> Ritalin and Aderall seems analogous to taking pain killers to treat an open wound—masks the symptoms (pain) but doesn't address the cause (open wound).
And how are you going to address the open wound? There’s no brain surgery for ADHD.
A better analogy is that of wearing glasses. Glasses don’t actually fix your eyesight, and you need them all the time, but they allow you to function normally. Medications used for ADHD treatment are exactly like that.
> With the explosion of ADD prescriptions
There’s an explosion of sensationalist reporting by general media. ADHD is still under-diagnosed in USA, and it’s even worse in Europe.
It’s exactly the same as the “explosion” of autism. No, the vaccines are not causing autism, just because there’s more data and a better awareness of the disorder.
So, I'm looking the wackload of comments here: most suggesting they suffer from some kind of ADHD, and then I see you statement:
ADHD is still under-diagnosed in USA, and it’s even worse in Europe.
At what point is the tipping point reached between the "defect" being addressed simply being the norm?
It’s exactly the same as the “explosion” of autism.
This explosion is also because the "autism spectrum" is so broad that it covers everything from the barely functioning severely brain impaired to people that are occasionally moody. At some point, the cause is part of the normal spectrum of human behavior and as such it's questionable whether any type of "treatment" is required at all - especially for children.
To extend your analogy: The problem is that we seem to be one of 2-3 prescriptions to everyone without prefect 20/10 vision, including those with 20/30 vision, color blindness and no eyes.
I'm skeptical of any "disorder" that classifies large sections of our population base as being "deficient". While I don't discount that ADHD does exist, I find it hard to believe that it does so at the levels you would suggest it would.
But if everyone is getting health problems from the factory down the road, maybe instead of only treating the problem with medication, we also shut down the factory causing the health problems.
I suppose if we can determine the exact combination of genes that causes ADHD, at some point we’ll be able to eliminate it completely, at least in first world countries. It’s not really an option right now.
And how are you going to address the open wound? There’s no brain surgery for ADHD.
A better analogy is that of wearing glasses. Glasses don’t actually fix your eyesight, and you need them all the time, but they allow you to function normally. Medications used for ADHD treatment are exactly like that.
> With the explosion of ADD prescriptions
There’s an explosion of sensationalist reporting by general media. ADHD is still under-diagnosed in USA, and it’s even worse in Europe.
It’s exactly the same as the “explosion” of autism. No, the vaccines are not causing autism, just because there’s more data and a better awareness of the disorder.