61–70 of 141 posts
1. maligning of dietary fats
2. high cost of fish relative to other foods
3. time and effort required to cook eggs in morning and the tremendous marketing investments in easier but ultimately unsustainable 'foods'
It's a shame that so much knowledge about human health goes to waste because of either ignorance or misplaced priorities.
If ADHD isn't real but the drugs do something with utility what should be societies stance? If somebody wants to, or needs to do work that requires more concentration, how do we justify denying them the opportunity to better themselves?
Much like giving welfare under the guise of disability, this discussion reflects yesterday s ethics on today's questions.
Long story short, it's not just the testing conditions in which it's beneficial to not be in a class-room setting, but the learning phase too. Essentially, I'm completely worthless trying to absorb new information in a room full of people. It's nearly impossible to not be conscious of those around me. However, at home - where I can control environmental factors - everything changes. I am not forced to be reactive and can happily concentrate - even with other portions of the brain remaining active (listening, wondering, whatever).
When I read a list of ADHD symptoms I keep asking myself - how is that a bad thing? Being bored doing unenjoyable tasks, hating homework, "Not seem to listen when spoken to",Struggle to follow instructions,Dash around, touching or playing with anything and everything in sight, Have trouble sitting still during school and homework, Be constantly in motion, Have difficulty doing quiet tasks or activities....
These sound like symptoms of being a kid...
It's sad that the article didn't even mention exercise as a potential treatment for ADHD. The OP implies that kids will simply "grow out" of ADHD, drugs, or changing the environment may be enough. While these are valid solutions, exercise may be equally or even more effective. John J. Ratey, one of the pioneers of ADHD [1], recently wrote the excellent Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain [2…
Exercise is the miracle cure for everything, it would seem. Though it'd be a moderate help if we could agree on what "counts as exercise" - a 15 minute walk? Resistance training (how many sets/reps)? HIIT? The fads can be tough on the average person who just wants health.
It's sad that the article didn't even mention exercise as a potential treatment for ADHD. The OP implies that kids will simply "grow out" of ADHD, drugs, or changing the environment may be enough. While these are valid solutions, exercise may be equally or even more effective. John J. Ratey, one of the pioneers of ADHD [1], recently wrote the excellent Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain [2…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> "I don't have a short attention span and I'm not hyperactive" I thought these were the defining characteristics of ADHD? I'm sorry, please forgive my lack of familiarity. > "When things lose my interest or are pointless they become tedious"... I don't understand how this is considered a symptom of anything. To me, this is entirely normal. Things that you aren't interested in should be tedious. The mental barrier yo…
You speak with the world view of a neurotypical human. I'm happy for you. For the perspective of the broken toys in the box, let me explain. :) When an NT is asked to do a boring, repetitive task, he'll do it for eight hours and then get drunk afterwards to recover. Good job. When an ADHD-afflicted individual is asked to do a boring, repetitive task, he'll do it for about five minutes and then spend eight hours tryin…
I had never come across the word neurotypical before your comment and now, after reading the corresponding wikipedia page, I am aware that it does characterize me (i.e. "anyone who does not have autism, dyslexia, developmental coordination disorder, bipolar disorder, ADD/ADHD, or other similar conditions").
For the majority of elementary, middle, and secondary school, I fit your anecdote pretty well, minus the getting drunk part (I was young, sheltered, and without access to or interest in alcohol).
However, after sophomore year or so, I realized how much time I had wasted pushing through boring, repetitive tasks, and I grew incapable of completing assignments. This turning point left me in the position of ADHD-afflicted individuals for the final two years of high school. Call it burnout, early senioritous, or whatever - the symptoms were the same. With fear of college app rejections as my motivation (like your fear of unemployment), I couldn't bring myself to do mandatory, largely weighted assignments. They were just too boring, meaningless. Somehow I remained motivated up until then. I really don't know how, to be honest.
Out of curiosity, how would you say my realization [and subsequent drop-off in academic performance] relate to ADHD and NT?
On another note, are A DHD-afflicted individuals literally incapable of mustering the "internal whatever" you speak of? Is the ability to conjure motivation entirely absent? It's really hard to compare similarly subjective abilities, like pain thresholds and the like.
Even if this incapability is just that: a true incapability, I'm not certain that portrayal of ADHD as an affliction is a net-benefit. It seems better for people to believe in their own capabilities, even when many are literally incapable, as you say. Similarly, the belief in free will is good for people and society - even if free will is obviously nonexistent. Determinism yields higher rates of depression and discourages self-responsibility.
I'd say one of the causes for over-medication is the lack of willingness of both parents and children to work on ways to succeed without use of medication. I have (fairly bad) ADHD and my doctor did give me medicine, but only half the light dosage of Strattera, which isn't a stimulant. Long story short, I ended up hating feeling comatose from the medicine so much I began to work through my ADHD by structuring my life…
Strattera usually isn't the first drug chosen, because it doesn't work for everyone. It primarily works on norepinephrine as a reuptake inhibitor. It's basically in the same class as bupropion (which is sometimes also prescribed off label for ADHD, though it's usually used as an antidepressant for those with cyclothymia or to aid in smoking cessation). Ritalin works by inhibiting the re-uptake of dopamine and norepin…
Strattera is supposedly the first avenue of treatment in Europe follwed by stimulants, the reverse of the US.
"In short, people with A.D.H.D. may not have a disease, so much as a set of behavioral traits that don’t match the expectations of our contemporary culture."
Still, there are some that squarely fall into the problematic kind, for example the problem to go back to a task when disturbed (instead of Task A -> disturbed with Task B -> Task A, you go Task A -> Task B -> Task C) or the tendency to avoid mentally taxing task.
I was diagnosed with ADHD at a very young age, and have been doing battle with my attention span for most of my life. I had only read a half dozen books all the way through when I graduated from High School, despite reading at a college reading level before I was out of elementary school and having started hundreds of them. The few books that I had read included Les Miserables and War and Peace, both of which I binge…
Similar story here: early age, 0 or 100, high tests and little completion. The difference is I've been programming for most of my life (I'm not exaggerating; I started at 7y). It's likely because I started so young that I find that's my hyper focus outlet, though I still find that every time I try to learn Java it feels so painful I break something and run away (though I know C, C++, Obj-C, Swift, Python, PHP, Perl,…
Putting it this way opened my eyes to my own diagnosis (diagnosed A.D.D as a child).