Scary statistics on ADD/ADHD

It's particularly frightening when you consider that this is primarily a U.S. phenomenon.

It reminds me of the statistics on whiplash. People only report whiplash after car accidents in jurisdictions where whiplash leads to benefits. No money, no whiplash.

I think if there weren't a big bag of $$ in ADD/ADHD pharmaceuticals (and therefore drug lobbyists) in the U.S., you wouldn't be seeing this.

I think to some degree it's about better public and medical education about recognition and reporting of ADD/ADHD. I have seen excellent best-selling books on the subject in the last 15 yrs where almost none existed prior to that. All these talk shows and online websites make it a cottage industry almost. Doctors never could report what they weren't really aware of...20 yrs ago.

I think it's very hard to determine whether or not there any more (or less) incidences of ADD/ADHD. I think that this generations grossly shortened level of concentration and attention timeframes have been adversely affected by things like MTV and other media. Those constant interruptions from devices like TV, smartphones, computers, etc...play havoc with focus. Participation with video games have taken their toll, too.

If you want an amazing comparison of concentration spans of audiences, look at the pace of a show like Father Knows Best or Leave It to Beaver and compare the relative pacing of a sitcom like Big Bang Theory or 2-1/2 Men . The shows from the '50s had scene changes about once every minute. The new shows change scenes about ever 5-10 secs.

Then there's the amount of TV and computer watching going on in the last 20 yrs. Mercy...need this behavior continue unabated?

I contend that and all the other effects take their toll on young children's concentration spans.

Then there's that massive effect from sugar and caffeine increase in diets.

It also has to do with all the crap we have in our "food."

It would be interesting to see a comparison of statistics for people who strictly eat organic, unprocessed food vs. people who eat chemical laden processed food.

What is the ADD climate like in Canada, ehBeth?

Don't they put black box warning labels on ADD drugs?

I've heard they are much more cautious with a diagnosis than they are here. True?

If so, good for them!

I don't know Ragman....



I think there are a lot of things to blame for the uptick in diagnosis. More awareness, sure, more distractions, absolutely, but I think there is something bigger going on here.

I'm not really sure that kids have more access to sugar and caffeine now than when I was a kid.

Maybe.

We eat very little processed food -- we even grow a lot of our own food -- and Mo was harassed by the school to get a diagnosis for ADD. When we finally had him evaluated and the results came back showing he did NOT have ADD the school insisted that the doctors were wrong.

I know other kids who look at home cooked food like it came from another planet and they've never had a problem.

For sure all the pesticides and other crap on our food can't be good for any of us.

http://www.hellolife.net/add-adhd/b/history-of-adhd/

Wow. Ritalin has been around for almost 60 years? I had no idea.

W

I think pretty much the whole world is way more cautious than the US in diagnosing ADD/ADHD!

It's similar with a whole lot of pretty dodgy "conditions".

Actually, "Ritalin" was an over-the-counter medicament in Germany already in 1954. In the same year, the first study was published: R. Meier/F. Gross/J. Tripod - Ritalin, a new synthetic compound with specific central stimulant action. Klinische Wochenschrift (32) 1954 pages 445-450

Does it sound like a case of over diagnosis, then.

We've talked about this before, Deb - one of my cousins is a self described ADD/ADHD expert. Around the time she was qualified in all that, she became heavily pedantic re the conditions, and also saw it in lots of people around her, including herself. I'm sure she takes me as sine qua non. Well, to the extent I fit any of the criteria, it's been enjoyable.

I'll back off of making fun of the studies - since I haven't read them and won't - but I think at least some of the aspects that worry therapists are well with the range of normal human personalities.

This is the kind of thing that makes me really skeptical of the rate of ADD in America.

Our diets can't be that different.

The fault has to lie somewhere else. Support for parents? Medical care? Education?

Why do you think that is, dlowan?

Why would America be so much quicker to diagnose their kids as having a mental illness?

I really has to be money.

Do you know what the ADD diagnosis rates are in Germany, Walter?

sometimes it's the school
sometimes it's the parents

I think the ability to advertise medication to the general public is one of the differences in diagnoses in the U.S. from Canada at least

Big pharma--there's an idea that all conditions can be treated with medication, and big pharma encourages that idea, and seeks new areas into which they can branch out. Mental health conditions are a brave new world for the pill rollers.

How does the way big pharma operate (other than advertising) differ so much between America and Canada? Or America and any other country not suffering from this "epidemic" for that matter?

Is it just the way health care is delivered?

Yeah -- a lot of time it is the parents.

As I've mentioned before, my psychiatrist friend tells me horror stories about parents demanding drugs for their normal kids.

I think you're right about advertising playing a role. Here the ads are always playing on parents fears of their kids not doing well in school. Pretty much the message is that if your kid isn't at the top of his class it's because he's mentally ill.