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The amount of comments here claiming being diagnosed with ADD and taking pills for it made my head explode. ADD can't be a real condition if suddenly everybody

The amount of comments here claiming being diagnosed with ADD and taking pills for it made my head explode. ADD can't be a real condition if suddenly everybody is diagnosed with it, can it? Because if it is, we have an epidemy going on.

JohnBooty 14y ago
It might help to think of it like a spectrum. Naturally, everybody struggles with focus at times. Some more than others. One one end of the spectrum you have people who rarely struggle with focus, and on the other end you have people that struggle with it so much that it begins to cause them problems. So it's less an sudden epidemic than a growing recognition that this is an issue that many people struggle with, and that people struggling with it can really benefit from treatment. That treatment can include medication, though it doesn't have to. My personal experience is that proper sleep, diet, exercise, and environment are super-important as well. Yes, it's perhaps over-diagnosed/mis-diagnosed. Yes, some people probably use an ADHD diagnosis as a crutch or excuse. However, surely you can agree that focus is an issue that many people clearly struggle with, can't you?
georgemcbay 14y ago
"ADD can't be a real condition if suddenly everybody is diagnosed with it, can it?" Sure it can be a real condition, one that is superficially easier to treat by giving everyone meds rather than admit that the modern "American" society we've created is full of all manner of unnatural stressors that we haven't evolved to deal with.
- eitland 14y ago
  Bias. Many of those who discuss in this thread do because they actually know something. (Thid is still HN)
- hcarvalhoalves 14y ago
  Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. The amount of people being prescribed meds made me scared. I'm from Brazil, and I almost never hear about ADD, let alone about Adderal.
thirdtruck 14y ago
They also have far more to say about the issue than people without ADD.

JohnBooty 14y ago

It might help to think of it like a spectrum. Naturally, everybody struggles with focus at times. Some more than others. One one end of the spectrum you have people who rarely struggle with focus, and on the other end you have people that struggle with it so much that it begins to cause them problems. So it's less an sudden epidemic than a growing recognition that this is an issue that many people struggle with, and that people struggling with it can really benefit from treatment. That treatment can include medication, though it doesn't have to. My personal experience is that proper sleep, diet, exercise, and environment are super-important as well. Yes, it's perhaps over-diagnosed/mis-diagnosed. Yes, some people probably use an ADHD diagnosis as a crutch or excuse. However, surely you can agree that focus is an issue that many people clearly struggle with, can't you?

georgemcbay 14y ago

"ADD can't be a real condition if suddenly everybody is diagnosed with it, can it?" Sure it can be a real condition, one that is superficially easier to treat by giving everyone meds rather than admit that the modern "American" society we've created is full of all manner of unnatural stressors that we haven't evolved to deal with.

eitland 14y ago
Bias. Many of those who discuss in this thread do because they actually know something. (Thid is still HN)
hcarvalhoalves 14y ago
Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. The amount of people being prescribed meds made me scared. I'm from Brazil, and I almost never hear about ADD, let alone about Adderal.

thirdtruck 14y ago

They also have far more to say about the issue than people without ADD.