ADHD Treatment - US Doing It Wrong

[2dimes]

I don't remember any bad parts. The dog probably got the worst of it being locked in the trailer.

[Symmetry]

My point was that, sure, the French way is lovely and all, but there's still a number of kids that would benefit hugely from medication, no matter how well structured and designed their upbringing was.

The exact number of kids that fit this criteria is a known unknown, but I would suggest that it is less than the 9% you see in the US, but still higher than the 0.5% you see in France.

There are a small number of kids who benefit from medication, in my experience. Prescribing medication should be a last resort for doctors. ADD and ADHD are notoriously difficult to diagnose. It's no surprise that a country like the US where there is a financial incentive to prescribe treatment ends up with more diagnoses requiring further treatment.

[Lootifer]

Well the problem is brain chemistry. Stimulants have vastly different effects on those with ADHD and those without.

Medication shouldn't be a last resort. It should simply be used perfectly. However this is impossible.

We should be focusing on diagnoses that isn't reliant on psychological evaluation and instead reliant on neurochemistry or some other objective diagnostic technique.

Now before you say it, yeah yeah the incentives are all wrong, but I recognize I don't have all the answers so whatevs.

[Symmetry]

Well the problem is brain chemistry. Stimulants have vastly different effects on those with ADHD and those without.

Medication shouldn't be a last resort. It should simply be used perfectly. However this is impossible.

We should be focusing on diagnoses that isn't reliant on psychological evaluation and instead reliant on neurochemistry or some other objective diagnostic technique.

Now before you say it, yeah yeah the incentives are all wrong, but I recognize I don't have all the answers so whatevs.

I'm not sure what you're trying to say here. I don't pretend to be an expert, but I do have experience. Neurochemistry is way out of my ballpark. Most ADD and ADHD diagnoses come from behavioural diagnostics. Teachers and parents tend to spot the behaviour.

[nietzsche]

Well the problem is brain chemistry. Stimulants have vastly different effects on those with ADHD and those without.

Medication shouldn't be a last resort. It should simply be used perfectly. However this is impossible.

We should be focusing on diagnoses that isn't reliant on psychological evaluation and instead reliant on neurochemistry or some other objective diagnostic technique.

Now before you say it, yeah yeah the incentives are all wrong, but I recognize I don't have all the answers so whatevs.

I will concede you the win even before ee start because I don't know whats it like to have ahdh.

But, where does it say your brain chemistry is wrong, maybe you trying to be like everybody else is wrong. Not exactly a judgement, just trying to point to an idea.

I do know what its like to be depressed and ive was once on different antidepresants. Truth is i never felt like myself when i was on them. Truth is that for the period of time they worked on me i did like i thought everybody else was doing, "right". But eventually my thought patterns resurfaced and while i got depressed again, i felt like myself again.

Then i learned it was all me, i was doing everything, i learned cognitive theraphy, metacognitive therapy, different types of meditation and they work better than medication. I accept the fact that im different, that i have my issues, i live them, work them, and it frals great to bein the driver seat. I might be hansome but im not perfect, but i like to feel responsible.

I often have trouble concentrating but always in stuff i really dont want to do. When i like motivation i simply continue, who cares. Maybe beingmotivated 110% giving all your effort and theres no i in team is whats wrong, who knows.

But i guess you're right, if theres's a pill that makes you feel and act like you think you must feel and act you should take it and everybody happy.

[Lootifer]

I too am no expert, but what I mean is there is something going on in the brain of someone with ADHD that requires a stimulant (such as Ritalin) to normalize. However if you give someone without ADHD that same medication they will have what is known to be a normal response to the stimulant, and you are simply getting them high (which still increases their concentration and lessens distractibility, but comes with its own bunch of issues).

If you could diagnose this without the typical evaluation techniques (DSM) and instead use something slightly more objective (I was just throwing out brain chemistry as an example of this) then you would be helping kids without simply getting 10% of school children high.