[Inguz]

Okay, it is most likely profoundly overdiagnosed, and is supposedly a genetic-based disorder that was virtually nonexistant a few decades ago. It's main treatment is psychostimulants, to increase frontal lobe function...even though Ritalin/Adderall usage long term has been linked with cortical atrophy (reduction in frontal lobe operation).

No, it was described over a hundred years ago. Yes, frontal lobe: concentration and impulse control. The alternative is a lot of ADDers that turn to other obviously less healthy addictions.

It's of my opinion that the main family in the book The Emigrants have ADD, just to give you an example of it described as early as 1949. Good book nevertheless though.

[benr3600]

No, it was described over a hundred years ago. Yes, frontal lobe: concentration and impulse control. The alternative is a lot of ADDers that turn to other obviously less healthy addictions.

It's of my opinion that the main family in the book The Emigrants have ADD, just to give you an example of it described as early as 1949. Good book nevertheless though.

Or they try cognitive-behavioral therapy. Assuming the doc doesn't cram pills down their throat to meet their insurance quota.

Okay so ADD went from being possibly portrayed in a book, to afflicting nearly 10% of boys. And it is genetic in origin. That's good to know.

[Inguz]

Or they try cognitive-behavioral therapy. Assuming the doc doesn't cram pills down their throat to meet their insurance quota.

Okay so ADD went from being possibly portrayed in a book, to afflicting nearly 10% of boys. And it is genetic in origin. That's good to know.

If you're interested look up Alexander Crichton's description of ADD in "An inquiry into the nature and origin of mental derangement: comprehending a concise system of the physiology and pathology of the human mind and a history of the passions and their effects" from as early as 1798.

[benr3600]

If you're interested look up Alexander Crichton's description of ADD in "An inquiry into the nature and origin of mental derangement: comprehending a concise system of the physiology and pathology of the human mind and a history of the passions and their effects" from as early as 1798.

I'll have to put that one on queue, after I get done reading a few of the 21st century books that render ADD/ADHD as we understand it totally unscientific in nature.

[Inguz]

I'll have to put that one on queue, after I get done reading a few of the 21st century books that render ADD/ADHD as we understand it totally unscientific in nature.

Yes, and after that you should read actual scientific studies on ADHD.

[Persephone]

@Inguz: No worries; no offense was taken. I was merely suggesting the possibility that my own ADHD, in a rather unusual case, seems to have occurred on its own. Of course, there's no telling whether I had GAD at birth or if I developed it due to ADHD, but I'm inclined to believe the latter. But my mom said I was always a very intense baby. Intense, though quiet, and I cried for a week over a piece of favored tissue that my parents threw away by accident and I wouldn't have any other :) So who knows. Your theory may well be right; it might be that ADHD was an evolutionary adaptation that should be on the spectrum of normalcy instead of lumped with the "disordered" crowd, because I do derive immense benefits from ADHD. My off-the-wall creativity helps me in school work and endears me to many people. It might be more properly construed as a "trait that doesn't mesh well with society, and causes significant problems in functioning" in our J-oriented culture as it is, and not necessarily because we're "missing" something. Indeed, some ADHD-positive pediatricians are quite annoyed that we're being "medicated to conform".

Okay, it is most likely profoundly overdiagnosed, and is supposedly a genetic-based disorder that was virtually nonexistant a few decades ago. It's main treatment is psychostimulants, to increase frontal lobe function...even though Ritalin/Adderall usage long term has been linked with cortical atrophy (reduction in frontal lobe operation).

I've been saying this for ages now, the setup of modern society also causes ADHD-like symptoms, most succinctly described in the book http://www.amazon.com/iDisorder-Unde.../dp/0230117570. I'm certain I'm not one of those "imitation ADHDs" because I hardly use technology and was a bookworm as a child. Also, it's probably over-diagnosed in boys, especially gifted boys, but profoundly under-diagnosed in girls, whose symptoms are much less disruptive thus overlooked. The Inattentive-ADHD girl is taken for an idiot instead, and you should see the look on my old teachers' faces when I surprise them with a bout of brilliance. They just couldn't believe someone like me was capable of these things.

[celticstained]

to everyone who has a form of ADHD, when you take your medicine how does it make you feel? growing up, most people that i came across said it put them into a zombie state--to me, that seems like the medicine is repressing your own natural state if it turns you into some glazed spectre sitting quietly in the dark. how would you compare that "experience" to your own?

i've never been diagnosed with it and no one has really ever had a reason to i guess (it's never been brought up), but when i was in highschool just about every other student had their prescription on them. so, i tried one and my "experience" is the complete opposite of what's mentioned above. my mind worked at a billion miles an hour, attaching itself to everything in my surroundings--it was like i didn't have the time, or even the inclination to go below "surface level interactions"--completely uninhibited. it was like a severe domapine rush, and at the end i remember feeling kind of sick and grinding my teeth.

now, people told me if it didn't put me into a zombie-like state then that meant that i didn't have the disorder... which seems like backwards thinking to me... any thoughts?

[Persephone]

to everyone who has a form of ADHD, when you take your medicine how does it make you feel? growing up, most people that i came across said it put them into a zombie state--to me, that seems like the medicine is repressing your own natural state if it turns you into some glazed spectre sitting quietly in the dark. how would you compare that "experience" to your own?

i've never been diagnosed with it and no one has really ever had a reason to i guess (it's never been brought up), but when i was in highschool just about every other student had their prescription on them. so, i tried one and my "experience" is the complete opposite of what's mentioned above. my mind worked at a billion miles an hour, attaching itself to everything in my surroundings--it was like i didn't have the time, or even the inclination to go below "surface level interactions"--completely uninhibited. it was like a severe domapine rush, and at the end i remember feeling kind of sick and grinding my teeth.

now, people told me if it didn't put me into a zombie-like state then that meant that i didn't have the disorder... which seems like backwards thinking to me... any thoughts?

I don't feel zombied, FWIW. I feel high strung instead.

[benr3600]

It puts you into a zombie-like state because it doesn't even attack the defects, more like burns the forest down to snag a few symptoms. As evidenced by the trend towards PFC atrophy from Ritalin - to combat a disorder that supposedly results from reduced PFC usage.

[Owfin]

to everyone who has a form of ADHD, when you take your medicine how does it make you feel? growing up, most people that i came across said it put them into a zombie state--to me, that seems like the medicine is repressing your own natural state if it turns you into some glazed spectre sitting quietly in the dark. how would you compare that "experience" to your own?

No identification. I feel like exactly like myself except that I find myself being less stupidly impulsive, basically me - ADD. I also take Concerta instead of Ritalin, my older sister (it runs in our family) had tried Ritalin but got the zombie symptoms mentioned and so went to Concerta. Shame that Ritalin had to be the famous medication, since Concerta isn't like it at all.