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The Selling of Attention Deficit Disorder

nytimes.com

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Re: The Selling of Attention Deficit Disorder

#31

Post by modfodder »

maratd wrote: post #26
duaneb wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's a brilliant idea—help a person by framing their issues as personal and moral failures. That's sure to be a positive catalyst for change. EDIT: For some reason I can't respond to the comment below. My point was, it's easy to frame problems with terms like "weak", "irresponsible", and "lazy". It's hard to actually attempt to communicate, identify a problem in a way that you can talk about the same thing, and fin…

> Here's a brilliant idea—help a person by framing their issues as personal and moral failures. That's sure to be a positive catalyst for change. You're being sarcastic, but it actually IS. We live in a culture where everything is a disorder. How convenient, that all of your failures can be blamed on something you don't control. Here's an idea. Everything you don't take responsibility for. Everything you don't see as…

So you could cure schizophrenia without drugs or doctors just by seeing it as you're own failure?

Re: The Selling of Attention Deficit Disorder

#32

Post by afterburner »

derefr wrote: post #5
pmjordan wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the oldest examples of this phenomenon I can think of is how halitosis wasn't considered nearly as much of a problem before the promotion of Listerine as a cure for it in the 1920s.

You can turn your perspective on this the other way as well, though. Do you know how hard it is to sell cryonics, life-extension research, etc? Because, you know, "death isn't that big a deal." Sometimes, a horrible thing goes unrecognized because we've all just learned to live with how horrible it is, and to stop wasting emotional energy despairing about it. When a cure does then come about... some company has to re…

Cryonics and life extension research are not the same as an actual cure that works.

Re: The Selling of Attention Deficit Disorder

#33

Post by chris_wot »

maratd wrote: post #26
duaneb wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's a brilliant idea—help a person by framing their issues as personal and moral failures. That's sure to be a positive catalyst for change. EDIT: For some reason I can't respond to the comment below. My point was, it's easy to frame problems with terms like "weak", "irresponsible", and "lazy". It's hard to actually attempt to communicate, identify a problem in a way that you can talk about the same thing, and fin…

> Here's a brilliant idea—help a person by framing their issues as personal and moral failures. That's sure to be a positive catalyst for change. You're being sarcastic, but it actually IS. We live in a culture where everything is a disorder. How convenient, that all of your failures can be blamed on something you don't control. Here's an idea. Everything you don't take responsibility for. Everything you don't see as…

There's a difference between hectoring and constructively engaging in discussion.

But your comments aren't correct. SAD and ADHD are real. Medication can assist people to lead a better life.

Re: The Selling of Attention Deficit Disorder

#34

Post by chris_wot »

thro2 wrote: post #16
negativity wrote: post #10

I don't suffer from ADD/ADHD but I grew up during the 90's, when lots of kids in school, around me, were being put on all kinds of prescription medication, but most prevalent were the ADD/ADHD prescriptions. Of the roughly 20 names I can remember, who I know for a fact were prescribed ADD/ADHD medications, AND who I knew growing up both before the medication and after, there was only one guy that obviously had proble…

this is great writing.

I hope you're being sarcastic!

Re: The Selling of Attention Deficit Disorder

#35

Post by tlarkworthy »

invalidOrTaken wrote: post #3

I don't know. I just don't know. I earned a perfect score on the SAT and was voted "Class Genius" in the yearbook, but barely graduated from high school. I was dismissed from university. I went to work for a machine learning company, where we (self included!) did some really neat stuff, including some heroic pre-sales-meeting coding that saved the day in a minor way. But I was fired six months in for low productivity…

wow that gervais principle was a good read!

you could previously have just been immature. Now you are doing the self-discovery and learning about yourself properly, and seeing the benefits of knowing your own limitations and strengths. Being a class genius at high school makes you think everything will be easy, when infact it's not. Now you know its not easy (left uni), so you now put in the hours. Good luck on your path to success, you still have the smart brain so it will find its role eventually.

Re: The Selling of Attention Deficit Disorder

#36

Post by [deleted] »

duaneb wrote: post #27
negativity wrote: post #10

I don't suffer from ADD/ADHD but I grew up during the 90's, when lots of kids in school, around me, were being put on all kinds of prescription medication, but most prevalent were the ADD/ADHD prescriptions. Of the roughly 20 names I can remember, who I know for a fact were prescribed ADD/ADHD medications, AND who I knew growing up both before the medication and after, there was only one guy that obviously had proble…

> weak-willed Can you provide a definition for this? I'm fucking sick of people going through this process: 1. Struggle to understand someone's problem. 2. Give up. 3. Blame the victim. If you see a problem, fix it. But nothing in your comment was at all helpful for the same people you were criticizing. This may come as a shock to you, but people struggle from different problems than you do. Some of them may seem eas…

[deleted]

Re: The Selling of Attention Deficit Disorder

#37

Post by kordless »

negativity wrote: post #10

I don't suffer from ADD/ADHD but I grew up during the 90's, when lots of kids in school, around me, were being put on all kinds of prescription medication, but most prevalent were the ADD/ADHD prescriptions. Of the roughly 20 names I can remember, who I know for a fact were prescribed ADD/ADHD medications, AND who I knew growing up both before the medication and after, there was only one guy that obviously had proble…

What are your parent's professions, if I may ask?

Re: The Selling of Attention Deficit Disorder

#38

Post by benched »

modfodder wrote: post #11
invalidOrTaken wrote: post #3

I don't know. I just don't know. I earned a perfect score on the SAT and was voted "Class Genius" in the yearbook, but barely graduated from high school. I was dismissed from university. I went to work for a machine learning company, where we (self included!) did some really neat stuff, including some heroic pre-sales-meeting coding that saved the day in a minor way. But I was fired six months in for low productivity…

I have a similar history to yours (except GenX not millenial). I've built a decent career for myself, but have always struggled with SAD and bipolar symptoms. When I feel good I'm sure it's something I can control, but as soon as it sneaks up, my life goes into self-destruction mode. I always feel bad about complaining about the effect this has on my life as my income is typically in the top 10% in the U.S., but stil…

I could have written this comment about myself verbatim. The way I see it, there is so much variation in brains and personalities. You can find in the distribution people who exhibit what look like discipline and constancy. There's also everyone else.

Re: The Selling of Attention Deficit Disorder

#39

Post by sillysaurus2 »

negativity wrote: post #22
tibbon wrote: post #19

As a person with ADHD, that article was too long to hold my attention (no, I'm not making a joke here). Also, as a person with ADHD who takes Adderall I don't see what the big fuss about it as a drug/medicine is. It works. I don't (personally) note any side effects, and don't see any reason that I'd stop taking it. Before taking Adderall I was essentially self-medicating my ADHD with copious amounts of coffee on a da…

I think it's exactly the same thing as coffee, and it's not a medical condition at all. Coding really IS naturally boring and mind numbing. That's neither your imagination nor subjective experience. No one ever steps through a series of break-points in a debugger, or skims through 1,000 lines of log output, and thinks: "YEAH, MAN! THIS IS REALLY LIVING!" It pretty much requires an altered state to enjoy this stuff. I…

Coding really IS naturally boring and mind numbing. That's neither your imagination nor subjective experience. No one ever steps through a series of break-points in a debugger, or skims through 1,000 lines of log output, and thinks: "YEAH, MAN! THIS IS REALLY LIVING!" It pretty much requires an altered state to enjoy this stuff.

That's just not true. I'm a counterexample.

Re: The Selling of Attention Deficit Disorder

#40

Post by benched »

negativity wrote: post #22
tibbon wrote: post #19

As a person with ADHD, that article was too long to hold my attention (no, I'm not making a joke here). Also, as a person with ADHD who takes Adderall I don't see what the big fuss about it as a drug/medicine is. It works. I don't (personally) note any side effects, and don't see any reason that I'd stop taking it. Before taking Adderall I was essentially self-medicating my ADHD with copious amounts of coffee on a da…

I think it's exactly the same thing as coffee, and it's not a medical condition at all. Coding really IS naturally boring and mind numbing. That's neither your imagination nor subjective experience. No one ever steps through a series of break-points in a debugger, or skims through 1,000 lines of log output, and thinks: "YEAH, MAN! THIS IS REALLY LIVING!" It pretty much requires an altered state to enjoy this stuff. I…

I think, working on the type of code I tend to write on my own time: delightful, exciting fun. Working on things assigned by any employers I ever had: somebody kill me already.
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