I was really incredibly hyper as a kid. I was not taught coping mechanisms. Pills were thrown at me. Our idea of how to fix hyper children potent patience and learning, is been throw pills at them until something works. One day, when I was 14, I tired of the pills and started learning to control myself. It took some time but eventually I learned how to calm myself. I was on 60 milligrams time release of adderol. From what my doctor said, even he thought it was too much but my mother insisted because I was "unmanageable". Mine isn't as bad as others? I'm sure there are some out there that are worse and have a legitimate problem but ADD and ADHD are often over-diagnosed. There were even a bunch of news articles in the 90's about it. Yes I think it's a cop-out. Yes I think people need to learn self-control. No I don't think As many people have ADD and ADHD as claim it or are diagnosed with it. It was one of those things that doctors diagnosed like they were giving out candy much like other fad diagnoses. I, for one, feel much better and less dragged down by big pharma.
Did you know that there are specific tests to determine if someone has ADHD and that many doctors require an ADHD coach in conjunction with medication here in the United States? Many of these coaches teach coping mechanisms like ways to stay organized or eat properly or get to bed on time. My brain and my works don't work the same as your brain and your works, but I still have to live in a society where my mind is different. I understand the feeling of wanting to classify mental illnesses as something that can be fixed with hard work and determination, also that you have had a bad experience with this topic in particular. However I believe it is an unhealthy attitude to dismiss medical and scientific research based on our personal experience. Allow me to convey this: I have known many people who take and do not take medication. I am extremely impressed by those who no longer take medication. The amount of discipline they have would drive them to conquer entire continents, if they didn't have to focus so much on having ADHD. For those on the medications, they are working very hard already. Mental illnesses have a huge stigma please try and stop building these stigmas. Even if you are against children taking medication, which is a fine (and different) position to take, I urge you to remember that people are people that's all they can be.
You are right. People are people. And whether it is being human or society teaching us to, we very often make excuses for ourselves so we don't have to deal with our own issues. I get what is like to have trouble paying attention. My childhood was riddled with behavioral issues. But I overcame it. Part of the problem isn't the people with the illness either, it's society. Children aren't meant to spend 8 hours a day in a class room being force fed information and be expected to retain it. Adults aren't meant to sit in offices and crunch numbers all day. It's not healthy and their pent up energy has nowhere to go. But we learn to deal with it as best we can. So... Those studies and scientific findings.. You wanna prove to me that big pharma didn't do the research or have a third party do them? Because without that is useless. Can't tell if it's biased without knowing the source. Stigma stigma stigma. Regardless of stigma ADD and ADHD are no excuse for causing harm to others. End of story.
On second thought, this isn't really the place for this conversation. If you want to continue this discussion please mail me. We have detracted from the original post.