the brain affecting organization and prioritization (which is why medical treatments include specific stimulants -- counterintuitive given the hyperactivity symptom). There have been advances in the use of qEEG's (quantitative electroencephalograms) and SPECT scans to detect ADD, but neither is 100% reliable yet.
ADD often manifests as behavioral problems because our brains don't prioritize stimuli the way others' do -- e.g., focusing on a teacher in a classroom and tuning out all the other things competing for attention for long stretches may be extremely difficult or even impossible. It's not necessarily associated with behavior problems though -- some with ADD tend toward daydreaminess instead, and some manage it better than others. Oh, and I keep writing ADD instead of ADHD -- most researchers do not believe that hyperactivity is always present. OTOH, I never thought of myself as hyperactive until a friend pointed out that most people do not require at least an hour of hard cardio every morning to be able to get any work done, and that left to my own devices, I'll spend 4-5 hours per day doing some kind of physical activity (dance, hiking, etc.). (Side benefit -- my RHR is in the low 40's.)
Finally, I know the term "differently abled" as a substitute for "disabled" is a PC cliche, but it seems particularly appropriate in the case of ADD. There are lots of positive traits that tend to go along with it -- creativity, outside-the-box thinking, generosity, etc. A lot of successful people have ADD. I'm in academia, and see the symptoms in a lot of my colleagues and students -- many very smart, original thinkers who would have trouble functioning in normal 9-5 jobs. An MD who has ADD himself and co-authored one of my favorite ADD books, put it this way:
Maybe it's just because I have ADD myself, but it seems to me that if anyone has a disorder, it is the people who plod along paying close attention to every little speck and crumb, every little detail and rule, every minor policy and procedure in every minuscule manual. I think these are the people who have a disorder. I call it Attention Surplus Disorder. They did exactly what they were told as children, told on others who did not, and now make a living doing what they're told, telling others what to do, and telling on those who don't...
Is it really a sign of mental health to be able to balance your checkbook, sit still in your chair, and never speak out of turn? As far as I can see, many people who don't have ADD are charter members of the Congenitally Boring. And who do you suppose comes up with the new ideas today? People with ADD, of course. -- Edward Hallowell and John Ratey, "Delivered from Distraction," pp. 21-22.
