For me ADD is a problem because of the following things that i can't control.
1. If i don't spend some time indulging in some of my interests every day then I tend to have trouble sleeping. I come home from work at 1030 and if i don't spend at least an hour surfing the web (at a minimum) then i can't sleep. I'll lay there wide awake. But if you give me an hour surfing imgur then i'm good.
It feels like my brain just needs to be "drained" every night before bed.
2. Every time i get hyperfocused on an activity my brain retreats from it. This is hard to explain. It's almost as if my brain is contrary with itself. My #1 hobby is drawing comic book characters. every now and then i'll get hyped up about the idea of trying to do it professionally. I'll start planning a project and i'll get more and more excited until all of a sudden my brain says "no more". Then it switches focus abruptly and all of a sudden i won't be able to resist studying about roman history for a while. It's almost like the brain is blocking itself from being too keyed in by making me keyed in on some other thing instead.
If i could solve these problems on my own i would be very happy.
Honestly? If the above behavior is what constitutes ADD, then I think the vast majority of the people has ADD and only the rare few don't.
A lot of mental illnesses are basically exaggerated versions of experiences that everybody has some of the time. It's when you have it all the time that it becomes a problem.
Well you have to define "all the time". Is all the time your childhood? Teenage years? Well into adulthood?
Well you have to define "all the time". Is all the time your childhood? Teenage years? Well into adulthood?
This is not a difficult idiom to parse. When you hear someone say "I play World of Warcraft all the time", do you think they mean "I have played World of Warcraft since I was a child and will continue to play World of Warcraft into my dotage", or do you think they mean "I play World of Warcraft for many hours almost every day"?
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In terms of whether it's a problem, clinically, that includes a bit about how your life is affected negatively. This is why "I'm OCD because I keep my mtg collection neat" isn't a disorder and "spends 2 hours a day keeping hands clean because otherwise anxiety sets in" is
I have heard of people who do not feel that some of these are really diseases or they say that some are labeled these because the doctor did not know how else to label them!
Well you have to define "all the time". Is all the time your childhood? Teenage years? Well into adulthood?
This is not a difficult idiom to parse. When you hear someone say "I play World of Warcraft all the time", do you think they mean "I have played World of Warcraft since I was a child and will continue to play World of Warcraft into my dotage", or do you think they mean "I play World of Warcraft for many hours almost every day"?
Ok... Here's a different take.
You wrote "basically exaggerated versions of experiences that everybody has some of the time". Define some of the time.
My interpretation of your post was- A person who exhibits ADHD behavior (whatever that may mean) but only shows it for brief periods of time (days or months or w.e.) can be considered normal. It is abnormal, and thus an illness, when they exhibit said behavior all the time (however you want to define that).
You wrote "basically exaggerated versions of experiences that everybody has some of the time". Define some of the time.
"Some of the time" as in "I feel hungry some of the time." Experienced for a small fraction of the day, and triggered appropriately by body/environmental stimuli. It would be a disorder if you were ravenously hungry all day, even when you've just eaten. Similarly, everybody feels sad and tired, or angry, or out-of-focus, occasionally as they go about their lives. But when those experiences are constant and inappropriate, they're mental disorders.
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Vive, vale. Siquid novisti rectius istis,
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Clinical depression diagnosis requirements specify that you make sure that the patient didn't just have someone they know die or some other traumatic event happen before you can diagnose them with clinical depression as opposed to the, very natural sadness, of having just lost someone.
The take-home point is that mental disorders aren't strange and alien. Depression isn't an experience unique to depressed people. If you're a human being, you know basically what depression feels like - you just may not appreciate the cumulative effects of feeling like that day in and day out. Hell, even stuff like schizophrenia and dissociative disorders, which we tend to see as really weird, are just over-the-top versions of little brain glitches we all experience. Ever had a moment of deja vu or jamais vu? Dissociation.
What makes us who we are? Our personality, our quirks, our flaws?
Most of those things are changed in me when I take the medication. I am more focused and more in control of my actions. I lose much of my spontaneity, but still remember how to artificially act as if I still have it; only in a good way however since it's now in my control. But, if we are defined by our flaws and complexities, then I am not "me" when I'm on the medication. The change is certainly slight in with regards to myself, and we do change each and every day regardless. I am not who I was 4 years ago, and 4 years from now I will not be who I am today.
I feel like I'm a different person when I'm on the medication (Methylphenidate for ADD). And, it saddens me to admit that person is strictly better than my base self.
I was diagnosed in 4th grade when I switched schools as I started taking Ritalin. It would **** with my emotions as I was coming off of it, but my grades drastically improved and they no longer felt I has a "general learning disability", but just one in reading and writing. However, senior year of high school I simply stopped taking the medication. My grades slipped a little, but I made it through college and my class in grad school. I was remind of the goblin from "What Leaf Learned of Goblins" that learned the "diamond mind" while taking medication, and--thus--was able to maintain his civility after running out. But, it wasn't to be. After hitting a few walls in research as an grad-student, I got rediagnosed and am currently on Methylphenidate. I only take it when I'm going to work, or am doing something of worth (I'm on it right now).
Well, this is kinda an interesting issue for me. I mean, I might be able to get the drug legally, and I can say things like: "Well, I have this disability, so I need this extra edge to be normal," and whatnot. But, I kinda think it's all silly. Did I get dealt a bum hand in this one instance? Yeah, I guess I did. But, so many people get dealt bum hands so often. Why did we--as a race--designate this one thing as something "fixable," while so many other inequalities go uncorrected? Also, why did this one edge get designated as something only accessible by those that "need" it? Caffeine has a similar affect; yet, you can get as much of that stimulate as you want. I think it's a tad silly that only people with my "problem" get access to this mind enhancing drug. Cuz, let's face it, I clearly did quite alright without it, and if some "normal" could find the cure to cancer with it, why are we denying him/her it?
Can it be overused and dangerous if misused? Yes, but so can so many other perfectly legal things. If someone without ADD thinks it might be helpful, why not let them give it a try? Is intellectualism some "sport" that we can't use every edge we can get? Seems--well--stupid to me. Advancement isn't a race.
But,
I am reminded of such fictional works as Limitless or (more poignant) the Undersoul, who would replace people with a version of themselves that had done everything right. A duplicate that was the person, only living to their ultimate potential. We all want to be better. Why wouldn't we? But, is this upgraded version still "us?"
“A man should not strive to eliminate his complexes, but to get into accord with them; they are legitimately what directs his conduct in the world.”- Sigmund Freud
1. If i don't spend some time indulging in some of my interests every day then I tend to have trouble sleeping. I come home from work at 1030 and if i don't spend at least an hour surfing the web (at a minimum) then i can't sleep. I'll lay there wide awake. But if you give me an hour surfing imgur then i'm good.
It feels like my brain just needs to be "drained" every night before bed.
2. Every time i get hyperfocused on an activity my brain retreats from it. This is hard to explain. It's almost as if my brain is contrary with itself. My #1 hobby is drawing comic book characters. every now and then i'll get hyped up about the idea of trying to do it professionally. I'll start planning a project and i'll get more and more excited until all of a sudden my brain says "no more". Then it switches focus abruptly and all of a sudden i won't be able to resist studying about roman history for a while. It's almost like the brain is blocking itself from being too keyed in by making me keyed in on some other thing instead.
If i could solve these problems on my own i would be very happy.
Well you have to define "all the time". Is all the time your childhood? Teenage years? Well into adulthood?
candidus inperti; si nil, his utere mecum.
It's about how much it impacts the person's life
Ok... Here's a different take.
You wrote "basically exaggerated versions of experiences that everybody has some of the time". Define some of the time.
My interpretation of your post was- A person who exhibits ADHD behavior (whatever that may mean) but only shows it for brief periods of time (days or months or w.e.) can be considered normal. It is abnormal, and thus an illness, when they exhibit said behavior all the time (however you want to define that).
Correct me if I am wrong.
candidus inperti; si nil, his utere mecum.
Clinical depression diagnosis requirements specify that you make sure that the patient didn't just have someone they know die or some other traumatic event happen before you can diagnose them with clinical depression as opposed to the, very natural sadness, of having just lost someone.
candidus inperti; si nil, his utere mecum.
a gradient, not a toggle
My undergrad was heavily focused on this stuff, hard not to chime in even though I don't disagree with anything you're saying
Most of those things are changed in me when I take the medication. I am more focused and more in control of my actions. I lose much of my spontaneity, but still remember how to artificially act as if I still have it; only in a good way however since it's now in my control. But, if we are defined by our flaws and complexities, then I am not "me" when I'm on the medication. The change is certainly slight in with regards to myself, and we do change each and every day regardless. I am not who I was 4 years ago, and 4 years from now I will not be who I am today.
I feel like I'm a different person when I'm on the medication (Methylphenidate for ADD). And, it saddens me to admit that person is strictly better than my base self.
I was diagnosed in 4th grade when I switched schools as I started taking Ritalin. It would **** with my emotions as I was coming off of it, but my grades drastically improved and they no longer felt I has a "general learning disability", but just one in reading and writing. However, senior year of high school I simply stopped taking the medication. My grades slipped a little, but I made it through college and my class in grad school. I was remind of the goblin from "What Leaf Learned of Goblins" that learned the "diamond mind" while taking medication, and--thus--was able to maintain his civility after running out. But, it wasn't to be. After hitting a few walls in research as an grad-student, I got rediagnosed and am currently on Methylphenidate. I only take it when I'm going to work, or am doing something of worth (I'm on it right now).
Well, this is kinda an interesting issue for me. I mean, I might be able to get the drug legally, and I can say things like: "Well, I have this disability, so I need this extra edge to be normal," and whatnot. But, I kinda think it's all silly. Did I get dealt a bum hand in this one instance? Yeah, I guess I did. But, so many people get dealt bum hands so often. Why did we--as a race--designate this one thing as something "fixable," while so many other inequalities go uncorrected? Also, why did this one edge get designated as something only accessible by those that "need" it? Caffeine has a similar affect; yet, you can get as much of that stimulate as you want. I think it's a tad silly that only people with my "problem" get access to this mind enhancing drug. Cuz, let's face it, I clearly did quite alright without it, and if some "normal" could find the cure to cancer with it, why are we denying him/her it?
Can it be overused and dangerous if misused? Yes, but so can so many other perfectly legal things. If someone without ADD thinks it might be helpful, why not let them give it a try? Is intellectualism some "sport" that we can't use every edge we can get? Seems--well--stupid to me. Advancement isn't a race.
But,
I am reminded of such fictional works as Limitless or (more poignant) the Undersoul, who would replace people with a version of themselves that had done everything right. A duplicate that was the person, only living to their ultimate potential. We all want to be better. Why wouldn't we? But, is this upgraded version still "us?"
“A man should not strive to eliminate his complexes, but to get into accord with them; they are legitimately what directs his conduct in the world.”- Sigmund Freud