ADHD hoax?

B

Buster Bluth

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I'll throw in my two cents:

Change the diet before you go the drug route.
 
B

BGIF

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irish1958 said:
I think Dr. Eisenburg had a little too much cognac in his pablum.
It appears he is credited for inventing a disease that had been defined in medicine for at least two hundred years, and extensively studied since before the end of the First World War.
ADHD fits the medical definition of "disease," and also the broader inclusive term "disorder" although disorder is not a medical term.
Much of the problem understanding ADHD has to do with misunderstanding the basic biological concept of variation as expressed by the bell curve, complicated by the economic, emotional, and educational value of having the diagnosis.
Stimulants have been shown to improve function in all persons (and most animals) who receive them. As a matter of justice, should all students be offered access to them?
When I was in second year medical school our psychiatry professor brought a child of about ten years with severe ADHD to his lecture on ADHD (or miminal brain dysfunction as it was then called) and let him loose in the lecture hall for an hour. I am quite sure that the 100 medical students in that class are convinced the disease is real.
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I read earlier in this thread:

Anyone who calls ADD or ADHD a decease (sic) has instantly surrendered all credibility in the conversation. There is a huge difference between a disease and a disorder.
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Doc, do you think medical school, a medical license, and 35 or 40 years of medical practice plus all those C.M.U.s (continuing medical education units) gives you credibility in the conversation?

I do.

Thanks for the explanation and poignant example!
 
Rhode Irish

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NDBoiler said:
I am not educated enough on the science/medicinal aspect, but I can relate from personal experience. i have an immediate famly member diagnosed with ADHD and you can definitely tell by his actions whether he has taken his medication recently or not. He would have to be an Academy Award winning actor if there wasn't at least some medical or psychological explanation for it IMO.
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Could that not be a function of the medication and not the person? If you doped me up on designer narcotics, I'd be a different person too. And so would you.

I'm not a believer in these kinds of drugs. On the other hand, I don' think all psychology is a fraud, either.
 
Junkhead

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My 12yr old son has been on meds for this for years. Since starting it, he has made honor roll over and over. I think I had some form of it, since I could never study much, just couldn't concentrate. I somehow earned a Bachelors degree without even trying, I sure never studied for finals! The things I find weird, our family doctor say my boy will have to take it his entire life. Really doc? Padding the stock portfolio? Anyway, when he takes it, he's serious and never hungry. If we don't give it to him on the weekend, he's a wildman and eats everything in sight. So, who knows... I have a theory about Doctors and Pharmacy stock....
 
IrishSteelhead

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Remember when ADHD didn't exist, and it was diagnosed as "bratty kid with no self control?"
 
chubler

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Not sure what to say here. It's real, I've got it, GPA went up more than .4 after starting the meds, deans list and all now. But that's along with lifestyle and attitude changes in order to adjust to a new reality...

That said, sometimes it gets to me when people blow it off as "not real". A little piece of you dies when after hours of trying and failing to study you finally put all your distractions away and tell yourself you're going to stay on task until its done and within 5 minutes you've failed because you're literally incapable of stopping yourself.
 
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I just finished my 3rd year of medical school with my pediatrics rotation. I saw a lot if ADHD and yes, it is a real disorder and there exists a strict set of criteria to diagnose it. However, often these criteria are often not followed strictly and it is over diagnosed (and in some settings, under diagnosed).
 
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Kak7304

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Also, some theorize that ADHD is so prevalent in modern man because of evolutionary selection towards those who are hyper vigilant. In layman's terms, if you were calm and not on watch constantly, you were killed by a predator. Those who were on edge and always walking and looking about, survived.
 
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BGIF

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Kak7304 said:
Also, some theorize that ADHD is so prevalent in modern man because of evolutionary selection towards those who are hyper vigilant. In layman's terms, if you were calm and not on watch constantly, you were killed by a predator. Those who were on edge and always walking and looking about, survived.
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Meerkat Syndrome aka The Whiskers Worries.
 
military_irish

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I believe ADHD is a real disorder, but like many have said is over diagnosed. This is not the only disorder overly diagnosed. I believe depression is too.

When I was 17 I was diagnosed with both by a psychologist. I refused medication at that time because I wanted to get through it without medicine.

For some reason they failed to look over the fact I had lived with my mother for all my life and she abruptly left and moved to Florida. I elected to stay in South Bend to be by all of my family. Of course I had seperation anxiety, felt left, and sad.

As the days went on and I adjusted to living with my father things started to click and life went on.

My mind still wonders and I lose focus a lot for varies reason (this was one reasons they diagnosed me with ADHD) but I still live a very funcional life without any medication.
 
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Bogtrotter07

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irish1958 said:
I think Dr. Eisenburg had a little too much cognac in his pablum.
It appears he is credited for inventing a disease that had been defined in medicine for at least two hundred years, and extensively studied since before the end of the First World War.
ADHD fits the medical definition of "disease," and also the broader inclusive term "disorder" although disorder is not a medical term.
Much of the problem understanding ADHD has to do with misunderstanding the basic biological concept of variation as expressed by the bell curve, complicated by the economic, emotional, and educational value of having the diagnosis.
Stimulants have been shown to improve function in all persons (and most animals) who receive them. As a matter of justice, should all students be offered access to them?
When I was in second year medical school our psychiatry professor brought a child of about ten years with severe ADHD to his lecture on ADHD (or miminal brain dysfunction as it was then called) and let him loose in the lecture hall for an hour. I am quite sure that the 100 medical students in that class are convinced the disease is real.
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Another brilliant post, I-58!

I did some research of my own.

What Eisenburg did for ADD and ADHD is focus some attention on it from a position empathetic to children, outside of the Freud psycho-analytical model, while maintaining the rigors of the scientific method in conducting research. The bulk of this was when he was at the Harvard Medical school.

Has anyone ask why a supposed "death bed" confession of a man who died in 2009 comes to light only four years later? Especially when it contains something so inflammatory to mainstream medical orthodoxy?

The first part of the answer is that Eisenburg is/was German, and spoke German. All interviews and information are from an article or series in the German publication Der Speigel.

So on top of the points being made, inventor is not correct. Scientific father is a better translation. "Fictitious" is not correct. Manufactured or invented may be a better translation. The bottom line is he was addressing the fact that one out of eight children is being diagnosed with ADD, today. He and his Harvard colleagues find that unacceptable and inappropriate and have said as much as the label "lazy" of 50 years ago has been replaced with "ADD" today.

But here is the most important point, and it is born out by member posters in this thread like Military Irish! These Harvard researchers did not see anything to indicate that this was a genetic based disease and they to the person in all stated on the record feel that the psycho-social affects of a child's life could bear more light on the cause and treatment than some chemical or genetic affect! Think about it! I picked Irish1958's post because he is one of the best minds that we have on IE. His is also a focuses medical perspective. There is nothing in what these researchers have said that does anything less than support what I-58 is saying. It also supports what those of you who point to psychological causes say, and it also supports most of what those of you who decry helicopter parents say!

I still maintain that psychological causes of ADD/ADHD are underestimated. If it is is chemical or genetic, there is nothing we can do; if it is the environment we create for these kids, then shame on us. (At this point I want to make it clear I am not advocating an attack on individual parents. Please refer back to threads like "Attack on Us" for a better understanding of my perspective.)

I also maintain that when using medical treatment like Ritalin, the affect that stimulant has on a patient who needs the treatment is calming or relaxing; in other-words, the affect is the opposite of what one would expect. Where the politics, and deceit come in is in the number of "ADD/ADHD kids" that can never get their meds adjusted right, in other-words, that Ritalin (in any dose) acts as a stimulant.

I tutored a class in reading this winter. I picked three kids and I told the teacher, that they all took Ritalin, she was shocked that I could guess with at least one. Then I told her that I believed one child would benefit and the other two wouldn't. Sure enough the one boy calmed down and began to meaningfully focus, and the other two got more and more "hyper!"
 
H

HereComeTheIrish

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military_irish said:
I believe ADHD is a real disorder, but like many have said is over diagnosed. This is not the only disorder overly diagnosed. I believe depression is too.

When I was 17 I was diagnosed with both by a psychologist. I refused medication at that time because I wanted to get through it without medicine.

For some reason they failed to look over the fact I had lived with my mother for all my life and she abruptly left and moved to Florida. I elected to stay in South Bend to be by all of my family. Of course I had seperation anxiety, felt left, and sad.

As the days went on and I adjusted to living with my father things started to click and life went on.

My mind still wonders and I lose focus a lot for varies reason (this was one reasons they diagnosed me with ADHD) but I still live a very funcional life without any medication.
Click to expand...

Good for you, brah.... Most can't be self advocates for themselves, but you did. That is excellent. Great stuff.
 
Kanye West

Kanye West

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It's real, I have it and I know the difference when diagnosed and not diagnosed first hand. It is however over-diagnosed. I'm on 25 mg of Adderall xr and it doesn't make me hyper at all but it helps me focus and less socially anxious.
 
B

Bogtrotter07

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Kanye West said:
It's real, I have it and I know the difference when diagnosed and not diagnosed first hand. It is however over-diagnosed. I'm on 25 mg of Adderall xr and it doesn't make me hyper at all but it helps me focus and less socially anxious.
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Hey dude, what is the 18th of June?
 
C

Cackalacky

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Good morning pat. Two threads.....Two inflamatory posts...... LOL. How much sleep are you getting.
 
irishpat183

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Son of a black panther? His public rants chastizing "the devil" (white people)...The katrina comment.

He's notorious for ignorant public rants and racially charged lyrics.

As talented as the guy is...he's a knucklehead.
 
Kanye West

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irishpat183 said:
Son of a black panther? His public rants chastizing "the devil" (white people)...The katrina comment.

He's notorious for ignorant public rants and racially charged lyrics.

As talented as the guy is...he's a knucklehead.
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The Katrina comment was not racist. Calling someone racist does not make you one. It's a dumb comment, but it isn't racist.

Kanye is a diva, I'll give you that.
Racially charged lyrics? He does deserve that right, there isn't anything really racist in talking about the injustices done to your race,racial pride, and talking about how to make your race better.
 
irishpat183

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Kanye West said:
The Katrina comment was not racist. Calling someone racist does not make you one. It's a dumb comment, but it isn't racist.

Kanye is a diva, I'll give you that.
Racially charged lyrics? He does deserve that right, there isn't anything really racist in talking about the injustices done to your race,racial pride, and talking about how to make your race better.
Click to expand...

No he doesn't. Nobody does.

How do you make your race better....by calling another group of people "the devil"??
 
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