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I've always been absolutely opposed to banning books. ...then I got diagnosed with adult ADHD, which, boy howdy, explains a lot about my life, and I'm only som

I've always been absolutely opposed to banning books. ...then I got diagnosed with adult ADHD, which, boy howdy, explains a lot about my life, and I'm only somewhat resentful of my parents for pursuing an alternative medicine approach when I was diagnosed as a kid. But anyway, that's just setting the scene. Then I went to my local library to get some books on adult ADHD, to help my wife understand it better, and they only had one book on adult ADHD (quite a few more on child ADHD, natch), but in the same section, had two books stating unequivocally that ADHD was a made-up condition. These ones: Debunking ADHD: 10 Reasons to Stop Drugging Kids for Acting Like Kids - https://www.amazon.com/dp/1475827377/ https://www.amazon.com/dp/1475827377/ ADHD Does Not Exist: The Truth About Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder - https://www.amazon.com/ADHD-Does-Not-Exist-Hyperactivity/dp/006226673X https://www.amazon.com/ADHD-Does-Not-Exist-Hyperactivity/dp/... And I guess, now that I had a strong personal stake, I felt rather offended by these books. I don't want to ban them, but I'd very much prefer that the library filed them under "alternative medicine" rather than under "mental illness > ADHD". Not so much for myself, but for any kids who get diagnosed and have a parent or parents similar to mine looking for a reason to deny the diagnosis.

young_unixer 6y ago
(Both links point at the same book) By the way. If I'm a young adult and think that I might have a mild case of ADHD, do you think it's worth it to try get diagnosed?
- EdwardDiego 6y ago
  Oops, cheers! It's definitely worth looking into. In hindsight, I think it severely hampered my life in that I never graduated high school, I failed hard at university, and I did poorly at all my jobs that involved doing routine tasks. However, the ability to "hyperfocus" is how I taught myself to code - albeit at some cost, staying up until 4am coding has some costs when you have a day job. And then I lucked into a coding company where there were lots of interesting challenges I could hyperfocus into, even though I was failing at the necessary routines, it was overlooked because I could make the big leaps that transformed things. If I'd be hired by a "Write the CRUD app using JSF templates and Hibernate for a slightly different client" company, I would've failed hard. But the biggest issue that the medication has resolved for me is my impulsiveness around drugs and alcohol. Now, I can have two beers and then say "Nah, I don't need another". Previously, that wasn't possible. With the obvious life impacts that followed. So if you think it might be present, definitely worth confirming if it is, or if it isn't.
  - joshspankit 6y ago
    I wish we talked more about the impulsiveness. Looking back over the past few decades, that has gotten me in a lot of unnecessary trouble (also now adult-diagnosed)
xkcd-sucks 6y ago
With psychiatric stuff it's always a bit of a philosophical question especially if one isn't hearing voices or anything similarly. The criteria for diagnosis is basically whether you are worse than average on some metrics and whether you feel like you have an attention problem - but this could just as well be framed as "the way your personality is". I've been diagnosed with adhd several times as an adult and every time I scored average/slightly above average on the attention+working memory metrics but scored so high on the other metrics that the ADHD ones were considered out of place! Personally I don't necessarily believe that ADHD "exists" but am willing to say that I do, in order to take advantage of a prescription for dexedrine which I enjoy. I would of course, in practice, attack anyone claiming it doesn't "exist" because it is counter to my own self interest in maintaining a convenient supply of speedy pills.
- EdwardDiego 6y ago
  Here's the fun bit though - I don't get "speedy" from the medication I'm on. Looking back with hindsight, when I was a teenager and snorting Ritalin with my friends, they got all silly and giggly, while I felt calmer. Was a sign I should've taken seriously. At the time I just thought I'd gotten dud pills. But yeah, I think a good metaphor is that people with ADHD are starting at -1, people without are starting at 0, and then the pills add a +1 to both.
- ryan-allen 6y ago
  It sounds like you're fortunate to be rather gifted, along with a repeat diagnosis of ADHD as an adult (this is not uncommon), and I have questions. What had you seek out a diagnosis as an adult? What country were these diagnoses? How old are you?

young_unixer 6y ago

(Both links point at the same book) By the way. If I'm a young adult and think that I might have a mild case of ADHD, do you think it's worth it to try get diagnosed?

EdwardDiego 6y ago
Oops, cheers! It's definitely worth looking into. In hindsight, I think it severely hampered my life in that I never graduated high school, I failed hard at university, and I did poorly at all my jobs that involved doing routine tasks. However, the ability to "hyperfocus" is how I taught myself to code - albeit at some cost, staying up until 4am coding has some costs when you have a day job. And then I lucked into a coding company where there were lots of interesting challenges I could hyperfocus into, even though I was failing at the necessary routines, it was overlooked because I could make the big leaps that transformed things. If I'd be hired by a "Write the CRUD app using JSF templates and Hibernate for a slightly different client" company, I would've failed hard. But the biggest issue that the medication has resolved for me is my impulsiveness around drugs and alcohol. Now, I can have two beers and then say "Nah, I don't need another". Previously, that wasn't possible. With the obvious life impacts that followed. So if you think it might be present, definitely worth confirming if it is, or if it isn't.
- joshspankit 6y ago
  I wish we talked more about the impulsiveness. Looking back over the past few decades, that has gotten me in a lot of unnecessary trouble (also now adult-diagnosed)

xkcd-sucks 6y ago

With psychiatric stuff it's always a bit of a philosophical question especially if one isn't hearing voices or anything similarly. The criteria for diagnosis is basically whether you are worse than average on some metrics and whether you feel like you have an attention problem - but this could just as well be framed as "the way your personality is". I've been diagnosed with adhd several times as an adult and every time I scored average/slightly above average on the attention+working memory metrics but scored so high on the other metrics that the ADHD ones were considered out of place! Personally I don't necessarily believe that ADHD "exists" but am willing to say that I do, in order to take advantage of a prescription for dexedrine which I enjoy. I would of course, in practice, attack anyone claiming it doesn't "exist" because it is counter to my own self interest in maintaining a convenient supply of speedy pills.

EdwardDiego 6y ago
Here's the fun bit though - I don't get "speedy" from the medication I'm on. Looking back with hindsight, when I was a teenager and snorting Ritalin with my friends, they got all silly and giggly, while I felt calmer. Was a sign I should've taken seriously. At the time I just thought I'd gotten dud pills. But yeah, I think a good metaphor is that people with ADHD are starting at -1, people without are starting at 0, and then the pills add a +1 to both.
ryan-allen 6y ago
It sounds like you're fortunate to be rather gifted, along with a repeat diagnosis of ADHD as an adult (this is not uncommon), and I have questions. What had you seek out a diagnosis as an adult? What country were these diagnoses? How old are you?