It is way over diagnosed, especially in the US. One of the issues is a lot of the diagnosis is taking place when a child is really young where there are many other factors in their life that can contribute to exhibiting some of the symptoms of ADHD/ADD. Also, there are a lot of other mental disorders that have many parallels with ADD/ADHD, resulting in a wrong diagnosis. This happens all the time and is why a lot of children or adolescents are on amphetamines, methylphenidate, strattera, lisdexamfetamine, SSRI's, SNRI's, etc. A lot of the children need a different approach and a different diagnosis. Also the education system in America is poorly run, creating "problem kids" who, they start to classify as ADD/ADHD, who really they need a different learning enviroment, as well as a different rewards/consequences system.
You see today that there is a large percentage of male students of all ages performing poorly in school, getting constantly in trouble, being classified as mentally ill, when its the environment of which they are forced to learn in that is causing them to act at. Even in cases where individuals have ADD/ADHD the first approach is pharmacological therapy which doesn't help over come the mental illness which is a possibility when one is a child. There is a decent percentage (I don't remember off the top of my head) that shows that children and adolescents with ADD/ADHD can overcome there mental illness and come out as adults with out it. It is extremely important to use other means of a therapy than the pharmacological approaches because introducing powerful substances like amphetamines, SSRI's, SNRI's, other anti-depressants, etc that are known to alter the brain/body in negative ways. I know for a fact that being on amphetamines for two years in high school before I stopped influences atleast my bodies ability to grow taller (I stopped growing in 9th grade when everyone else continued to grow), and honestly who knows how else it influenced my growing mind at the time. Like I was saying earlier, using non-pharmacological means of therapy can allow a student to overcome the mental dysfunction and live a "normal" life.
Now once the child becomes an adult and still have ADD/ADHD it becomes a life long issue that needs to be address with other forms of therapy besides pharmacological approaches. Not that using pharmacological aid isn't a appropriate form of therapy in a lot of cases, but it needs to be in conjuction with other forms of therapy. This applies to many other mental illnesses like anxiety, personality disorders, etc. Counseling is the best form of therapy out there imo. Being on medication is all well in good if they are practicing better habits and are seeing a mental health professional to try and work with their illness to take advantage of the positives, as well as working around the negatives associated with the illness. Sadly the USA is more about sending patients on their way with pharmacological therapies even scripted by general practitioners who do nothing in terms of improving the patients mental health. Even some Psychiatrists are practicing in a negative fashion by spending an hour or two long session just to give a diagnosis so they can send the patient along home with some medication, and that's the end of it. A lot of the time the doses of medication are too high as well, resulting in a numb patient who can't experience the real world in a way to learn to overcome their problems. I believe that psychiatric medication shouldn't be used to eliminate mental illnesses (with the exception of a few serious illnesses like schizophrenia), but reduce the illness to a point were the patient can work with a counselor to over come the stresses and problems that they suffer.
It always bothers me reading even on bluelight about individuals complaining about the dose of benzos they recieve. Oh booo hooo, you got .5mg of xanax twice a day to help reduce your anxiety, but your upset because you don't feel intoxicated. YOUR NOT SUPPOSED TO FEEL FUCKED UP. Its supposed to reduce the levels of anxiety so you can work through the issues at hand so one day you can take them as needed, all the way till you don't need them at all. Same can be said for amphetamines. Yes some people with certain symptoms of ADD/ADHD only being able to be helped at higher doses of amphetamines do need higher doses of amphetamines than others, but alot of individuals feel once the "high", "euphoric" properties go away they need to increase there dose. No, you don't need to increase your dose just because it isn't making you feel like a million bucks any more, the point of being on the medication is to help you concentrate and function at a normal level in society, not to be high while you work or are studying.
ADD/ADHD is a real illness with scientific backings with neurological abnormalities. The problem is the education system, poor parenting, over diagnosing, over medicating, and abuse (people wanting amphetamine scripts to get high). I've read, and can attest to this myself having severe ADHD, that individuals with ADD/ADHD have harder struggles in life than most other out-patient mental illnesses. The effects of being ADD/ADHD (especially if it continues into adulthood, resulting in a life long illness) causes strife to those individuals for the rest of their life. Their relationships with other are sometimes few and far in between, hard to maintain, and romantic ones are largely unsuccessful. Their ability to maintain jobs are very hard. The ability of them to make it to higher levels of education and further more, actually complete degrees are I believe I've read in the single digits. The number of individuals with ADD/ADHD that are in jail/ are criminals or are living in poverty is extremely high. Its not that they are stupid, or that all of them didn't get the proper discipline from their parents. Like I said, I struggle heavily with ADHD, and it is a daily battle I still don't know how I'll ever win. I grew up with great parents that have given me many opportunities to succeed, and my brothers and sisters all have graduated from college (one brother with a BS, another with a BS/MS [UNC-CH for BS, VCU for MS]), or about to start their college career (my sister is about to go to a very high quality uni to study biochem, and has received countless scholarships, graduating highschool in the 10%). It isn't like I grew up in a shitty family with poor parenting (I'm saying this because I hate when people are so ignorant to assume people with "ADD" have shitty parents who didn't beat them enough or whatever), I genuinely struggle with school even being as intelligent as I am, I struggle with daily tasks, I even struggle to even do things I enjoy.
Individuals with out ADD/ADHD who are using amphetamines and the like for cognitive enhancers are quite silly if you ask me. Amphetamines don't make you smarter, they can actually increase the number of mistakes you make in say a paper or on a test. It is more beneficial to rely on your own motivation and mental power to accomplish tasks than it is to use a supplement like amphetamine. You may feel like you know 10x more on it than you do off it, but that isn't the case. Also, using amphetamines to stay up all night to accomplish hw or papers is a terrible thing to do. Your brain still is going to become tired, and your performance even on amphetamines will decline. Your work may be a lot worse because you chose to stay up all night on amphetamines, likely not hydrating yourself, not feeding yourself, becoming sleep deprived etc. The best way to do well in school or on important tasks is to eat healthy, sleep enough/on a regular schedule, and find the study practices that work best for you. This goes for individuals with ADD/ADHD and with out. I try to not use amphetamines that often as I do better when I use them sparingly, and primarily use the brain I have with out pharmacological aid. It also is forcing me to learn to learn in a different manner, which is a timeless skill. One you learn what works for you, you are better off than with any amphetamine like substance.
edit: I had to run through and proof read this, to make edits as I took 7.5mg of amphetamine (trying to stay lower than my prescribed 15mg BID), and I noticed the number of mistakes there was purely because of the amphetamine use. I'm also not a very good writer as it is (I'm better at writing scientific formatted papers. I can kill a lab report)
You see today that there is a large percentage of male students of all ages performing poorly in school, getting constantly in trouble, being classified as mentally ill, when its the environment of which they are forced to learn in that is causing them to act at. Even in cases where individuals have ADD/ADHD the first approach is pharmacological therapy which doesn't help over come the mental illness which is a possibility when one is a child. There is a decent percentage (I don't remember off the top of my head) that shows that children and adolescents with ADD/ADHD can overcome there mental illness and come out as adults with out it. It is extremely important to use other means of a therapy than the pharmacological approaches because introducing powerful substances like amphetamines, SSRI's, SNRI's, other anti-depressants, etc that are known to alter the brain/body in negative ways. I know for a fact that being on amphetamines for two years in high school before I stopped influences atleast my bodies ability to grow taller (I stopped growing in 9th grade when everyone else continued to grow), and honestly who knows how else it influenced my growing mind at the time. Like I was saying earlier, using non-pharmacological means of therapy can allow a student to overcome the mental dysfunction and live a "normal" life.
Now once the child becomes an adult and still have ADD/ADHD it becomes a life long issue that needs to be address with other forms of therapy besides pharmacological approaches. Not that using pharmacological aid isn't a appropriate form of therapy in a lot of cases, but it needs to be in conjuction with other forms of therapy. This applies to many other mental illnesses like anxiety, personality disorders, etc. Counseling is the best form of therapy out there imo. Being on medication is all well in good if they are practicing better habits and are seeing a mental health professional to try and work with their illness to take advantage of the positives, as well as working around the negatives associated with the illness. Sadly the USA is more about sending patients on their way with pharmacological therapies even scripted by general practitioners who do nothing in terms of improving the patients mental health. Even some Psychiatrists are practicing in a negative fashion by spending an hour or two long session just to give a diagnosis so they can send the patient along home with some medication, and that's the end of it. A lot of the time the doses of medication are too high as well, resulting in a numb patient who can't experience the real world in a way to learn to overcome their problems. I believe that psychiatric medication shouldn't be used to eliminate mental illnesses (with the exception of a few serious illnesses like schizophrenia), but reduce the illness to a point were the patient can work with a counselor to over come the stresses and problems that they suffer.
It always bothers me reading even on bluelight about individuals complaining about the dose of benzos they recieve. Oh booo hooo, you got .5mg of xanax twice a day to help reduce your anxiety, but your upset because you don't feel intoxicated. YOUR NOT SUPPOSED TO FEEL FUCKED UP. Its supposed to reduce the levels of anxiety so you can work through the issues at hand so one day you can take them as needed, all the way till you don't need them at all. Same can be said for amphetamines. Yes some people with certain symptoms of ADD/ADHD only being able to be helped at higher doses of amphetamines do need higher doses of amphetamines than others, but alot of individuals feel once the "high", "euphoric" properties go away they need to increase there dose. No, you don't need to increase your dose just because it isn't making you feel like a million bucks any more, the point of being on the medication is to help you concentrate and function at a normal level in society, not to be high while you work or are studying.
ADD/ADHD is a real illness with scientific backings with neurological abnormalities. The problem is the education system, poor parenting, over diagnosing, over medicating, and abuse (people wanting amphetamine scripts to get high). I've read, and can attest to this myself having severe ADHD, that individuals with ADD/ADHD have harder struggles in life than most other out-patient mental illnesses. The effects of being ADD/ADHD (especially if it continues into adulthood, resulting in a life long illness) causes strife to those individuals for the rest of their life. Their relationships with other are sometimes few and far in between, hard to maintain, and romantic ones are largely unsuccessful. Their ability to maintain jobs are very hard. The ability of them to make it to higher levels of education and further more, actually complete degrees are I believe I've read in the single digits. The number of individuals with ADD/ADHD that are in jail/ are criminals or are living in poverty is extremely high. Its not that they are stupid, or that all of them didn't get the proper discipline from their parents. Like I said, I struggle heavily with ADHD, and it is a daily battle I still don't know how I'll ever win. I grew up with great parents that have given me many opportunities to succeed, and my brothers and sisters all have graduated from college (one brother with a BS, another with a BS/MS [UNC-CH for BS, VCU for MS]), or about to start their college career (my sister is about to go to a very high quality uni to study biochem, and has received countless scholarships, graduating highschool in the 10%). It isn't like I grew up in a shitty family with poor parenting (I'm saying this because I hate when people are so ignorant to assume people with "ADD" have shitty parents who didn't beat them enough or whatever), I genuinely struggle with school even being as intelligent as I am, I struggle with daily tasks, I even struggle to even do things I enjoy.
Individuals with out ADD/ADHD who are using amphetamines and the like for cognitive enhancers are quite silly if you ask me. Amphetamines don't make you smarter, they can actually increase the number of mistakes you make in say a paper or on a test. It is more beneficial to rely on your own motivation and mental power to accomplish tasks than it is to use a supplement like amphetamine. You may feel like you know 10x more on it than you do off it, but that isn't the case. Also, using amphetamines to stay up all night to accomplish hw or papers is a terrible thing to do. Your brain still is going to become tired, and your performance even on amphetamines will decline. Your work may be a lot worse because you chose to stay up all night on amphetamines, likely not hydrating yourself, not feeding yourself, becoming sleep deprived etc. The best way to do well in school or on important tasks is to eat healthy, sleep enough/on a regular schedule, and find the study practices that work best for you. This goes for individuals with ADD/ADHD and with out. I try to not use amphetamines that often as I do better when I use them sparingly, and primarily use the brain I have with out pharmacological aid. It also is forcing me to learn to learn in a different manner, which is a timeless skill. One you learn what works for you, you are better off than with any amphetamine like substance.
edit: I had to run through and proof read this, to make edits as I took 7.5mg of amphetamine (trying to stay lower than my prescribed 15mg BID), and I noticed the number of mistakes there was purely because of the amphetamine use. I'm also not a very good writer as it is (I'm better at writing scientific formatted papers. I can kill a lab report)
