i was walking downtown and (as i was passing them) three young men were discussing the health of their friend and how he used to be ‘so cool‘ and they all enjoyed hanging out with him, but he ‘got all weird man’, ‘he doesn’t talk to anyone anymore, he used to always want to hang out.’ ‘I think it’s cos he has ADHD and his parents make him take medicine for it, cos yeah before that he was cool, now he’s just weird. he doesn’t talk to anyone anymore. he used to (unintelligible)..’ as i got further…
why are we drugging our children out of their personalities.. or.. i guess i should ask… how do we stop lazy parents from doing it?
– oskar
So if the child has a learning impairment because of hyper activity and difficulty paying attention then it is evidence that the parents are lazy? Im tired of people who do not understand ADHD blaming the parents. I was VERY skeptical about my sons ADHD, but once they found the right medicine for him his grades went up and he was no longer getting into trouble.
Hi Jeremy, and thanks for the comment! I’m going to go ahead and jump in here because Oskar is tied up for a bit, but I’m sure he’ll be happy to give you a solid response as to exactly what he was thinking when he can. And while I can’t speak for him, I know him well enough to say with good certainty that he is not in any way implying in this piece that ADHD is a nonexistent or fake condition, or that every parent with medicated children is a lazy parent. He was simply editorializing based on a conversation he overheard and speaking directly to the feelings the kids seemed to have about their friend’s condition.
The fact of the matter is that overdiagnosis of ADHD, naturally followed by overprescription of amphetamines is a hot conversation right now, with complicated answers described in conflicting studies.
This is a pretty fair study, and while it concludes that–on the macro level–there is not overdiagnosis of the condition, there is at a micro level depending on your location, and that oftentimes the diagnosis may be given without the correct “multi-informant, multi-method, developmental assessment of symptoms, impairment, course of illness, previous assessments and treatments, school and social functioning, and comorbid conditions” necessary to fairly make the determination.
So, yes, it seems there are some situations in which kids are put on drugs because the parents aren’t willing to take the extra steps necessary to make sure they’re truly making the right decision. But that doesn’t mean that many parents aren’t doing the right thing.
I look forward to Oskar’s response–we may be on a totally different page. Thanks for stopping by.
hehe, thanks alibi, we’re close… and thanks jeremy for calling bullshit. you know more on this topic than I do, certainly by experience alone (i am helping deal with a different sort-of frustration with my wife’s health, so I’m not coming out of left-field on this..) but, right, I don’t mean to suggest a hyper-active kid is evidence for lazy parents, just keep the lazy parents from using drugs to attempt at controlling their kids. i also didnt want to suggest that ADHD is not diagnosable and treatable nor that pharmaceuticals cannot help. and I was just simply lamenting for these kids..
however, I do mean to suggest that parents ought to start with diet and lifestyle… I do mean to suggest that parents can also have unrealistic expectations of childhood behavior.. some doctors aren’t as skilled as others – doctors are just as guilty of being lazy – availability of pharmaceuticals varies (cost and location – and did you see the list, hell, you probably know the list!), availability of mental health professionals.. etc… you do have successes with pharmaceuticals and diet/lifestyle; I really hope parents are often choosing both… cos yeah little johnny is hyperactive but he also has three cans of soda a day and his parents never taught him when it’s time to leave it’s time to leave…
I know I have ADHD friends… but one in particular, didn’t like himself on ADHD drugs.. so in his teens (90s) he learned to give them up.. and believe me he is still like, whoa man, but he learned to live with it and still does and so, it’s possible…
thanks jeremy
– oskar