Is ADHD real or made up?

I have seen many articles of this and now many parents seem to be using ADHD or ADD as an excuse for bad behavior. Even my sister claims my nephew has this "disease" or "disability". Parents now think using that abbreviation will conjure up images of a child in a wheelchair or someone who really does have a disability.

It seems more pharmaceutical companies are pushing their ADHD drugs on the market, especially in TV ads. They are starting to push the drugs for adults now that the market for children is saturated. I don't know how many children are on the drugs, but the vast majority are young white males. Females and minorities don't seem to be affected by this condition. I do wonder why that is.

It used to be if a child acted up it was dealt with by the teacher, principal and parents. Now there is something to blame for a child who needs a good swat on the rear.

I know many will come on here and state it is a true condition, but why does it only affect one group? Why is this condition so new (I never heard of it when I went to school)? I also am not ruling out mental disabilities, but having millions of school age children on psychotic drugs should say something to us as a society. No other country has this condition like we do. (I wouldn't be surprised if Big Pharma exports these drugs like they do cigarettes.)

Am I off my rocker here, or does what I say make any sense?

I think it is in a sense - a misdiagnosed condition.

I date a guy that has had it, but he also suffered from a number of other things too. Hyperactivity- they told him he was allergic to sugar.. so what does his mom do? changes his entire diet poor kid wasn't even allowed to eat his halloween candy..honestly I think that putting a kid at a very young age on drugs is giving the parents a way out of parenting. Now you cannot discipline your kids (a mild spanking isn't a big deal.. beating the crap out of your kid is..) parents are told over and over to not really discipline kids it hurts them emotionally and scars them.. but what about also not doing anything? I think there are two sides to this.. kids and adults that grow into people that need something because they cannot get their "focus." Could it be that maybe as an adult they are bored to death by a career that makes them want to go insane? I would have trouble focusing too... granted I'm sure there are a number of things, but I think it is human brain evolution..we think at such a rate that concentration is hard to do on any one thing.

some need something like Aderal (spell sorry) to help focus.. but only a tiny amount of the population has any real issue. It is basically a way to make someone feel special as mean as that sounds.

If you suck at life it must mean you have a "condition" for what makes it seem better and people will feel sorry for you. If you have a disease then it grants you every excuse in the world..I relate to the things George Carlin said on the subject..And in relation to boys..they tend to be more aggressive.. so again mom puts Johnnie on a pill = Johnnie less hyper and in a more vegetable state so mommy can do what ever mommy wants to because GOD forbid our boys just act like boys!!! All this huggy muggy gets on my nerves sometimes..call a spade a spade for god sake!

Coming from someone that could be deemed as ADHD my brain goes from one thing to another in milliseconds i do get bored easily too... then again maybe I'm just a genius..

Even my nephew was on many ADHD drugs and I would keep my mouth shut about it. I also knew a 14 year old boy who did not want to take the drug so I told him of his medical right to refuse it. The state allowed those 14 and older to refuse any drug or treatment and he did just that. His mother was happy as she did not like him on that drug either.

I know how hard parenting can be, but in many cases putting the boys on drugs seems like an easy way out of a tough age. Once they turn 10, they start the sass mouth stage which can be rather difficult for all involved. Drugs don't make it any easier, and many of the kids on drugs like that are the ones who commit those mass school shootings.

It is interesting how that fact of the kids on psychotic meds to control ADHD are kept from the public for the most part. (Some good journalists along with Jim Marrs found much information about this.)

No one wants to take responsibility anymore. Blame a disease, blame another, blame the wind! or heck the "devil made me do it."

drives me bonkers.

When one of my boys was in jail, he looked at me and seriously told me the only one to blame was himself. I told him he was a true man at age 18 and took more responsibility that day than most people do in a lifetime.

I wish more people would just accept the blame with their problems and move on to solve them.

I know I'm a little late to the party, but I wanted to chime in with my 2 cents. I have a lot to say, so I'll try to keep this organized. First, I believe that ADD and ADHD are real disorders that affect a person's ability to focus (ADD) and is sometimes accompanied by hyperactivity (ADHD). However, this is a condition that is waaaaaay overdiagnosed.

There are diseases that only affect certain populations...think of sickle cell anemia that only affects African Americans, or tasax that only affect children of Eastern European Jewish descent. I do not however, think that this is the case with ADD or ADHD. I think the reason so many white boys are diagnosed with this condition has to do with culture and economics. Firstly, this is a mental illness. And while the stigma surrounding mental illness is not what it used to be, it still exists, and a lot of parents will deny that their child has a mental illness and not speak to their doctors about a lack of focus in their kids. (Of course, not every child who won't focus has this disorder, some/most of the time they're just being kids.) On the flip side, poor people (who in America are disproportionately people of color) do not have the resources to seek treatment, even if they wanted to, especially considering that this is not a life threatening disorder. So this situation narrows the segments of the population who are willing and able to seek treatment if they believe their child might have this disorder.

Now lets add big pharma to that equation. They put adds on tv that portray well to do white kids happily going about their lives on these drugs that will make them into docile obedient children. Now lets talk about the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Before I go on, let me say that this is excellent and necessary legislation because there are students who need it and benefit from it. This law states, that the minute a student is diagnosed with a disablity, mental or physical, a host of special services kick in for them at school. Special accomodations are made such as modified homework assignments, special test conditions, special aides and tutors, as well as physical accomodations, as necessary. A team of professionals is assembled to come up with a plan for this one child's education. So there are tangible benefits that accompany a diagnosis. But it requires a lot of persistence and advocating on the part of the parents to ultimately obtain these benefits, and lets face it...some parents are more involved than others. And often, it's the parents who don't have to work 5 jobs to support their kids that can be this involved. It's a situation that leads to massive overdiagnosing in young white kids. Lets also consider that identifying and diagnosing mental illness is often not an exact science.

So yeah, it's totally a real thing, but so many times, kids who just have a lot of energy or act out in agressive ways (as boys are socialized to do more often than girls) are put on pills and told they have a disorder. A lot of times it just boys being boys. And while I agree that we most often see boys diagnosed with this, I have known many girls who also have this condition, while working in the schools. I also know adults who have this condition, but I think we're only now hearing about adult ADD because the psychology/psychiatry fields are only recently beginning to be taken seriously in our culture. 20 years ago, we didn't think of depression as a chronic condition with a medical treatment, but now we know differently and millions of people have better lives for it...big pharma: a blessing and a curse. Hope that makes sense. Just my opinion...albeit, a long winded one ;-)

I too think that even though all you said is totally true, it seems like a lot of it stems from misdiagnosing kids and even adults. Let's face it the drug companies really are the ones coming out winners in the end..with a lot of stuff.

Thank you for sharing that, Goodwitch. I do think there are some people who have trouble concentrating, but I do wonder about all the hoopla surrounding it. I think Big Pharma are the ones who profit off of all disorders as well as lawyers who profit off of the Disability Act through lawsuits.

I guess I was on a rant as it seems no one wants to take responsibility anymore. The ones who really need the help get lost in the mix as people with mild or even imaginary disorders are screaming for special treatment. Obesity is now considered a disability so everything has to be made larger to accommodate fat people. I know as I am one of them although I have lost a lot of weight so I could have surgery done. I could of blamed others for the problem, but I put down extra helpings and cut out sugar and fat from my diet.

I do remember hearing stories of my great uncle who had to crawl around on all fours to get anywhere. There were no elevators in the tenements he lived in so he had to crawl up and down the stairs. (He had polio which caused his paralysis.) I also know of the stigma of mental illness, but I also think it can be abused to death. ("I didn't do it. I have an addiction.")

If we don't do anything to try and fix the system from abuse and frivolous lawsuits, there is a Congress very willing to roll back all of these protections.

If I could count on my toes how many times I have heard the addiction excuse from family members (2 in particular..) I would be a freak of a toe nature!!!!!!!!!!!!