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You're a loser. There's no medication available for that either. And I guess if people are depressed, they shouldn't take antidepressants. I guess if they're manic-depressive, they shouldn't take lithium either. I do believe that ADD and ADHD are legitimate neurological conditions. I also believe that in some cases, it's handed down from generation to generation. Back in my dad's days, no one ever mentioned it because there was no knowledge of it. There was also no knowledge of many other medical discoveries that have been made in the last 50 years. Kids who were very hyperactive were blamed for such stupid things as eating too much candy. They were beaten by their parents or the 'penguins', and were constantly getting in trouble for things that, at times, were out of the reach of their own personal control. It's too bad you haven't run into a real ADHD child. You'd see the difference, after trying everything from discipline to diet, and realizing that there really is a problem they can't control.

Grr...

I can't stand seeing posts from the ignorant (either willfully or from lack of experience) who deny the reality of ADD or ADHD. I suffer from ADHD. Not "suffered" when I was younger, but "suffer" as in currently deal with it as an adult. I was diagnosed at a young age and put on Ritalin (very low dosage) and it did make a noticable difference. I went off shortly into Junior High, and the lack of it made a difference there. I wasn't depressed or in withdrawl as might be expected with cocaine or another drug, but I had trouble paying attention -- by the time I got to college it was very noticable.
When I started college I had been off Ritalin for nearly six years -- I could not pay attention for more than five minutes at a time. It isn't that I didn't try, it isn't that I didn't make an attempt, I did struggle through classes but it wasn't until I started back on again that I was able to sit still and concentrate.

I have no doubt that my condition is genetic. My mother also has (as in "still has", not "had") ADD and knew the pain of trying to get through school with an uncontrollably short attention span. Oh, and before anyone tries to make the argument, my mother was all for corporal punishment and did administer such punishment when it was warranted.

I believe that ADD and ADHD is all too often misdiagnosed in the place of either another neurological disorder or, more commonly, a child just being a child and that Ritalin is overprescribed for kids like Prozac is for adults, but there is a difference between an overenergetic kid sitting in a classroom uninterested in the current subject matter and a kid sitting in a classroom who cannot force themself to keep their mind focused on a single subject for more than a few minutes at a time. Maybe the reality of ADD can only be understood by those who have dealt with people who have it or by those who do have it.