Poking the lion with a stick...

Ratchet

Do you think that kids who theoretically have A.D.H.D should be medicated or is it just a way for doctors to make more money?

Li_Akahi

I don't think that ADD and ADHD are treatable "diseases." I just think that the person has a short attention span or is just has a lot of energy.

Omnutia

Depends on the person. It's a sliding scale kind of thing.

TheWhaleShark

Do you think that kids who theoretically have A.D.H.D should be medicated or is it just a way for doctors to make more money?

Some kids legitimately have ADHD (I've worked with some children) and require medication. Some kids are mistakenly diagnosed with ADHD because over-protective parents want their precious snowflakes to be perfect.

Kiey

Depends on the person. It's a sliding scale kind of thing.

Agreed, I think there are some people far enough down the slider that they really need the medicine to be functional. But generally I think that its over prescribed to people who don't really need it.

beefy

Depends on the person. It's a sliding scale kind of thing.

I also agree with this. There are people who need to be medicated, and those who don't. But there is also the problem of misdiagnosis. This happened to my oldest son, he has Asperger Syndrome, and was marked as ADD by the school. I just think we should really be sure that a child needs to be medicated before we put them on some potent amphetamine like Ritalin.

Having said that, there are children that need to be medicated. Just not nearly as many as we seem to be pumping full of Ritalin

Apreche

In being a camp counselor, I've had quite a few experiences with kids with various syndromes such as ADD, ADHD, Asperger's, etc.

When I was at shit daycamp, there were quite a few "bad" kids who were on meds. Most of these kids were no better whether they were on or off. Their misbehavior was clearly the result of bad parenting. Bad parents, bad kids. Drugs can't help that.

At summer camp in my cabin there was one kid in the cabin who legitimately had ADHD. His parents were high quality, and they didn't want their kid to be drugged up. For the first day of camp he was unmedicated. That first day of camp was pretty rough. The camp and his parents decided to medicate him again after that first day. After that he was totally cool, never caused a problem, and one of the best and smartest kids in the cabin. He was just never as popular with the other kids as he could have been because of his bad reputation from the first day. That's how it goes.

At cybercamps there was a kid with Asperger's. He was a little older, maybe early high school. Asperger's, as far as I can tell, is just that one of the nerd types. Being a geeky per son myself, I had met many people in each nerd category. When I met the kid I was basically like "Oh! They have a name for that kind of nerd! I know nerds like this!" The only problem the kid ever had was that he didn't speak perfectly, and he never wanted to play kickball.

The experience of one camp counselor isn't much to go on, but there is one thing I can say for sure. No matter what kind of disorder a kid has (as long as they are functional), parents/guardians are what really makes the difference. The apple can fall far from the tree, but it's very rare. Live with someone for 8 weeks, then meet their parents or kids for 5 minutes. The similarity in personality is shocking, even though the genetic similarity is expected.

George Patches

I don't think that ADD and ADHD are treatable "diseases." I just think that the person has a short attention span or is just has a lot of energy.

Speaking as some who has ADHD, I can tell you that ADD and ADHD are a lot more than a short attention span or a lot of energy. One of my friends at college said this once, "dude, you're the most mellow guy I've ever met, how can you have ADHD." Truth is that I have ADHD, pretty bad too. It's much greater than a short attention span, I have a crippling inability to focus. Imagine you're in a classroom, trying to pay attention, say you're even interested in what's being said. Now imagine that clock is somehow just as interesting, as is the chalk in the teachers hand, the watch you're wearing, or the paper you're writing on. It's like flipping through the channels on a TV, but being unable to stop it. It sucks.

I took Ritalin for a long time when I was young and it helped. As I've grown up it seems to have been less and less effective, and I just stopped taking it. I got feed up with the side effects of increased doses, tried different meds, and then just gave up and decided to manage it myself.

Also I had a really good doctor who specialized in childhood ADD when I was younger, but when I turned 18 I could no longer visit her. I had to go to a psychiatrist. I went to two and they both treated me like a mental case, with questions like "and how did that make you feel?" I hated it, I'm not crazy, I just have ADD. My brain is just slightly broken, not totally whacked.

MrRoboto

I don't think that ADD and ADHD are treatable "diseases." I just think that the person has a short attention span or is just has a lot of energy.

Speaking as some who has ADHD, I can tell you that ADD and ADHD are a lot more than a short attention span or a lot of energy. One of my friends at college said this once, "dude, you're the most mellow guy I've ever met, how can you have ADHD." Truth is that I have ADHD, pretty bad too. It's much greater than a short attention span, I have a crippling inability to focus. Imagine you're in a classroom, trying to pay attention, say you're even interested in what's being said. Now imagine that clock is somehow just as interesting, as is the chalk in the teachers hand, the watch you're wearing, or the paper you're writing on. It's like flipping through the channels on a TV, but being unable to stop it. It sucks.

Same here, only I never took meds, needless to say, I wasn't an A student, but managed somehow.

George Patches

Same here, only I never took meds, needless to say, I wasn't an A student, but managed somehow.

Are you freaking smart too? I've been told by my parents I have a 150-ish IQ, but I'm only a 3 GPA and I'm on my 11th semester of college.

gomidog

I guess it's like depression. Some people are just a little bummed out and get over it by themselves, and some people can barely get out of bed unless they are on medication. Like you guys said, it's definitely a sliding scale.

I do think ADHD and ADD are over-diagnosed. If a first grader has trouble sitting still for 6 hours, that is really no surprise. I feel like saying "Well, maybe you shouldn't have gotten rid of recess."

GreatTeacherMacRoss

Omnutia

Half the people in this thread expected that to come up sooner or later.

MrRoboto

Same here, only I never took meds, needless to say, I wasn't an A student, but managed somehow.

Are you freaking smart too? I've been told by my parents I have a 150-ish IQ, but I'm only a 3 GPA and I'm on my 11th semester of college.

Thats what the psychologist said, but I really don't believe in IQ tests, or psychologists for that matter. One thing is even though I have ADD, I can hyper concentrate on stuff I'm doing only if I'm interested (cooking, building stuff, drawing, etc.) as long as its not reading or trying to memorize something.

On the bright side, I'm hardly ever bored, as I can get distracted with a fly in the room for hours.

Rym

Thats what the psychologist said, but I really don't believe in IQ tests, or psychologists for that matter.

IQ tests are a pretty good measure of general intelligence for most people, though you have to bear in mind that a proper IQ test must be administered by professionals in a controlled setting. Most "IQ tests" people take are effectively worthless.

George Patches

Thats what the psychologist said, but I really don't believe in IQ tests, or psychologists for that matter. One thing is even though I have ADD, I can hyper concentrate on stuff I'm doing only if I'm interested (cooking, building stuff, drawing, etc.) as long as its not reading or trying to memorize something.

On the bright side, I'm hardly ever bored, as I can get distracted with a fly in the room for hours.

You gotta love the hyper-concentration thing. Doesn't happen when much, but it's crazy, it's like all the focus just piles up and then gets used all at once. I get like that when I'm racing, and sometimes when I'm coding.

IQ tests are a pretty good measure of general intelligence for most people, though you have to bear in mind that a proper IQ test must be administered by professionals in a controlled setting. Most "IQ tests" people take are effectively worthless.

That's what I had, a real IQ test. I took it in like 3rd grade, cause I'd went from nearly failing 1st grade to a model student(thank you Ritalin) my parents were curious how smart I actually was.