ADHD & Why It’s a “Fictitious” Disorder

[Aggrophobic]

Intresting to see all these people here thinking they actually have a clue about this.
It's like you all are doctors... yet, you're not.

Odd.

[Felya]

I can buy into it being over diagnosed but it being total fiction? Hog wash.

The issue is the result of diagnosis, not what the condition is. Just because you are diagnosed with ADHD, nothing is stoping you from being that same old rambunctious self. The diagnosis doesn't change how or if you treat it...

[starlord]

My view is that it's an ethical violation in medicine as well. I've said repeatedly in the thread that I think psychoactive medications are wildly overprescribed. This doesn't rescue the claim that there's a direct pay-for-prescription model.

i didnt claim that. maybe you inferred it. the rate of prescription directly correlates with the amount of "special benefits" doctors recieve, which is what i said.

[Spectral]

Years ago, people who came back from war, were just stressed out when showing strange behavior. Now,we have PTSD... what's up with that?

Tangential to your core point, but I still think "shell shock" and "battle fatigue" more concisely describe the phenomenon. If anything, creating a medical category with a sterile sounding medicalized name for it has lessened sympathy for soldiers with psychological problems stemming from combat. Everyone intuitively understands how the resonance of shells and fear of death on the Western Front could destroy a man and the name "shell shock" evokes that.

[Felya]

Intresting to see all these people here thinking they actually have a clue about this.
It's like you all are doctors... yet, you're not.

Odd.

When you watch wrestling, do you tell people it's fake? Because, you seem to have a keen ability to make a discovery of something everyone knew already.

[Total Crica]

Intresting to see all these people here thinking they actually have a clue about this.
It's like you all are doctors... yet, you're not.

Odd.

Yes, trust only doctors emphatically, that will solve the problem.

[Felya]

Tangential to your core point, but I still think "shell shock" and "battle fatigue" more concisely describe the phenomenon. If anything, creating a medical category with a sterile sounding medicalized name for it has lessened sympathy for soldiers with psychological problems stemming from combat. Everyone intuitively understands how the resonance of shells and fear of death on the Western Front could destroy a man and the name "shell shock" evokes that.

It's not unique to battle and you are making a semantics argument... it would still smell as sweet...

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Yes, trust only doctors emphatically, that will solve the problem.

As silly as his point is, the above actually proves it.

[Spectral]

i didnt claim that. maybe you inferred it. the rate of prescription directly correlates with the amount of "special benefits" doctors recieve, which is what i said.

Sure you did. Here's the exchange:

Doctors aren't receiving payment for prescribing drugs.

yes they do get $.

The argument after this point has mostly consisted of people hand-waving away the real difference here as "semantics", thereby illustrating how poorly they understand the issue. Which is fine, most people have little or no experience or knowledge in this area; what's not fine is how vehemently people insist they're right about something they don't really know much about.

[Unholyground]

Pro weed people say weed is best for everything lol

Not everything, but a lot of things.

[HumbleDuck]

Uh-huh, and who ensures the just are just? Never ending cycle full of humans who don't have to be just running the show. Only thing anyone can do is to live their life justly and let the rest sort itself out.

But my point is you don't have to make things a public venture in order to regulate them.

Sure, and that's not a reason for having public healthcare either.
And my point was simply that your statement couldn't be derived of the premise that 100% private healthcare is the cause of the increase in consumption of prescription drugs ( which also is not conclusive imo).

[Total Crica]

Sure, and that's not a reason for having public healthcare either.
And my point was simply that your statement couldn't be derived of the premise that 100% private healthcare is the cause of the increase in consumption of prescription drugs ( which also is not conclusive imo).

There is no conclusion that can be fully trusted, since humans are making it and are specialized creatures that can't be in all places at all times.

[Felya]

There is no conclusion that can be trusted, since humans are making it and are specialized creatures that can't be in all places at all times.

How do you even exist? Do you just walk in the middle of traffic, because what the fuck? Humans made breaks in cars and traffic lights...

[Spectral]

There is no conclusion that can be fully trusted, since humans are making it and are specialized creatures that can't be in all places at all times.

This is fine as a philosophical principle, but not very useful in real world circumstances. Epistemic humility is a good idea, but epistemic nihilism isn't.

[Deleted]

Years ago, if a kid was bored and didn’t listen well in class, he was considered lazy, a daydreamer or perhaps a bit rambunctious. These days, he’s labeled with a mental disorder.

In fact, the CDC says 6.4 million kids ages 4-17 have been “diagnosed with ADHD” since 2011. And that stat doesn’t even include the 198,000 kids under age five who are taking ADHD drugs. Besides that, I guarantee you, these numbers are a lot higher today – because every year the rates continue to skyrocket.

In a DER SPIEGEL interview with retired Harvard psychologist, Dr. Jerome Kagan, he explains why he is critical of “fuzzy diagnostic practices” and the “over-prescription of drugs such as Ritalin for behavioral problems in children.” When SPIEGEL asked Dr. Kagan if he actually thought ADHD was just an invention, he said –

“That’s correct; it is an invention. Every child who’s not doing well in school is sent to see a pediatrician, and the pediatrician says: “It’s ADHD; here’s Ritalin.” In fact, 90 percent of these kids don’t have an abnormal dopamine metabolism. The problem is, if a drug is available to doctors, they’ll make the corresponding diagnosis.”

Source

All this from the OP that was morally superior about people taking elevators, but I'll bite.
The real problem is how we treat or don't treat disorders, how we don't respect them nor give them the assistance they require to function normally.
I've met real people with ADHD. They would gladly have a word with you for calling their condition fake.

But I wouldn't expect people without mental health problems to be able to understand them.

[S7orm]

Well, does it exist outside of the united states ? I've never met/heard of a french person having ADHD.

People tend not to wave around they're on psychostimulants, but overprescription in the US probably made it normal. As for Italy, up until 10 years ago the cure for any minor mental condition was "walk it off"

[starlord]

Sure you did. Here's the exchange:


The argument after this point has mostly consisted of people hand-waving away the real difference here as "semantics", thereby illustrating how poorly they understand the issue. Which is fine, most people have little or no experience or knowledge in this area; what's not fine is how vehemently people insist they're right about something they don't really know much about.

the more they prescribe, the more $ they recieve. i dont understand why that is such a sticking point for you.

[Ilir]

My suspicion is that in cultures where witch-doctors are common, professional witch-doctors tend to find that they have answers for pretty much everything and that pretty much everyone needs their help.

Of course, psychologists are nothing like witch-doctors. Psychologists play dress up in serious doctor clothes and have journals and everything, so we know they're basically legit.

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Here's a good summary.

This is probably somewhat more charitable to American psychology than I'm likely to be.

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Yeah, I mean what's a few billion dollars spent to sedate perfectly healthy children? That seems fine, why should anyone care?

"sedate" also you have (i assume you're talking by the USA) much bigger issues to consider...

[Spectral]

the more they prescribe, the more $ they recieve. i dont understand why that is such a sticking point for you.

This is the part that's blatantly false. You've reversed the causal chain here to make it for consistent with your claim without providing a shred of evidence for doing so.

[moremana]

ADHD/ADD = Bad Parenting.

End of discussion.

[Felya]

the more they prescribe, the more $ they recieve. i dont understand why that is such a sticking point for you.

Because you are not describing what is actually happening. It feels like someone told you it is the way it is, but forgot to tell you why. Doctors do not get more money for more things the prescribe. What doctors do get, is drug sales people who try to influence and sway the way they prescribe. There is a reason why so many pharmaceutical reps are so attractive.

Then, you have the idea that a doctor can prescribe a pointless dose, to have you coming back for check ups and dose monitoring. But, that's fraud...