Has anyone ever considered that "ADD" could simply be a personality type??
I am a little bit taken aback by how many people never seem to question the fact that there doesn't appear to be any empirical evidence to back up that ADD/ADHD is so-called "disorder". Here is a condition whose criteria is centered around what is essentially a personality test performed by "professionals" who basically have about four years of school under thier belts. And then people allow themselves or thier children (whose cells are still forming!) to be put on dangerous and addictive psychotropic medications without even the least bit of question (read: SPEED. Which essentially ANYBODY is going to feel better and more focused on. Coffee drinkers raise your hands?).
Does anyone ever wonder why it seems that most of the people and children diagnosed with this "disorder" are artistic/creative or entreprenurial types? Perhaps these "disabled" individuals just don't learn the way other linear-thinking types do. Perhaps it helps that type to be focused differently in order to create. Perhaps the innate ability to multitask is a key function in the careers of those individuals who ended up finding a career to match thier particular type.
There are many many ways that one can find ways of functioning in the world that work for them, through experimentation. Not all things work for everyone, and that goes for education, too. Try different things. If a dry, intellectual approach doesn't work, try learning/teaching through the body, or the emotion. Try colors. Try visuals.
Has anyone ever read Thom Hartmann's books? Before making assumptions about "ADD", you really should.
Katie
Last edited by pakemuumama; 03-02-2005 at 02:21 PM.
Reason: grammar
Re: Has anyone ever considered that "ADD" could simply be a personality type??
Quote:
Originally Posted by pakemuumama
Has anyone ever read Thom Formann's books? Before making assumptions about "ADD", you really should.
Katie
Katie, Could you supply some specific book titles (they are legal on this website, just no webaddresses)? I have searched online for various spellings of Thom Formann (including Tom, Thomas, Forman) and can find no information about such an author who might be writing about something other than gardens or something like that. I would be interested in learning more.
I agree with much of what you say, that ADD can be thought of as a personality type just like any other, but I DID find it a tremendous relief to have a label for why I have never fit in with "normal" ways of doing things. It's all well and good to say that all types of people should be accomodated in classrooms and jobs according to their personality types, but I don't think it's ever going to happen (little ol' pessimist me! ). As an adult I'm struggling to figure out how to function as a totally disorganized but occasionally very creative person. I've found "Scattered" by Gabor Mate to be helpful.
Re: Has anyone ever considered that "ADD" could simply be a personality type??
Pakemuumama,
Absolutely, without question, ADD is a personality type. So are schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, etc. Very few people in the population are without some symptoms of some disorder.
It's a matter of degree.
My 14yo has ADHD to the extent that he cannot function in a classroom without assistance. Without the stigma of the label, he would not be able to receive the services that enable his learning. Without help, he would still be in elementary school. That's not the worst of it. He is so hyper - without medication - that other kids cannot stand to be around him. He has been shunned all of his life. That's not the worst of it.
Neither his inability to learn nor his social isolation were enough to convince us to try medication. Trust me, it was a heartwrenching decision. It was one that we wrestled with for years.
It wasn't until he started calling himself "weird" and saying that "it would be better to be dead" that we decided we were doing him an injustice by not trying every avenue available to us. At that point, all that was left to try was medication. We had already done counseling, behavior mod, dietary modification, supplements, tutoring, a multi-modal approach to education, etc, etc, etc.
We did not put him on medication *without question* nor do we continue him on medication *without question*. It is a decision that we wrestle with daily. However, for the first time in his life, he has kids that he can call "friends". He no longer sits alone in the school cafeteria. He no longer talks about wishing he could "just die".
Perhaps it is a personality disorder on my part, but I cannot help but feel defensive when YOU assume that WE have made assumptions about his disorder and put him on medication without thought. You have absolutely no idea what we've been through.
Last edited by index.html; 06-06-2005 at 03:11 AM.
Reason: typo
Re: Has anyone ever considered that "ADD" could simply be a personality type??
index.html nailed it!
pakemuumama, you make me feel like a wounded horse. Just put a bullet in him! He has no use for us now.
I dropped out of high school because I could not concentrate. I have troubles with everyday activities because of ADD. When I take my medicine it makes things easier!
What about people who need glasses to see? Should we just say “oh they were born with this, so they just need to adapt!” Benjamin Franklin was just a crock when he invented bifocals! We don't need to FIX eyesight! NOOOOO! Just stick them in their own continent and let them stumble around like buffoons!
Same thing with people with ADD! Give them the state of Texas to live in! We won’t help them concentrate! We will just stick them with a bunch of people just like them, so nobody will get upset that their life just never seems to work out because everybody has the same problem!
Re: Has anyone ever considered that "ADD" could simply be a personality type??
Rheanna~I made a little boo-boo. It's Thom Hartmann, not Thom Formann.
One point of clarity--I was in no way suggesting that jobs should be modified to personality types. That would be silly. This is the real world. We adapt. And so, many of us (I fit the DSM IV but there is no way I will ever let someone diagnose me and pigeonhole me into a psychological disorder classification, for many reasons) find avenues of making a living that not only work for us, but that we excel at to a degree that no linear thinker could ever hope to achieve. I DO believe, however, that schools and teachers need to try harder, or differently to relate to ALL human beings and not only a select segment that they themselves relate to. But even within this limited system, discovery is possible.
As for labels, I am quite happy with Bohemian, thank you!
To everyone else, this is in no way an attack on you and your particular struggles. This is an attack on the laziness of so-called professionals and the absolute inability for linear thinkers to understand the peculiarities of non-linear thinkers. And perhaps then, my anger is misguided, because it is simply sheer ignorance on thier part.
I especially sympathize with you and your child's struggle, index.html. I can identify. Though my struggle was not identical to your son's (I am a so-called inattentive type rather than hyperactive), I was an outcast too, and then I gradually taught myself (and am still learning) how to relate to other people.
What I am saying is that there are so many other things to try. I thank GOD that there was no such classification of "ADD" when I was a child, or I may never have gone through the struggles I did to find out who I am and what works for me, and how to relate. And I am still discovering. Don't give up!
). As an adult I'm struggling to figure out how to function as a totally disorganized but occasionally very creative person. I've found "Scattered" by Gabor Mate to be helpful.
Linear Mode
