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Mental illness, attention deficit disorder, and suffering

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Re: Mental illness, attention deficit disorder, and suffering

#171

Post by [deleted] »

lr4444lr wrote: post #32
orangepurple wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Daily 20 hour water (& salt) fasting reduced my desire to jump between tasks. Less scatter-brained too. My thoughts stay on rails longer. Didn't change my diet much; I don't eat many refined foods or carbs other than occasional bread. Years ago in college I was prescribed Adderall but it didn't make me focus more. It made me compulsively clean my apartment, masturbate, tweak out, and occasionally be extremely paranoi…

Daily 20 hour water (& salt) fasting reduced my desire to jump between tasks You mean you only consumed water and salt for 20 hours of the day, or avoided these? Just trying to get clarity. Also, did you find that type of carb food had much impact, or just overall amount?

[deleted]

Re: Mental illness, attention deficit disorder, and suffering

#172

Post by haswell »

d0mine wrote: post #131
GavinMcG wrote: post #16

The author really does not do a great job, here, at least in saying something sensible as a response to DeBoer's piece. The core premise seems to be that: > I find it so very irritating that there is no term for my so-called ⸢attention deficit disorder⸣ that does not have the word “disorder” baked into it. I know what a disorder is, and this isn't one. But the author then argues against a strawman: > Why does any dev…

Imagine your skin has a different from your neighbors color. Would it be sensible to consider it a disorder? Even if it may happen that it negatively affects your every day life, and it may be maladaptation in the region where you live but it may be a considerable advantage if you had lived on different latitude. Or consider a game where different character classes exist e.g., Necromancer (can raise an army with no r…

Does someone with dementia have a disorder?

Does someone with congenital heart failure have a disorder?

I'm not suggesting that ADHD is on par with congenital heart failure, but neither are skin color or one's propensity towards wizardry on par with ADHD.

Re: Mental illness, attention deficit disorder, and suffering

#173

Post by freemint »

orangepurple wrote: post #15
freemint wrote: post #9

Medicated AD(H)D of Hacker News, did your medication (please specify) influence your personality? If so how?

Daily 20 hour water (& salt) fasting reduced my desire to jump between tasks. Less scatter-brained too. My thoughts stay on rails longer. Didn't change my diet much; I don't eat many refined foods or carbs other than occasional bread. Years ago in college I was prescribed Adderall but it didn't make me focus more. It made me compulsively clean my apartment, masturbate, tweak out, and occasionally be extremely paranoi…

Wow 20 liters a day sounds like you need a lot executive function to make that work. Did you ever suffer from a lack of executive function (if you planned on doing stuff layed everything you need to do for the task, thought about it regularly and the taks just didn't get performed by you 3 times a week or more often)?

Did that get better for you?

Re: Mental illness, attention deficit disorder, and suffering

#174

Post by luckydata »

this trend of trying to make ADHD into some kind of "superpower" is hogwash and a direct consequence of some deep internalized able-ism of the people that propose that view.

I have ADHD, there's nothing cute or great about it, it really sucks to have this disability, I have lost countless opportunities and had to work 10x as hard to achieve the same as everyone else because of it.

I'm not less valuable as a person because of it of course, but I would gladly return my "gift" if that was possible.

If you're interested to know what science says about ADHD, start here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33549739/

Re: Mental illness, attention deficit disorder, and suffering

#175

Post by aahortwwy »

GavinMcG wrote: post #16

The author really does not do a great job, here, at least in saying something sensible as a response to DeBoer's piece. The core premise seems to be that: > I find it so very irritating that there is no term for my so-called ⸢attention deficit disorder⸣ that does not have the word “disorder” baked into it. I know what a disorder is, and this isn't one. But the author then argues against a strawman: > Why does any dev…

> the diagnostic criteria for ADHD and many other disorders require that the deviation amount to a disorder rather than not interfering with someone's life.

> interfering with someone's life

The specific phrase used in the DSM-V is: "symptoms interfere with or reduce the quality of social, academic, or occupational functioning".

Schooling started to become compulsory in the USA in the mid-to-late 19th century, and really only became universal in the early 20th century.

By the late 20th century we had decided that children whose normal behavior "interfered with or reduced [...] academic [...] functioning" had a disorder.

We created a system that does not accommodate everyone, then turned around and said that those who are not accommodated are definitionally disordered. The logic is clearly backwards.

Similar story with labor.

Re: Mental illness, attention deficit disorder, and suffering

#176

Post by photojosh »

cbfrench wrote: post #23
TrackerFF wrote: post #7

I have ADHD (ADD), and was diagnosed after 30 - though I've greatly suffered from it since my teenage years. Sure, it is a big part of me, always has been, but I don't really make it part of my identity. I can't control it like a superpower, and there are serious consequences if you're not careful. I've noticed that in the ADHD community, there are some very vocal people that will wear the diagnosis with pride. I mea…

Exactly. I can point to specific ways in which my (at the time, undiagnosed) ADHD has negatively impacted my life: I never finished my PhD because I couldn’t execute a dissertation. The coping mechanisms that had served me reasonably well during my young adulthood suddenly stopped working during the pandemic. So, I became unable to motivate myself to a deadline, which had generally been a powerful force to motivate m…

High five, fellow PhD dropout. :(

> The coping mechanisms that had served me reasonably well during my young adulthood suddenly stopped working during the pandemic. So, I became unable to motivate myself to a deadline, which had generally been a powerful force to motivate my attention and efforts.

I have experienced the exact same situation (but with work)... always been motivated by well-planned deadlines, but it just... doesn't work anymore?

I'm trying to figure out why. Suspect a combination of WfH, unrelated family issues, dealing with diagnosis and past trauma, a general surge in anxiety across the board resulting in a total burnout of any motivation... just ceasing to care about anything much at all.

Re: Mental illness, attention deficit disorder, and suffering

#177

Post by luckydata »

symlinkk wrote: post #56
lghh wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am 30. I got diagnosed with ADHD a few months ago and I started treatment (adderall and lifestyle changes). Growing up, ADHD was my biggest enemy in life and I didn't even realize it. Once I began treatment, the change was almost overnight. I know I'm just one data point in a sea of data points, but I really just want to add that I'm on the other end of the parent comment and getting diagnosed, other than my marria…

I mean, anyone benefits from Adderall whether you have ADHD or not. How are you so sure you really have it?

this is an incredibly ignorant statement. you can just google and find out but I suspect you have an agenda here which I don't appreciate.

Re: Mental illness, attention deficit disorder, and suffering

#178

Post by hirvi74 »

unmole wrote: post #149
hirvi74 wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> causes significant disturbance in behavior, emotion, and cognition According to other people. What if I think my behavior or emotions are appropriate or justified? The people that are not like me get to tell me how I should be? Seems kind of sick to me. What about the opposite? Are the people that lack disturbances in behavior, emotion, and cognition really that much better off? Regardless, they are definitely acce…

> Are the people that lack disturbances in behavior, emotion, and cognition really that much better off? Yes.

I'll never know, but I have always been of the mentality that everyone has "something." Whether it has a diagnostic label or not. I guess, in a more terse sense -- life ain't easy for anyone.

Re: Mental illness, attention deficit disorder, and suffering

#179

Post by luckydata »

adhdgaslight wrote: post #150
symlinkk wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, anyone benefits from Adderall whether you have ADHD or not. How are you so sure you really have it?

The scientific consensus of the medical community is very clear [1]. ADHD exists. It is also clear that the individuals who have it do in fact suffer from it. Unfortunately medical science is not at the point yet where it can, in an individual case, objectively verified with e.g. a brain scan or a blood test. You should be aware that comments like yours, while surely not your intention, do real damage to the large ca…

the 2021 version is better imho https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33549739/

Re: Mental illness, attention deficit disorder, and suffering

#180

Post by jagtesh »

FollowingTheDao wrote: post #60
xattt wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately, it seems that “affected” is being taken at face value in the parent comment, and the nuances of the presence of the disorder are being ignored. Yes, many individuals with ADHD can cope without medication and may go on to live good-enough lives that might be the envy of others. However, there may be a lot of potential being left on the table staying untreated. So to say that someone clearly doesn’t have…

I did not say he never had ADHD. I’m saying he does not have it now. Do you understand the significance of that difference?

ADHD is the result of physical differences in the brain. You could be managing as well as a neurotypical individual, but that doesn’t mean you’re no longer someone with ADHD.

You are born this way. Such as someone on the ASD spectrum.

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