UPDATE: Part 2 with the clinical evidence of ADD as a real condition is here
Does ADD/ADHD Really Exist?
I’ve had a great response from my Top 10 Advantages of ADD in a High Tech Career blog post, 30,000 plus unique hits so far, 78 comments so far and lots of links and comments on many of those sites that blogged it. Still trying to digest it all. Thanks to everyone that Digged it, Del.icio.us’d it and blogged it.
Most of the responses on my blog and other blogs were very positive, there were a few same old stale unoriginal ADD jokes, and a smaller number of ones claiming ADD doesn’t exist ones, usually rudely and self righteously. One comment on my blog said “I need scientific facts.”
So for that person, and for the others who may have some doubts about ADD, and for ADDers who are tired of responding to people with no medical background claiming they are able to pass judgement on the validity of a widely recognized medical condition, I’m posting an article that I wrote for my 180+ page plus Adult ADHD Resource Website in 2 parts. Here’s part one.
Why is this a problem?
Occasionally I read about people who claim that ADHD doesn’t exist. As if you cut down on sugar intake, turn off TV and computer games, and spin around 3 times and click your heels it will magically disappear.
Well, that is not true. For the people who have to deal with the challenges of ADD, especially adults, who often have few resources available to them, this is like kicking someone when they’re down. Many people with ADD don’t seek diagnosis or treatment for themselves or their children because of the stigma created by some judgemental, ignorant people. Often men seem to stay in denial longer than women it seems.
Would you tell someone who’s a diabetic that he shouldn’t take insulin, it’s not good for them, diabetes is a phoney condition thought up by the drug companies and all they have to do is stay away from the chocolate bars and have happy thoughts? Wouldn’t you be worried about getting punched out?
Why is it that people who would not assume they’re knowledgeable enough to make pronouncements on the validity of physical medical conditions assume that they are knowledgeable enough to make sweeping pronouncements of the validity of mental medical conditions?
Why do they then decide (usually without doing any real research on the subject) that they know enough about what are acceptable and unacceptable treatments ( i.e., Ritalin as a tool of the devil theory) and condemn someone for using what they deem are unacceptable treatments? As if the brain is easier to understand than the body.
While ADD is sometimes underdiagnosed, overdiagnosed and misdiagnosed, it is a real condition with often severe negative consequences for the person who has it. 85% of adults with ADD don’t know they have it.
Once they learn about the condition, they begin to deal with it, by Adult ADHD coaching, ADHD medications, therapy, ADHD support groups, diet, exercise, meditation, stress reduction, or other methods. Then they can start focusing on and developing the advantages of having ADHD.
Unfortunately, too many people with ADD don’t even get diagnosed with ADHD because of the misinformation and stigma out there by the ignorant (occasionally vocally ignorant). You can’t deal with what you don’t know you have.
If you have ADD, how you decide to treat it should be your choice not something that is dictated by others. After all you’re the one who has to deal with the consequences of your choices (or of simply continually researching the condition with little action).
Sample Response to a Person with a General Lack of Knowledge of ADD
If someone simply has a lack of knowledge about ADD, or believes the myths out there, you can give them this blood pressure analogy to explain it.
We all have blood pressure. If it’s in x range it’s normal, if it’s in y range it’s a cause for concern, and if it’s in z range you have a medical condition called hypertension and have to be treated for it.
You could use a similar example with blood sugar levels. I.e., occasionally low blood sugar, hypoglycemia and diabetes. You could also use the example of clinical depression. Some people have some of the symptoms of depression on occasion i.e., they may feel sad and depressed for a weekend, but that does not make them clinically depressed. You need to have a certain number of symptoms over a certain period of time and a certain degree of severity.
Most people have some of the symptoms of ADD on occasion, what makes it ADD is:
* How many of the symptoms you have
* How severe the symptoms are
* The degree that they negatively effect one or more areas of your life
* How long they have been a problem in your life.
Sample Response to a Person Who’s Strongly Denying ADD Exists
If that doesn’t work and you’re dealing with someone who is strongly denying that ADD exists and claiming that ADD is a not real condition, thereby
1. Stigmatizing those with ADD and
2. Possibly preventing other people who may have undiagnosed ADD from seeking treatment, and needlessly prolonging their suffering
You might consider asking them this question,
“What do you know about ADD that the following institutions don’t?”
American Medical Association (AMA)
Surgeon General of the United States
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP)
(See this article for more details Real Science Defines AD/HD as Real Disorder).
American Academy of Neurology
American Association of Children’s Residential Treatment Centers
American Psychiatric Association
National Association of Social Workers
(see this article)
“They all say ADD exists and is a real condition.
What do you know that they don’t and research have you done that show’s that all of the organizations above are wrong?”
Because of ignorance, fear and hate of those with ADHD, many of whom seem to be ADHD closet cases, there is a often a lot of stigma with having ADHD. That page on my BC ADHD blog has more article on ADHD stigma to understand it more.
in Part 2, I’ll summarize and link some to articles that give hard, clinical evidence of the existence of ADD as a real condition.
If you have ADD, how do you respond to people who say Attention Deficit Disorder doesn’t exist? If I get enough responses I may use it in another blog post to give ADDers other options