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Have We Been Thinking About A.D.H.D. All Wrong?
DNYUZ.com ^ | April 13, 2025, 5:00 a.m. ET | Paul Tough

Posted on 04/13/2025 12:56:59 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum

With diagnoses at a record high, some experts have begun to question our assumptions about the condition — and how to treat it.

In the early 1990s, James Swanson was working as a research psychologist at the University of California, Irvine, where he specialized in the study of attention disorders. It was a touchy time for the field. The Church of Scientology had organized a nationwide protest campaign against the psychiatric profession, and Ritalin, then the leading medication prescribed to children diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, was one of its main targets. Whenever Swanson and his colleagues gathered for a scientific conference, they were met by chanting protesters waving signs and airplanes overhead pulling banners that read, “Psychs, Stop Drugging Our Kids.”

It was true that prescription rates for Ritalin were on the rise. The number of American children diagnosed with A.D.H.D. more than doubled in the early 1990s, from fewer than a million patients in 1990 to more than two million in 1993, almost two-thirds of whom were prescribed Ritalin. To Swanson, at the time, that increase seemed entirely appropriate. Those two million children represented about 3 percent of the nation’s child population, and 3 percent was the rate that he and many other scientists believed was an accurate measure of A.D.H.D. among children.

Still, you didn’t have to be a Scientologist to acknowledge that there were some legitimate questions about A.D.H.D. Despite Ritalin’s rapid growth, no one knew exactly how the medication worked or whether it really was the best way to treat children’s attention issues. Anecdotally, doctors and parents would observe that when many children began taking stimulant medications like Ritalin, their behavior would improve almost overnight, but no one had measured in a careful, large-scale scientific study how common that positive response was or, for...

(Excerpt) Read more at dnyuz.com ...


TOPICS: Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: adhd; drugs; healthcare
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

ADHD, imho, is a symptom of a complete lack of exercise.

Children need at least 1 hour, preferably 2 hours of being active each day.

Literally “running around” being kids. Riding bikes. Playing soccer...basketball...softball...brisk walking etc.

Young boys and girls need to move. A lot.


21 posted on 04/13/2025 1:32:53 PM PDT by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Cook psychologists wanting to make parents feel no responsibility for a chaotic home environment.


22 posted on 04/13/2025 1:34:46 PM PDT by fso301
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To: 9YearLurker

now that’s just plain scary...


23 posted on 04/13/2025 1:41:19 PM PDT by sit-rep
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

I read the entire article.

What I have been wondering about is there any links between Adderall use as a teenager and later use of METH as an adult?

I was surprised to read that something like 15% of the kids these days are diagnosed with ADHD.

Since ADHD is usually noticed by teachers, could the manner by which we are teaching kids these days be a reason for more ADHD?


24 posted on 04/13/2025 1:46:18 PM PDT by Presbyterian Reporter (,)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

bump


25 posted on 04/13/2025 1:52:31 PM PDT by Albion Wilde (“Did you ever meet a woke person that’s happy? There’s no such thing.” —Donald J. Trump)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

I was diagnosed with it at 43.

It’s a real thing. It should be diagnosed by real doctors with real tests. And not by school teachers who read a book on it.

That said, it has its pros and cons. The meds changed my life. Everyone’s mileage will vary.


26 posted on 04/13/2025 1:58:39 PM PDT by Vermont Lt
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

VERY significant. It “should” get the pushers to seriously question the wisdom of administering these drugs. It will not.
Among other reasons, there is far too much money involved.

𝙖𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 14 𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙝𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙍𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙣 𝙗𝙚𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙥𝙨. 𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙗𝙮 36 𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙝𝙨, 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙙𝙫𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙜𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙛𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙣 𝙞𝙣 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙥, 𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙡𝙪𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙥, 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙮𝙚𝙙 𝙚𝙭𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙡𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙨𝙮𝙢𝙥𝙩𝙤𝙢𝙨


27 posted on 04/13/2025 1:58:58 PM PDT by ChildOfThe60s (If you can remember the 60s, you weren't really there)
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To: ChildOfThe60s

One of the things that happens is that as your grow, you start to adapt to dealing with it. You learn how to study with it. You learn how to self medicate. You learn how to maximize the intensive focus; and you learn how to keep the impulsive stuff to a minimum.


28 posted on 04/13/2025 2:02:45 PM PDT by Vermont Lt
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To: Presbyterian Reporter
My oldest son was diagnosed with ADHD and a sub-aortic stenosis. He couldn't take Ritalin before the heart problem was repaired and managed to get kicked out of kindergarten on day 2. An IEP was set up for his to get "some" schooling, but it was ineffective until after his 10 hour heart surgery. The Ritalin calmed him down and he settled into his school work. He needed 3 more surgeries later with aortic and mitral valve replacements and a two-lead pacemaker were installed.

My oldest son went on to graduate from high school and start work on a degree in geology and paleontology. He was a voracious reader with a steel trap memory. The ADHD came with a lack of "executive functioning". He wasn't particularly adept at planning a course of action and executing it. He earned enough to purchase a car, but the ADHD made him inattentive to all the cues necessary to drive safely. My youngest son drove him in his car. The youngest had a little ADHD too, but the eye/hand coordination of a fighter pilot. It was a good quid pro quo arrangement with the car.

29 posted on 04/13/2025 2:11:45 PM PDT by Myrddin
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
Solution: 40 minutes morning recess and 60 minutes for lunch and recess.

30 posted on 04/13/2025 2:14:01 PM PDT by Governor Dinwiddie ( O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is gracious, and His mercy endureth forever. — Psalm 106)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Diagnosis and drugs have replaced discipline.


31 posted on 04/13/2025 2:14:58 PM PDT by Socon-Econ (adi)
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To: Sacajaweau

We did pretty much the same (when he was in second grade). Homeschooled him and by middle school and high school he had no problem “sitting still”. He is now a project manager for a large company and runs his own crew.

I seriously believe that this “diagnosis” is because someone is too lazy to teach each child where they are at, or are having to deal with parents who let their kids run wild.


32 posted on 04/13/2025 2:15:54 PM PDT by LilFarmer (Isaiah 54:17)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Putting adolescents on narcotics is not and will never be a good idea. They put me on it in 1987 in 7th grade ,, I finally got clean from amphetamines in 1997 and haven’t looked back, sadly many didn’t make it out, and I’m pretty sure it was planned by evil .


33 posted on 04/13/2025 2:20:03 PM PDT by Callnote (Stacking sats, don’t have time to explain, study it for your self !)
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To: Callnote

We have kids popping prescription pills when they’re in grade school, then we wonder why we have an addiction problem.


34 posted on 04/13/2025 2:21:24 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (Democrats are the Party of anger, hate and violence.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Active healthy boys are forced to sit still in a chicks world. They need to learn through activity and visual/tactile interaction.


35 posted on 04/13/2025 2:49:00 PM PDT by lurk (u)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

I’m a girl. I have what they call ADHD. I wasn’t diagnosed until I was an adult. I was an EXCELLENT student, though I fidgeted at school sometimes. I loved running around at recess, and was able to get my energy out. I loved school though, because I loved learning.

I think they have named this “disorder” the wrong thing. I think it’s less about having a deficit of paying attention, and more that you pay attention to all the stimuli around you. Sometimes it does make it hard to decide what should get your attention, but in some ways, it’s an advantage, because you notice lots of things that others sometimes just gloss over.

However, there are times when I’d get into what I call hyper-focus, and when that happens, I totally tune out the other stimuli around me. I get locked in to what I’m doing. That’s when I need timers or alarms to tell me it’s time to get back on track with the rest of things.

I tried both Ritalin and Adderall for a while. They sort of helped, and sort of didn’t. They both made me anxious.

I think there’s all sorts of ways to deal with this without drugs. Sometimes, I think you just need to let people be themselves.

I think Robin Williams had ADD, and it was so fun to watch him because that’s how fast his mind was moving. What a talent. I bet anything Ben Franklin had ADD also. That’s why he was so creative and came up with so many inventions. I bet some of the world’s great explorers had ADD. They were adventurous and courageous. Where would we be without them?

If we could just find the good parts of ADD, and accentuate the positive aspects of it, I think it would be helpful.


36 posted on 04/13/2025 3:00:38 PM PDT by FamiliarFace (I got my own way of livin' But everything gets done With a southern accent Where I come from. TPetty)
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To: Bon of Babble

Thanks for posting - my son was (finally) diagnosed with ADD as a 30-year old, he had three consultations.

He is on a very low dose of a Ritalin-type drug and told me for the first time in his life he’s able to calm and slow his mind down and concentrate on his work without getting constantly distracted by anything and everything. For him, it seems to work.


My son is the same age and has the same condition (plus others) - and starting a few years ago Adderall produced the same result (he’s currently a college junior, majoring in cyber security and has a 4.0 GPA). He’s not lazy and “beating it out of him” would have been a simpleminded non-solution. Is it over-diagnosed in some people? Certainly. Is it a real disorder in others? Certainly.


37 posted on 04/13/2025 3:08:26 PM PDT by Magic Fingers (Political correctness mutates in order to remain virulent.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Prevention of ADHD is superior to “curing” it. The best prevention is to keep your children, especially your boys OUT of public school and of many private and even of a few parochial schools. Homeschooling is the best method and you may have to move to another state if you live in, say- Illinois.


38 posted on 04/13/2025 3:24:18 PM PDT by arthurus (covfefe cfofc)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Regardless of the official verbiage that is exactly what it is. Homeschool at least allayall’s boys and even the girls will benefit greatly from home schooling. Homeschool kids are almost all much better educated and much better socialized. They do not have to miss sports or even proms if you are near even a small city. There are homeschoolers now everywhere and resources are readily avalable.


39 posted on 04/13/2025 3:29:54 PM PDT by arthurus (covfefe cfufc)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

IMO ADHD is simply the symptom of being a feral child.

Anyone who has been around baby kittens on a farm knows what I am talking about. There is a key period of time when the kittens are very young when they need to interact with humans, he held etc. If they don’t get that they become feral and you can never fully train them to act right around humans after that.

These ADHD medicines are like giving drugs to a feral cat and saying... LOOK a cure for being feral! That is not a cure it is a sedative! That cat is still feral and will always be so!

Parents, be parents when your kids are very young, and you wont someday deal with feral kids being diagnosed with ADHD.


40 posted on 04/13/2025 4:01:22 PM PDT by TexasFreeper2009
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