"ADHD is a prime example of a fictitious disease"

[The Dharma Bum]

[exploited]

I was diagnosed with ADHD. My parents put me on drugs for a year, in the meantime they changed my diet and got me in to see a child behavioral specialist who came up with a program that my school implemented for me. Was off the drugs shortly, grades improved drastically, and I learned some valuable skills (patience and the power of delayed gratification for instance).

Point is, I think the problem is more a dependence on these drugs. They should be used as a temporary crutch while changes are made at home and at school. Then they should be discontinued.

[The Dharma Bum]

These drugs are useful for making a square peg fit in a round hole. We should make the hole right for the peg instead.

These drugs aren't actually useful in any way because the malady is completely fictitious, as even the father of the ADHD diagnosis himself admits.

People are supposed to be active and curious, instead of dull and quietly working.

[John Galt]

adhd is almost always a problem with the parent not the child

[Philly]

I don't think ADHD is a total hoax but I do think it's grossly overdiagnosed. Any kid who can't stay out of trouble in school or doesn't pay attention in class is a candidate for ADHD these days. There was a kid at my middle school who I swear to God was mentally retarded, and basically all the kids knew it, but his parents and the teachers insisted he had ADHD.

[exploited]

Agreed. Of course there are extreme cases such as myself, kids who end up disrupting everyone else, the quiet and the active kids alike.

The point is, your extremist stand on this issue ignores all the good that has come from there drugs, while emphasizing all the bad, simply because one guy regrets coming up with an idea.

The truth, as always, is someplace in the middle - these drugs are abused like crazy, but they are very useful in some situations, when combined with proper parenting and efforts to make other changes. That isn't really a matter for debate, I've seen it time and again, and your ideological needs don't erase those simple facts.

[exploited]

The issue is how we school kids, how we feed them, how we raise them and how much media we expose them too at a young age. These things are the root cause of ADHD, which does exist, just not to the levels we have seen. At most, 1-2% of the population will have a legitimate need for temporary medication. This needs to be accompanied by lifestyle changes that will retrain the brain - less sugary foods, less TV watching, a more active and student-centered education, the introduction of coping techniques for anxiety, and lots and lots of physical activity. Even then, a very small number of kids may still require medication.

What we don't need is armchair physician-parents with no relevant experience casting criticism on parents, despite having no actual knowledge of specific cases. Who the hell are Dharma and Galt to judge? My parents are amazing, they did everything to make me succeed, to say they were trying to fit a square peg into a round hole in order to enforce conformity is insulting and condescending to the extreme. I can remember starting the medication and all of a sudden being able to sit down and read a book, which started a lifelong love of reading. It was truly incredible and I'm very glad my parents did what they did - a year of medication changed my life forever.

[The Dharma Bum]

[exploited]

The condition is acknowledged by virtually the entire medical field. The problem is that the US uses a really loose and vague diagnostic criteria, and oftentimes doesn't even bother testing for it at all.

You posting one dude, founder or not, doesn't take away that consensus.

[The Dharma Bum]