Does it bother you if people say ADHD doesn't exist?

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Dr. Phil seems to believe this, so I wondering if this bothered people?

Well, since I ADHD, it bothers me.

Scientific studies of the human brain have shown that people with ADHD symptoms (not caused by brain injury or other health fators) have a smaller frontal cortex than people without ADHD symptoms. People with ADHD have lower levels of dopamine and norepinephrine (sp?) in their brains than people without ADHD symptoms.

I think Dr. Phil can sell more books by saying that he can treat ADHD symptoms with talk therapy.

The problem with cognitive therapy and ADHD is that ADHD is a neurological disorder, not a mental illness. From my personal experience, cognitive therapy can also make a person with ADHD feel even worse about themselves. I have a genius IQ and I completely understand everything the therapist is telling me, but I lack the executive functioning required to activate the information. So, I'm left feeling like a failure because I can't do what I know.

And I take medication that controls most of my ADHD symptoms. If it didn't exist how could medication help?

I take 30mg of Adderall XR (extended release) in the morning and 20 mg of regular Adderall in the afternoon.

I the only side affect I have expereinced is loss of appetite, which can be a benefit for some people. Stimulant medications have been used medically for over 70 years and appear to be safe over the long term. They also work for almost 90% of people with ADHD.

The medication has changed my life. I have seen improvements in almost every area and the improvements were immediate. Stimulants start to work as soon as they're absorbed and wear off that day. So if you don't like it, just wait and by evening you'll be back to "normal." I was super nervous to try medication and was pleasantly surprised. It does take a few weeks to get the right dosage and to get used to the feeling of being calm and quiet (you'll know what I mean by this if you try meds.) Also, during the first few weeks, you'll feel grumpy as the meds wear off in the evening, but that eventually stops.

My 7 year old has recently been diagnosed with ADHD. After my experience, I think it would be cruel not to let him try medication. It would be as cruel as knowing he was near-sighted and not letting him wear glasses or knowing he has diabetes and not giving him insulin.

From my personal research, the bad effects have been casued by 1. overdose, 2. pre-existing heart condition, 3. misuse of medication by crushing and snorting or injecting, and 4. not accurate diagnosis in the first place.

If you really have ADHD, you don't have a heart condition and you take the meds as prescribed, they are safe from what I have read and experienced. I'm not a medical professional, though.

Wow. Thanks so much for the information. It would be great to feel "calm and quiet" instead of my usual state of being harried and disorganized. I'm going to make the appointment to talk to my doctor this week. Right now I am "self medicating" to enhance my concentration with nicotine from Benson and Hedges 100's. I have to stop this disgusting habit.

It never ceases to amaze me that there are now all these solutions out there for problems I've struggled with all my life. If ONLY such diagnoses and solutions were available years ago. What a difference that would have made to my life. Oh well, better late than never.

I wonder if the meds would help you quit smoking because you'd no longer need to use cigarettes. I wonder if normalized brain chemistry is stronger than nicotine addiction. Let me know, okay?

I hope the medication works for you. It's like a miracle when it works. It's absolutely amazing.

Before meds I felt like a histerical person inside, like from an old movie, and I felt this craving to just get internally slapped or that I needed someone to grab both my arms really tight and hold me still inside. On meds, I feel so calm, it was actually eery at first. It was almost creepy that eveything was so quiet.

I hope you get good results.

I have a very high tolerance for the discomfort of withdrawal. I've quit smoking no problem for years at a time. Whenever I quit I become a total scatterbrain, even more than I am now. All through college and university I knew that I couldn't write a paper unless I smoked. I quit for three years, went back to university, and couldn't concentrate until I took up smoking again. I'll let you know if the ADD meds work as well or better than the nicotine. From what you say it does seem that ADD meds are the solution. I'll let you know how it goes for sure.

I, too, have ADHD. I have learnt that while medication definitely helps, it is not the whole treatment for ADHD. Other things that have helped me are:

Having a good diet. Staying away from the junk! Eating plenty of fruit and vegetables. And fish. They call it brain food!

Exercising regularly. If I don't, the medication won't work as well as it could.

Taking a multi-vitamin supplement. Just so I know my brain is getting all the nutrients it needs.

Learning ways to organize myself better. Things like writing lists (and remembering to look at them!), Putting certain items - like keys, wallet, phone - in a regular place so I know I can find them and not end up in a mad rush, etc.

Making routines for myself. This makes life less stressed for me, so if something out of the ordinary comes up, I'm not already frazzled!

All the best to you, anandamide.

Saying ADHD doesn't exist is kind of stupid, because there is a set of criteria that exists, which has been defined as ADHD.

Theoritically it might just be that it's something that is misdiagnosed as some other condition, but even then I would not say that it doesn't exist. Rather it could be situation which has been misunderstood.

So in that sense, ADHD might not exist as ADHD, but there is definatly something going on, and it's in all likelihood genetic.

I don't actually know all that much about ADHD, but I tend to look at most things like this as that it is just another way of observing and responding to the world around us. One that isn't wrong, but there sure are a lot of people that might think it is.


Considering how little insight Dr. Phil seems to have, people take him for more seriously then they really should.

Some people like to pretend like we're really all the same, the status quo is fine, and that anyone claiming otherwise doesn't know what they're talking about.

A lot of 'talking cure' quacks are sceptical of medication and newer diagnostic categories.

Some of those who believe in Psychodynamic (counselling, therapy approaches) think that children with ADHD are 'acting out' problems to do with the relationships they have with other members of their family.

It doesn't occur to these quacks that maybe, just maybe, the problems are because of the stresses and tensions that arise from ADHD.

I would have thought that these talking cure doctors would have at least found their way towards the last two decades of the 20th Century even if they couldn't make it into the 21st Century.

I have also been diagnosed with ADHD throughout my life. To say that it doesn't exist is kind of a disservice to people that have it. There are neurological factors involved, as well as different brain chemistry reactions, so, if it's not ADHD, then what is it?

Dr Phil may believe that parents who treat their kids better, or more along the lines to what he thinks is better, then the children should have no problems. This is the kind of stuff I tend to get from this guy.

- Ray M -

I'm going to vote yes because altough I've never heard anyone say that (read: don't actally know whether it would or not) I'm pretty sure it'd bother me if someone said AS or dyspraxia doesn't exist.

Same principle, right?

If you hook an EEG to a person head with ADHD you will note it has alot
of theta waves. Do the same test with a non-ADHD person and you will see
alot of beta waves. Give the person with ADHD a stimulant and their brains
produce more beta waves. Theta waves are a daydreaming like state(hence people
with ADHD tend to be more creative). Beta waves are hyperfocus on problem
solving/getting a job done(hence people with adhd get less work done without
a stimulant).

As I mentioned in another thread, Dr Phil's degree is in philosophy and not psychology according to a former professor I had. I never liked him before, but after hearing that, I think he's full of it. ADHD does exist, otherwise medication wouldn't work at all. Even though I don't have ADD, I know many people who have benefited from medication such as Adderall.