Evidence That ADHD Is a Genetic Disorder
sciencedaily.com
Evidence That ADHD Is a Genetic Disorder
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Re: Evidence That ADHD Is a Genetic Disorder
#2This is welcome news. I recently got diagnosed and after taking the medication, I've found a great increase in the quality of life.
There are a few who are very anti-drug when it comes to this condition and their children. Let me tell you from personal experience, these people are doing more harm to their children than good. Education is important.
Depending on the severity, each year a parent doesn't take action is a year lost for their child.
Re: Evidence That ADHD Is a Genetic Disorder
#3This is welcome news. I recently got diagnosed and after taking the medication, I've found a great increase in the quality of life. There are a few who are very anti-drug when it comes to this condition and their children. Let me tell you from personal experience, these people are doing more harm to their children than good. Education is important. Depending on the severity, each year a parent doesn't take action is…
I think more, parents don't want to admit that their child has a problem. How do you know your child has ADHD, or if he/she is just being lazy, or not concentrating hard enough?
A lot of Asian parents find the two synonymous.
Re: Evidence That ADHD Is a Genetic Disorder
#4This is welcome news. I recently got diagnosed and after taking the medication, I've found a great increase in the quality of life. There are a few who are very anti-drug when it comes to this condition and their children. Let me tell you from personal experience, these people are doing more harm to their children than good. Education is important. Depending on the severity, each year a parent doesn't take action is…
I'm glad to hear this as well, and even more glad to hear it today. Despite being medicated, I still struggle to focus on activities which are not intrinsically interesting to me. Even though I want to focus, paying attention to work that is not intrinsically interesting to me requires extreme levels of self-control and leaves me feeling mentally and emotionally drained. And just yesterday, when I was unable to access my medication for 24 hours, I had what can really only be described as a nervous breakdown at work from trying to make myself focus. I don't want to use this as an excuse for not achieving, but having scientific evidence that this is a "real" thing--and not just a set of bad habits and lack of concer--helps reduce the stigma that only compounds my problems. I don't want to be held to a lower standard, but I do want to be afforded the grace given to people with other mental health issues.
Re: Evidence That ADHD Is a Genetic Disorder
#5This is welcome news. I recently got diagnosed and after taking the medication, I've found a great increase in the quality of life. There are a few who are very anti-drug when it comes to this condition and their children. Let me tell you from personal experience, these people are doing more harm to their children than good. Education is important. Depending on the severity, each year a parent doesn't take action is…
"Let me tell you from personal experience, these people are doing more harm to their children than good."
The problem is that the science clearly says the opposite:
"At the end of 14 months, core ADHD symptoms were reduced more in the children treated with stimulants than with behavioral therapy. However, at the end of three years, 'medication use was a significant marker not of beneficial outcome, but of deterioration. That is, participants using medication in the 24-to-36 month period actually showed increased symptomatology during that interval relative to those not taking medication.'"
http://www.madinamerica.com/madinamerica.com/Children_files/...
"At the end of six years, medication use was 'associated with worse hyperactivity-impulsivity and oppositional defiant disorder symptoms,' and with greater 'overall functional impairment.'"
http://www.madinamerica.com/madinamerica.com/Children_files/...
"Within 21 months, 11 percent of children treated with a stimulant for ADHD developed 'psychotic symptoms.'"
http://www.madinamerica.com/madinamerica.com/Children_files/...
"Two-thirds of the adolescent patients hospitalized for mania at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center had been on stimulants 'prior to the onset of an affective episode.' Stimulants, the researchers concluded, may 'precipitate depression and/or mania in children who would not have otherwise developed bipolar disorder.'"
http://www.madinamerica.com/madinamerica.com/Children_files/...
via http://www.madinamerica.com/madinamerica.com/Children.html
Re: Evidence That ADHD Is a Genetic Disorder
#6Another popular (anecdotal) explanation why this disorder is more prevalent in America is that somehow the same genetic trait that motivated inviduals to pack up and move to another continent, when amplified (after hundreds of years) is somehow responsible for hyperactivity.
Basically "the settlers were a restless folk" they all come to America and breed with each other, after hundreds of years you end up with a good number of people who are "too restless to function".
Anway that is one popular theory, not sure if I personally endorse it but it would seem to be somewhat supported by this find.
Of course the counter-point could be that doctors + parents + pharma companies are just more eager to diagnose it in America, and I can see that happening too somewhow.
Re: Evidence That ADHD Is a Genetic Disorder
#7This is welcome news. I recently got diagnosed and after taking the medication, I've found a great increase in the quality of life. There are a few who are very anti-drug when it comes to this condition and their children. Let me tell you from personal experience, these people are doing more harm to their children than good. Education is important. Depending on the severity, each year a parent doesn't take action is…
I'm glad to hear this as well, and even more glad to hear it today. Despite being medicated, I still struggle to focus on activities which are not intrinsically interesting to me. Even though I want to focus, paying attention to work that is not intrinsically interesting to me requires extreme levels of self-control and leaves me feeling mentally and emotionally drained. And just yesterday, when I was unable to acces…
I also have that problem, inability to concentrate on non-intrinsically-interesting mental activities combined with huge emotional/energy drain when I force myself to.
I'm curious how normal it is for humans to be able to concentrate on non-intrinsically-interesting mental work, though. I can believe that there's a range of skill in it, but can't seem to find data on the range. From what I can tell in academia, very few people actually have the level of concentration considered "normal" or "expected" without either taking some variety of medication, or mustering exceptionally draining bouts of force-yourself-to-concentrate. There are a few exceptionally-good-at-concentrating people, but I suspect they're actually the abnormal cases, representing the top 10% of some bell curve.
It'd be interesting to see data, anyway. For example, I'd be interested to know what the average +/- 1 or 2 stddevs is among the population on a test of ability to concentrate on non-intrinsically-interesting mental work (if that can somehow be measured). Similarly, for diagnosis myself, I'd be more interested in a percentile number than anything; rather than just saying that I suffer from poor concentration on non-intrinsically-interesting tasks, I'd like to know how poor my concentration is relative to the median. Does "poor" just mean that I can't match what the top 10% of the population does? Or does it mean I'm in the bottom 10%?
Re: Evidence That ADHD Is a Genetic Disorder
#8As a child of 8 years old, I was given 120MG of Ritalin per day. I rarely slept the first 2 years. If I did it was around 6am for an hour or so. Then I had to take my morning dose for school. They also wanted me to take a pill to sleep, which felt so horrible I cannot even explain it. I was a zombie in the morning if I took it, then onto the morning ritalin dose. I would just do pushups in my room until 3am some nights just to get the energy out.
Yes, I did well in school while I was on it. Yes, I stayed out of trouble when I was on it. But I was not myself. I felt as if I were on drugs. I did not learn "how to learn" or "how to get things done" without being on drugs. When I finally kicked the habit in college, I was a mess. I couldn't do anything that took more than 30 seconds of concentration. I had to learn how to live life without drugs. For a condition I may or may not have had. It took me to more years to finish my last semester of college because I could not function. Years later I’ve relearned what I should have learned as a child – how to discipline myself and get things done.
The DSM IV/V has a very loose definition of this "DISORDER". The genetic basis I don't doubt, because at one time in our evolution it was a selective adaptation that made us better at hunting, preventing accidents, and trying new things. Now, because our society resides in cubicles, desks, and institutions, it's a "DISORDER" that needs to be medicated.
Just be good parents and give your child an environment where his or her differences can thrive. Find some open space and let them loose for several hours a day. Homeschool them with creative and intriguing lessons tailored just to them. Do whatever you can to allow their abilities become advantages rather than brand it a disorder and ruin their self-esteem by sending them to the nurse twice a day to be force-fed a pill they don’t need.
Don't just give them a pill. That's lazy and detrimental to them in the long run.
The over-prescription of these drugs is epidemic and I can't stand by and watch comments say :
"Each year a parent doesn't take actions is a year lost for a child" to convince people to medicate children for what used to be a genetic advantage (and still is given the right environment).
Each year a parent doesn't take actions to provide the right environment for their child's natural ability to thrive (rather than be told to have a disorder) is a year lost for that child.
Re: Evidence That ADHD Is a Genetic Disorder
#9This is welcome news. I recently got diagnosed and after taking the medication, I've found a great increase in the quality of life. There are a few who are very anti-drug when it comes to this condition and their children. Let me tell you from personal experience, these people are doing more harm to their children than good. Education is important. Depending on the severity, each year a parent doesn't take action is…
"Let me tell you from personal experience, these people are doing more harm to their children than good." The problem is that the science clearly says the opposite: "At the end of 14 months, core ADHD symptoms were reduced more in the children treated with stimulants than with behavioral therapy. However, at the end of three years, 'medication use was a significant marker not of beneficial outcome, but of deteriorati…
If we're getting into a debate of whether medications can have other effects than intended, I cannot argue that.
ADHD and ADD should be treated in completely different ways. People diagnosed with ADHD have a much higher chance of psychotic symptoms than those who are only of the inattentive type. Then there is the old saying, "if you've seen one child with ADHD, you've seen one child with ADHD."
In my experience, and for many others, it has provided a world untold, halted depression, increased motivation and enjoyment in life. Stimulants aren't perfect, but we're throwing the baby out with the bath water when we ignore their usefulness.
Re: Evidence That ADHD Is a Genetic Disorder
#10This is welcome news. I recently got diagnosed and after taking the medication, I've found a great increase in the quality of life. There are a few who are very anti-drug when it comes to this condition and their children. Let me tell you from personal experience, these people are doing more harm to their children than good. Education is important. Depending on the severity, each year a parent doesn't take action is…
I think more, parents don't want to admit that their child has a problem. How do you know your child has ADHD, or if he/she is just being lazy, or not concentrating hard enough? A lot of Asian parents find the two synonymous.
I've seen the opposite more often: people who set no boundaries for their children have out-of-control kids. Instead of it being bad parenting, it must be ADHD. Quick, medicate him so I don't have to put up with him. At least in the pediatrics office my wife works in, they are trying to stop that.
Btw, I don't mean to imply ADHD doesn't exist or is only a result of bad parenting. It does and it isn't.