What’s the #2 Genetically Inherited Condition in the World?
ADD. Height is #1.
At an ADD conference I attended here in Vancouver last June, many presenters had slides showing that ADD was the #2 genetically inherited condition in the world at 80%. Height was #1. Here’s one article on Medline that talks about it.
Although medication works well in many cases of ADHD, optimal treatment of ADHD requires integrated medical and behavioral treatment. The family plays a crucial role in the management of children with ADHD.
Often adults find out they have ADD because they slowly see that they have many of the symptoms there ADD children do. In my unscientific experience, men take longer to realize this than women do, or at least longer to come out of denial. As one attempt to counter such denial, I’ve blogged about this issue before under the subtle title “Parents Of Children With ADD Are 24 Times More Likely To Have ADD Themselves Study Says”.
I believe one reason for the denial is that many people mistakenly view ADD as a 98% negative condition, i.e., what I call “pathology consciousness”. ADD can have many serious negative effects on your work or personal life but there are many advantages of having ADD as well. 151 Advantages to be precise.
“Early recognition and treatment prevent the development of more serious psychopathology in adolescence and adulthood.”
i.e., depression, anxiety disorders, substance abuse etc. Another very common way adults find they have ADD when the find they’ve been treated for the above three conditions for a long time and the treatments don’t work. For example people in therapy for a decade for depression and it turns out to be depression because they have undiagnosed and untreated ADD. That being said, you can also have ADD and depression concurrently. Here’s a list of some common ADD comorbid or co-existing conditions.
[...] I always suggest to people who I talk to whose children have ADD that since ADD is the number 2 genetically inherited condition after height (80%), that if a child has it the parents should be screened for it if not for their own benefit, for the child’s benefit. Here’s some evidence why. However I wondered what they might find in terms of the advantages of monthers with ADD over those who don’t have it? Possibly better connections with the children due to a common trait? [...]
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[...] For my non blogging readers, WordPress is a very popular, free, open source blogging platform that this blog and many others are run on. Hopefully more people with Adult ADHD will start blogging to raise awareness of the negatives AND positives of Adult ADHD and help reduce the stigma relating to the number 2 genetically inherited condition after height. [...]
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this really helped me on a reasearch project i had to do
Comment by adam sudhoff May 12, 2008 @