PuddleGuy wrote:
Have we ever thought about the fact that 25 years ago things like ADD/HD and Aspergers Syndrome didn't even exist? People were different then just like today, sure... but everyone didn't have to have a label. Why do we label people today? Again, it's all about money. In school your are either ADD/HD, Aspergers, Gifted, or some combination thereof.
I'm with you on most points, but I want to add a bit of nuance here.
I understand that it certainly looks like you describe and I think that part of it is because it's hyped. But only part of it: I do not agree with that it did not exist 25 years ago.
That is simply not true. You should not confuse the label with the thing that it's being applied to. 25 years ago, ADHD (or ADD) was one of the conditions that were lumped together under the catch-all MBD (minimal brain dysfunction). I was one of those kids: extremely inattentive, forgetful and prone to excessive daydreaming, trouble falling asleep, extremely shy - and bedwetting after 5 yrs old.
The label "MBD" did not lead to any action being taken, because it meant nothing apart from
"something seems to be slightly wrong, we don't know how it came to be or what to do about it".
I could cope well enough at primary school: the higher one's IQ is, the longer you can go by that alone. But sooner or later, you'll be tripped up by the ADHD. No-one, least of all me, understood why my marks started dropping in high school. I tried university but it just did not work. Now I know why: I cannot readily absorb verbal or written information. But I didn't know back then, so I dropped out and had a couple of miserable years thinking I was stupid. Lucky for me, I eventually was hinted to apply for a practical course in computer programming. There was an IQ test as prerequisite to enroll. I was amazed how high my score was, and they readily accepted me. Since then I have never been unemployed again, because I turned out to be quite a good programmer.
Some three years ago I read an article about the inattentive variety of ADHD. I was completely confounded because - well, it described *me*. I went to a psychiatrist who tested me, and I was indeed diagnosed with severe ADHD-i (inattentive ADHD, without hyperactivity). Since then, I feel that my life has started for real. Medication has made a great deal of difference: I can finally finish things that I start. It's not a miracle cure: I am still very chaotic and an organisational disaster.
I don't regret anything, ever. It makes no sense. But if there is one thing that I could change in retrospect, I wish that my ADD had been recognised and treated. Of course you never know what would have happened, but it would in any case have saved me those years of self-doubt, and it would probably have given me the focus to study at the university.
Therefore, I think it is a good thing that this condition is recognised in children today. But what you talk about it unfortunately also true: money and "hyping" takes its toll. But those excesses are caused by how society deals with it, not because the conditions shouldn't be real.
Sorry for the offtopic comment .. but this is really something that touches me personally, so I had to explain this.