Has anyone ever considered that "ADD" could simply be a personality type??

[hummingbirdkiss]

message deleted

[Jennita]

Originally Posted by GENIUS?

So Glad You Asked, It Is Not Only A Reasonable Question, But Has Now Just Started To Hit The Biways.The Idea That Suggests That Add Is Not A Disorder At All But More Of A Different Brain Orientation. I Think This May Be True For Certain People While Others May Have Similar Symptoms And Various Other Problems. The Symptoms Of Add Can Be Similar In Lots Of People While The Causes Can Range From Brain Trama, Brain Chemistry, Or Genetics. There Truly Is Lots More Work To Be Done On This Subject, And It Is Presently Being Discussed That Add May Not Be A Disorder At All. I Think In The Future We Will Begin To Classify And Identify People Into Specific Catagories, Such As, The Genuis Types With The Fast Thinking Minds, The Trauma Types Who May Have Brain Damage For Various Reasons And Truly May Not Be Able To Concentrate Not Because Their Thoughts Are Moving To Fast But For Some Other Reason. Just Because Someone Can't Concentrate Does Not Mean He Has Add, Or Maybe He Does And The Genuis Types Who Can Think So Fast (like Your Brain Saying Feed Me I'm Hungry Can't Wait Must Move On), Are Really Just People Who Think And Function Differently From Others. Although We Are Still Learning, It Is Clear That There Is Something Going On In The Brain No Matter What The Original Cause, Which Makes It Clear That It IS Much More Than Personality, But May Have Physiological Dimensions.

I believe this too, that difference does not equal disorder or illness....it takes different ingrediants to bake a cake, not just one and certainly drugs that can create dependancy, addiction, tolerance and withdrawals should not be considered the only choice in dealing with such differences nor should psychiatry be allowed to label such differences as mental illness.

[hummingbirdkiss]

message deleted

[Rhiannon163]

Wow, this was a GREAT thread. Excellent arguments on both sides. I can see that there are some highly intelligent folks around here!

I do not have ADHD myself, but I am looking into the possibility that my 4 year old son does. He currently has a dx of mood disorder NOS/anxiety/ODD. We started him this week on Trileptal, an anticonvulsant med, used off-label to treat mood disorder/bipolar. If you had told me 2 years ago that I would have made this decision, I would have told you you were nuts. But when your 4 year old son goes into violent rages and tries to hurt anyone/anything in his path, and threatens his teacher that he's going to get a knife and stab her in the heart, well, your outlook tends to change a bit. To medicate or not was the hardest decision I've ever faced, but I had tried everything else and nothing was working. I hope I've made the right choice, and don't end up later regretting it.

I have a question for those of you with ADHD. What were you like as a young child? Did you have rage attacks and violent behavior? His rage attacks seem to result from frustration and being told no. I'm doing my own research by asking adults with ADHD/Bipolar/Asperger's, etc what they were like as children, since these illnesses can present differently at different ages.

Thanks for any input you can give,
Jen

[Jennita]

Originally Posted by Rhiannon163

Wow, this was a GREAT thread. Excellent arguments on both sides. I can see that there are some highly intelligent folks around here!

I do not have ADHD myself, but I am looking into the possibility that my 4 year old son does. He currently has a dx of mood disorder NOS/anxiety/ODD. We started him this week on Trileptal, an anticonvulsant med, used off-label to treat mood disorder/bipolar. If you had told me 2 years ago that I would have made this decision, I would have told you you were nuts. But when your 4 year old son goes into violent rages and tries to hurt anyone/anything in his path, and threatens his teacher that he's going to get a knife and stab her in the heart, well, your outlook tends to change a bit. To medicate or not was the hardest decision I've ever faced, but I had tried everything else and nothing was working. I hope I've made the right choice, and don't end up later regretting it.

I have a question for those of you with ADHD. What were you like as a young child? Did you have rage attacks and violent behavior? His rage attacks seem to result from frustration and being told no. I'm doing my own research by asking adults with ADHD/Bipolar/Asperger's, etc what they were like as children, since these illnesses can present differently at different ages.

Thanks for any input you can give,
Jen

My nephew ADHD diagnoised never had rage but Adderall did make him more aggressive/definant when he was on it. He's on nothing now.

We had a violent type neighboor kid like that who wasn't ADHD so I'm thinking he outgrew it or maybe when he was able to override his mothers' very strict diet techniques(she was hypoglycemic and decided the whole family had to measure food and no sugar whatsoever) when he turned into a teen and was able to get ahold of different foods, that his increase in food and some sugar did make him feel better or less violent, because he is fine now.