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On the other side of the coin, pathologizing everything can harm people as well. There are many children labeled “hyperactive” and put on drugs for a disorder t

On the other side of the coin, pathologizing everything can harm people as well. There are many children labeled “hyperactive” and put on drugs for a disorder they likely didn’t have at an extremely early stage in their development. > We've just...not addressed it and seen rising depression, anxiety, suicide rates. People are not developing major depressive disorder or anxiety disorders from not being on ADHD medications, at least not on the scale you’re referring to. “Increasing” rates of those disorders has largely been due to increased awareness and discussion of them, as well as some of the very patterns happening to ADHD right now: pathologizing normal feelings, romanticization of mental disorders, and self-diagnosis fueled by online communities. > if people want to get these stimulants, why not? Because they are not medical professionals. What they want needs to be vetted and discussed with a doctor.

alisonkisk 5y ago
crowbahr 5y ago
Correct me if I'm wrong but my understanding is if you _didnt_ have ADHD as a child it's unlikely you have it as an adult. So your assertion that it's a "disorder they likely didn’t have at an extremely early stage in their development" seems to be totally off the mark. Speaking as someone who really wishes their parents had medicated them for their childhood ADHD diagnosis. It likely would have saved me a lot of pain, heartache and C's in middle and high school. Not to mention college.
- LocalH 5y ago
  There's a big difference between "didn't have ADHD as a child" and "was never diagnosed with ADHD as a child", and it's one that a lot of people actually conflate. "They over-diagnose ADHD nowadays, I never had it" when they mean that there were no diagnoses in a period of time when ADHD was not widely known (if at all, depending on how far they go back). It's easier for medical professionals to accept you have ADHD as an adult if you were diagnosed as a child, but that doesn't mean that all people with no childhood diagnosis cannot have ADHD.
  - crowbahr 5y ago
    The point I was contesting in the parent was "disorder they likely didn't have at an extremely early stage in their development". He's claiming that childhood diagnosis is bunk. He's insisting that kids are unlikely to have ADHD. I'm asserting that the behaviors for ADHD show up in children first and foremost. I'm not saying that receiving clinical diagnosis as a child is the only way to have an adult diagnosis: In fact I'm not talking about diagnostics at all. It's that you _had_ ADHD as a kid, undiagnosed or otherwise, means you likely _have_ ADHD as an adult. I never once posited that someone with no diagnosis as a child is precluded from being diagnosed as an adult; however they should have had childhood symptoms based on the DSM as I understand it. I'm arguing with someone who denies the existence of childhood ADHD in a naive "kids are just hyper don't drug them" argument.
aaomidi 5y ago
> People are not developing major depressive disorder or anxiety disorders from not being on ADHD medications, at least not on the scale you’re referring to. Evidence for this? ADHD meds have completely made my depression/anxiety go away because I'm no longer fighting with my brain. This has been the experience for dozens of other people that I know. > Because they are not medical professionals. What they want needs to be vetted and discussed with a doctor. Yeah. It's a schedule 2 drug. Which means you *need* to discuss it with a doctor anyway. I still disagree with it being a scheduled drug. I wonder how many people are in prison because of self medication?
- di4na 5y ago
  Current estimation by specialists is that at least 20% of the carceral population has it. Compared to 3 to 5% of the adult population in same estimation.
crate_barre 5y ago
“Increasing” rates of those disorders has largely been due to increased awareness and discussion of them I think we need to start verbalizing the root cause of that statement and go all the way to ‘increasing rates has largely been due to increased pressure to succeed academically and professionally in knowledge based professions’. You ain’t gonna just grind Leetcode all day without a little something.

alisonkisk 5y ago

crowbahr 5y ago

Correct me if I'm wrong but my understanding is if you _didnt_ have ADHD as a child it's unlikely you have it as an adult. So your assertion that it's a "disorder they likely didn’t have at an extremely early stage in their development" seems to be totally off the mark. Speaking as someone who really wishes their parents had medicated them for their childhood ADHD diagnosis. It likely would have saved me a lot of pain, heartache and C's in middle and high school. Not to mention college.

LocalH 5y ago
There's a big difference between "didn't have ADHD as a child" and "was never diagnosed with ADHD as a child", and it's one that a lot of people actually conflate. "They over-diagnose ADHD nowadays, I never had it" when they mean that there were no diagnoses in a period of time when ADHD was not widely known (if at all, depending on how far they go back). It's easier for medical professionals to accept you have ADHD as an adult if you were diagnosed as a child, but that doesn't mean that all people with no childhood diagnosis cannot have ADHD.
- crowbahr 5y ago
  The point I was contesting in the parent was "disorder they likely didn't have at an extremely early stage in their development". He's claiming that childhood diagnosis is bunk. He's insisting that kids are unlikely to have ADHD. I'm asserting that the behaviors for ADHD show up in children first and foremost. I'm not saying that receiving clinical diagnosis as a child is the only way to have an adult diagnosis: In fact I'm not talking about diagnostics at all. It's that you _had_ ADHD as a kid, undiagnosed or otherwise, means you likely _have_ ADHD as an adult. I never once posited that someone with no diagnosis as a child is precluded from being diagnosed as an adult; however they should have had childhood symptoms based on the DSM as I understand it. I'm arguing with someone who denies the existence of childhood ADHD in a naive "kids are just hyper don't drug them" argument.

aaomidi 5y ago

> People are not developing major depressive disorder or anxiety disorders from not being on ADHD medications, at least not on the scale you’re referring to. Evidence for this? ADHD meds have completely made my depression/anxiety go away because I'm no longer fighting with my brain. This has been the experience for dozens of other people that I know. > Because they are not medical professionals. What they want needs to be vetted and discussed with a doctor. Yeah. It's a schedule 2 drug. Which means you *need* to discuss it with a doctor anyway. I still disagree with it being a scheduled drug. I wonder how many people are in prison because of self medication?

di4na 5y ago
Current estimation by specialists is that at least 20% of the carceral population has it. Compared to 3 to 5% of the adult population in same estimation.

crate_barre 5y ago

“Increasing” rates of those disorders has largely been due to increased awareness and discussion of them I think we need to start verbalizing the root cause of that statement and go all the way to ‘increasing rates has largely been due to increased pressure to succeed academically and professionally in knowledge based professions’. You ain’t gonna just grind Leetcode all day without a little something.