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Have you knoticed that kids/grownups wjo have ADS/ADHS are more likely to take drugs?

Even though ADHD is insanely over-diagnosed in this country, I would imagine there would be a very strong similarity in rates of drug use between those diagnosed with ADHD accurately by a full-battery with a competent child psychologist and those diagnosed on a psychiatrist's whim. Very few well-behaved A students are diagnosed, and whether the child is legitimately ADHD or acting up and unable to focus due to personal reasons, the diagnosis is almost always given as a child is struggling (or else why visit a psych doctor?). Kids who struggle during their formative years are more likely to use drugs, and I have to imagine giving very young children powerful dopaminergic stimulants to take 5+ days a week for a couple years also has some effect on the development of their neurological system.

You throw in a diagnosis that remains a part of a child's psyche and concept of self-identity (believing yourself to be disabled isn't healthy, not with something as subtle as ADHD) and you have a recipe for all sorts of bad behavior once they come of age. Now that ADHD isn't as serious a diagnosis (parents don't flip out about it and kids understand it to be relatively normal), it seems that Autism Spectrum disorders like Aspergers are all the rage. I know quite a few kids who are diagnosed, and to me they just seem like kids who are more socially withdrawn growing up in a generation where video games rule their entire day. They aren't as socially developed as they should be because they are playing video games alone and communicating online with people who act crazy while anonymous, and they are "obsessed" with video games because they cause some intense fucking neurotransmitter release, but I imagine when they arrive in high school and social interaction becomes much more of a desire and necessity they will catch up and develop the lacking social skills.

So yes, there is a correlation between being told your brain is all fucked up when you are six years old because you do not fit in with the rigid structure of elementary education, and I imagine that those who actually have ADHD (I definitely really have it, and I am upset at the over-diagnosis of these disorders because they devalue the validity of a true diagnosis, amongst other major issues) probably use drugs at rates consistent with those of people who have been falsely convinced by incompetent doctors that they have a disorder. Child psych doctors find it easier to blame the neurophysiology of the kid than to risk losing the parents who pay for their children's visits by pointing out that their home environment is unhealthy, and that the burden of their kids problems are on their backs for all the domestic disruptions (exposure to divorce, affairs, witnessing/suffering verbal abuse, physical abuse, etc etc..). All that shit will make concentrating difficult for a child and lead to a certain degree of acting out, perceived as hyperactivity in children, which can lead to an ADHD diagnosis. As the children grow, drugs are only a natural progression as a form of acting out, and they feel really really good and allow some young teens their first taste of inner-peace in several years.
 
I found out that is actually 80% likelyier that kids who have used ritalin (ampehtamins) as a medication dont take drugs in their later life.

Hmm thats sad I'm in the 20% :(
 
lars90 said:
I found out that is actually 80% likelyier that kids who have used ritalin (ampehtamins) as a medication dont take drugs in their later life.

Hmm thats sad I'm in the 20% :(
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Ritalin is not an amphetamine. Adderall is amphetamine, ritalin is Methylphenidate. They work completely differnt ways, and often one tends to work better for some individuals than others.

There are so many issues with other claims you have made through out your arguments that it seems silly to actually argue your original question....

But I will share some personal insight. I have suffered from inattentive ADHD all my life, the symptoms have always been there, and there are there today just as strong as ever. I just recieved my diagnosis of ADHD at 28, but this diagnosis is for symptoms i have had all my life.

I do think that the struggles i faced in early grade school due to my inability to concentrate and to keep up class MAY have made me more susceptible to trying drugs like pot as a way to escape some of my feelings of inadequacy in school. But that is only because peopel like me really are at a disadvantage in most public school systems.

Of course where i fell behind in some things, i also excelled at other things like art, puzzles, creative thinking. Its hard to say if the shit i had to go through in school made me more likely to turn to drugs, and if it did then it really isnt the ADHD, its just me trying to escape the fact that life kinda sucks sometimes.

And life kinda sucks for everyone sometimes. But not everyone turns to drugs.
 
Hmm, from what I can remember from my uni classes, children with ADHD are classified as at risk group, not because of the fact that they are prescribed medication, but because they are likely to seek novel experiences.

Oh, just checked some research, the diagnosis of ADHD in the US is 5-8%, under the DSM-IV, whereas in Europe it is 1.5-2.5% under the ICD-10, which has a more limiting criteria for HKD.
 
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Yeah noticed this myself. Maybe 2 reasons

Unmedicated:

The person has add/adhd and goes without medication however boredom, lack of motivation manifest into drug use - bite me this way.

Medicated:

The person throughout school, discovers more of the drug gives more of buzz and becomes drugofchoice - then the Gateway effect comes into play (where tanning* other drugs is possible - maybe another class mates script of amphet/adderall, few puffs of weed or a needle and heroin mainlined whist his mates are on the play ground to keep the Methamph comedown at bay *sigh*)

Reading the subject I thought Have you knoticed that kids/grownups that HAVE AIDS are more likely to take drugs!
 
Yes, those with adhd are more likely to abuse drugs due to the brains wiring of impulse control. We have a harder time controlling impulses. I actually just read an article n abc news about this. Very interesting. Ill post the link if anyones interested to read it!
 
CHiLD-0F-THE-BEAT said:
^Also being interested in health, I have always thought that diet has a large role in developing behaviour. If you are being fed high sugar, highly processed, caffeinated and high fat foods and beverages constantly from a young age I think you are more likely to act in anti-social ways.
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I thought that if you are being fed high sugar, high fat and low fibers food are more likely to become obese or develop metabolic disorders. Cannot really see the connection between a diet (any diet) and acting in an anti-social ways.

to the OP: people with ADD or ADHD which are taking medications (be it Ritalin o Adderall) are basically spending years of their life using drugs that have quite a lot of abuse potential and are highly sought after in the black market. I am not surprised that later on, expecially if the doctors stop their treatment, they become excellent candidates to drug use/abuse
 
Shady Kaity said:
Yes, those with adhd are more likely to abuse drugs due to the brains wiring of impulse control. We have a harder time controlling impulses. I actually just read an article n abc news about this. Very interesting. Ill post the link if anyones interested to read it!
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I am very intrested.

Yea I also read that people with Add-ADHD dont think about the consequenses. And this was always a great problem of mine ...

It actually really fits pretty good.
 
lars you just deny anyone who has opposing viewpoints to you and say "thats not what im talking about" then when someone agrees with you all of a sudden that is what youre talking about.
 
shimazu said:
lars you just deny anyone who has opposing viewpoints to you and say "thats not what im talking about" then when someone agrees with you all of a sudden that is what youre talking about.
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Oh gosh really stop commenting on all my threads. You're just tring to be mean.
 
Im not being mean Im just trying to figure out if you were really asking a question to get peoples opinions or just to hear what you already thought.
 
I know people who actually do have ADD or ADHD and they're prescribed medication, take it as directed or on an as needed basis, and they don't use illegal drugs at all and have no desire to.

ADD and ADHD do exist and are actual mental issues or types of people who have a different brain chemistry; but I do agree that in general medications not just for ADD/ADHD but drugs for anxiety like benzos and opiates for pain management are way over-prescribed.

I was diagnosed with ADD and I did take medication but it was in low doses, I took it as directed, and now I currently don't take anything and haven't for a decade. I'm not sure if that's good or bad.

I used drugs not because of taking them or being prescribed them but because I was curious about them, I'd read about them, my peers/friends had them or had taken them and told me about them, and they were easy to get while legal drugs such as alcohol were not so easy to get unless I had an older friend or wanted to procure small amounts from my parents' liquor cabinet.

I did not read the article but yes some people are as the article's title says, "Wired for addiction". I know people who have/had addictions to drugs and alcohol, their parent(s) had them, and even their grandparent(s), and other relatives they were close to had them and I've been told that drug/alcohol addiction can be genetic.
 
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Yes, people with ADHD are more likely to use drugs. People with mental health issues are more likely to use drugs in general. Basic stats.
 
Yes like it has already been mentioned I think it is very impulsive behavijor. Also I agree with the difrent brain chemitry. Are brains process and work out things difrently.

I once made a friend who had never done drugs before drink alkohol agains his own will because Iw anted him to know how I feel. I dinmt thik about the concequenses or that I could have really hurt him with that I jsut did it without even thinking aout it.

I do think that kids/people with ADD-ADHD are in bigger risks for taking drugs because we dont undertsand the conequenses as fats as others. Ofcorse not everyone is like that I know plenty of people with ADHD that would never even think about using drugs its mostly self disaplin. Thats what I think.

Any dissagrements or arguments to this are very welcomed.

I read the report. it is very intresting
 
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