We Need to Rename ADHD | Hacker News Reader

We Need to Rename ADHD

scientificamerican.com

4 pointsisolli5 comments

ADHD is more accurately called Executive Function disorder. It s a very real and devastating disorder. This academic flagellation directed towards nerfing the name of the disorder does nothing but disservice to those who have the disease. Yes, folks, they screen for environmental or other issues when making the ADHD diagnosis. It is not changed in name because it is tied to legislation now.

When I was in grade school, my 'attention deficit' was due to something outside my control ... as a result of which I was 'Bored Shitless'.

Which is one reason that it bugs me to see kids given drugs to help them with 'their' problem. Which is often, in fact, an institutional problem. Easier to blame the victim than to fix that.

There are a lot of other disorders: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_disorders

“Calling the condition a disorder falsely implies we know of a cause located in the brains of people diagnosed with it—and we don’t”.

Seems like they are making up their own definition of the word. Also that problem applies to most psychology, which is not rectified by removing the word disorder...

Diagnostic names matter and are very often misused. Like saying something is very schizophrenic, meaning multiple personalities, which have nothing to do with schizophrenia at all. But good luck getting people to use words correctly! A great example is "pedophilia". Try telling someone who uses it wrongly that it does per definition only include small children. You'll likely be called a pedo. It's like mentioning Nazis in a discussion.

I think it may be that people feel someone is trying to deflect away from a crime by being overly pedantic. When someone commits a crime and people scream "pedophile!", it is really strange when someone shows up and say that pedophilia technically means x.

There is pedophilia (the clinical definition), hebephilia (the clinical definition) which is when someone is into young teenagers, and then there is the social concept of pedophilia, which is committing a sexual crime associated with people who aren't of age.

Many people who commit such crimes don't meet the clinical criteria, but socially, they are considered such due to the last definition.

Many people who are clinically pedophiles (clinically significant being that it is sensually predominant and everything else they do is going to feel sub-optimal compared to that stimuli and may even feel nothing at all to adults) don't commit pedophilia related crimes.

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