I'm old enough to remember when ADHD was invented. To sell meds.
Granted some people have difficulty concentrating, I'm one of them. But I've only heard of people in the US getting medications for something which is basically a lack of discipline.
It’s just that in other countries they call you stupid and fail you out of education destroying the lives and futures of millions of lives because those places have too many people in power, who like you, believe that if you don’t personally experience something then it mustn’t exist.
Those attitudes are merely annoyances in a professional setting. It just means we have to undo the damage they cause. The amount of people helped by medications and therapy is substantial and cannot be ignored.
Christ. These discussions remind me of one of my professors. He used to claim ADHD was a made up disease too. He also used to say vitamin D deficiency was a drug company scam. Then I was diagnosed with ADHD and hyperparathyroidism secondary to vitamin D deficiency. It's as if god himself wanted me to be living proof that he was full of shit.
I'm old enough to remember when vision impairment was invented. To sell glasses.
Granted some people have difficulty seeing. I'm one of them. But I've only heard of people in the US getting glasses for something which is basically a lack of looking hard enough.
----
Your response was ablest, dismissive and quite offensive.
1. ADHD was first described in 1798 by Sir Alexander Crichton
2. It is a neuro-developmental disorder where there is dysregulation of dopamine and norepinephrine receptors in the brain
3. It is identifiable via MRI scans where size differences were noted in specific areas of the brain (Caudate nucleus, Putamen, Nucleus accumbens, Amygdala, Hippocampus) [1]
4. It is about 80% heritable [2]. So genetics for inheriting ADHD from your parents is about equivalent to genetics from height which is also around 80%.
The "meds" increase the intensity of dopamine signals to a level that allows the brain to react to them, rather than being too low for them to be detected.
[1] https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/02/170216105919.h...
With ADHD, with autism spectrum, whenever you label something that's caused by a different brain wiring, something that's caused by something pyhsical in the brain, you are doing unspeakable level of harm to those people suffering. I know, I'm one of them, I suffered from this mentality for 30 years.
If you can "fix" your difficulty with contentrating with "discipline", all the more power to you. Don't assume it's the same with everyone else.
Medicating vs not medicating is a worthy topic to talk about. Labeling the hardness people face as a lack of discipline is just cruelty, whether it stems from ignorance or lack of knowledge.
While I think lack of discipline is over simplistic, I also think that labelling and diagnosing children is a simple and effective way for parents to absolve themselves of responsibility for their own failures. Parenting is hard, but admitting that is harder.
I'm definitely not saying ADHD and Autism don't exist, I'm just saying that it's possible that ADHD diagnoses are higher than they should be. It's easier to externalise and medicate a problem than it is to look at your own behaviour as a parent.
I draw the line at overly dismissal point of views, telling those who suffer to just put themselves into it and show some discipline. I'm 38 years old and been gaslit by well intentioned people for 30 of those. It needs to stop.
It's called a "disorder" because it is maladaptive: it causes the individual to fail to adapt to the environment. Children and even adults with "attention deficit" often fail to adapt to school, leading to diagnosis. Plenty of teachers get fed up with impulsive children that are incapable of paying attention or even sitting still in class, and they send them to doctors in order to "fix" the kid so they can do their jobs.
It's somewhat self-contradictory though. When you look closer at these patients with "attention deficit", you find that a high number of them are capable of hyperfocus. There's almost always something that deeply engages them. For some it's computers, for others it's car engines, there's always something. You find that all these people with "attention deficit" can suddenly display the ability to pay attention to specific things for ten hours straight.
I make it a point to identify instances where the person is capable of deeply concentrating. I always try to disprove their notions that they are "dumb lazy kids". For me it's a matter of basic human dignity. Once that's out of the way, I may offer them drugs to help them cope with the environment they find themselves in. Not before.
Maybe the problem is just that these people are not compatible with the mass education system where you listen to lectures for hours on end. Maybe that's just the most efficient method for the school, not the best teaching method for these kids. Perhaps there is an environment where they are well adapted, where the disorder does not manifest. Until such an environment is found, drugs and therapy are available.
The problem is that even that hyperfocusing is not always helpful. Focusing on something for 10 hours straight while ignoring everything else - obligations, one's body's needs, etc - is not very much healthier than not being able to stay focused.
(Not that I disagree with much of what you're saying; just feel it's necessary to point out, as many people do think the hyperfixating on things is strictly an advantage)
In my experience it often creates an unbearable internal conflict where you're acutely aware that you really need (or want) to do something else, but you find it impossible to set your current task aside.
I would end up in situations where I'm not enjoying the hyperfocus activity because I'm simultaneously feeling guilty over not doing the more important thing, and there's would be nothing I can do about it. I could try to switch tasks but my mind would wander back, I would make more mistakes, if I had to talk to someone then I wouldn't be present and alert in the conversation, and would suffer even more negative consequences because of that.
Nobody sees that side of it though.