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Let me start off by saying that this post is going to have some very personal opinions (thus being in the blogs), as well as share some stories that some may or may not agree with. Perhaps some might find it insightful, relatable, or maybe just completely bogus. No matter what your thoughts, share them, as I'd like to hear them.
By this time, surely everyone has heard of ADHD and ADD, as well as depression (MDD, dysthymia, etc). With the rapid spread of globalization that has been occurring over the last century, especially since the introduction of the internet, our ability to communicate our research, as well as our perspectives have also expanded.
By that same token, autism has become more widely diagnosable. Current trends show Autism's frequency increasing
As I've talked to different people, I've found that a common problem many people seem to have with labeling ADHD, autism, depression, etc, is that they think it is specifically categorizing one's personality into one area; that by saying two people both have ADHD, they are exactly the same in their decision making, their abilities. Same with depression and autism. By giving someone a label from any specific part of the autism spectrum disorders, it feels almost as if we are limiting their uniqueness. We are defining them as a human, that we are destroying this individualistic nature that many non-collectivist societies seem to so greatly prize.
In ways, this can be true, but you need to consider it from other viewpoints to see its actual usefulness. What I have come to believe is that giving such broad labels really, when you get down to it, is 1) a way for psychologists and researchers to communicate, and 2) something that they can put on insurance (in short, at least). These labels are not actually made with an absolute set character in mind. For example, to diagnose Major Depression Disorder, according to the DSM-IV-TR, is to have at least 4 symptoms that are listed http://depression.about.com/cs/diagnosis/a/mdd.htm
For ADHD, http://www.ritalindeath.com/ADHD-Criteria.htm
So, you wonder, why is it that frequency has increased for diagnosing disorders? Is it because of a broader criteria (too broad perhaps?) or maybe it is because of our increased ability to communicate with one another, i.e. globalization? Or, maybe such disorders have started to become more desirable (this can be argued, which I am willing to do at a later point)? No matter the case, current trends in diagnosis have been showing this apparent increase. Some say that, in any given year, about 1/4 Americans would qualify for a mental disorder:
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/the-numbers-count-mental-disorders-in-america/index.shtml#KesslerPrevalence
My point is, do you think that perhaps, over time, these "disorders" could become the norm? That anyone who does not have Asperger Syndrome and ADHD is an unfit member of society? I will be back to talk more on this, and share my own life story, as it applies, but I think this is a good introduction.
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I think that modern society can be mostly to blame for the exacerbation of these diseases. Watching TV for long periods of time at a young age, playing video games at a young age as well as school and increased demand on our kids are the real culprits. Not to mention the fact that forcing children to sit in desks for 8hrs a day can be very very hard for some children, and rightfully so. I feel that this trend will get even worse in the up coming years, with cellphones, ipods, and everything elese that adds constant stimulation to young children.
On another side note, I don't think that many of the ingredients in popular food is helping the matter either- just look at the prevalence of soda in schools, and the amount that is consumed by young kids. Caffeine addiction is taking a hold of may young kids, and becuase it is a CNS stimulant- that can't help as well.
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As someone who has Asperger's, I've noticed two factions of sorts, in regards to people discussing the disorder. One is the "He has Asperger's" group, and the other is "He's a person who happens to have Asperger's" group. (There's a third faction, the "He has Ass-burgers" group, but those people aren't worth my time.) There's a fundamental difference between associating someone stricken by Asperger's/ADHD/MDD with the condition, and simply acknowleding that the condition is present without letting the condition place any bearing on discourse. Unfortunately, there are far too many people (at least in America) who fall into the first category to validate the claim that irregularity will somehow become the new "normal".
Some people don't know anything about these disorders, and are content with their ignorance. Those kinds of people rely on malice and stereotypes to justify their lack of knowledge. As long as these people remain a significant part of our population, I don't see how acceptance of the "different" people will become a culture-wide idea.
On a completely unrelated side note, I fucking hate the term "Aspie", and have no idea how the term became so accepted. It sounds like a slang term for drugs, and is generally unpleasant-sounding.
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I think some of it is over diagnosis by professionals. They are trained to look for some many different things, and to try and label people with them that they are bound to find some. Not only that but we are constantly narrowing what is defined as "normal" or "acceptable." An energetic boy who likes to run around, go out and get dirty would have been labeled a healthy boy 20-30 years ago, now he has ADHD. This narrowing of what is normal is so prevalent that the there is a proposal for the DSM-V that would make introversion a mental disorder.
Our society, mostly through television, also encourages ADD through constant stimulation, short easily digestible pieces of media, and instant gratification. I feel like an old man saying this, but I feel like people are not being taught the value of hard work as much as they should be. I remember being told a million times I could be anything I want, less then half of the time it was followed by if you work hard. We aren't doing kids any favors by sheltering them from the world. I think it should be taught early on that life is hard, and you will need to do a lot of stuff you don't like.
Part of the problem is no one wants the blame, by labeling people with learning disorders, or various other disorders, its no longer anyones fault. People need to step up and start taking responsibility for themselves, and their children. Don't get me wrong ADD is a real disorder, but its not an excuse for poor performance, and its not a reason to drug them into oblivion. All it means is their brain works differently, and that you need to teach them differently, and that sometimes you need to yell "SIT DOWN, SHUT UP, AND WORK".
Much of this comes from my own experience, I was labeled ADD and dyslexic early on in school and my parents refused to accept that as an excuse. As a result I go to a good university, and I don't really see it as a disability, its just who I am, and what I need to deal with to do well. I don't see this as any different from anyone else, we all need to figure out what works for us and do things uniquely instead of just being pigion-holed into these ridged definitions and then drugged until we fit in those holes.
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This is interesting. I have ADHD and my brother has aspergers, so I've kind of grown up in the middle of some of the things you've described.
I certainly don't see ADHD as an illness. In fact I think it lends me an amazing amount of positive attributes that most people without ADHD don't seem to have--a lively energy, fast-thinking brain which lets me be quick-witted and funny, and a whole bunch of general personality traits which define who I am. I almost look upon people without ADHD as dull, and many of them need to drink and get drunk before they can be as open and energetic as I am sober, which makes me a little sad. All this for an urge to twiddle my thumbs, whistle incessantly and occasionally have trouble sitting still... I would never trade those things for what I have.
Also, as a side note, "illness" is inherently cultural and societal... the difference between "bug" and "feature" is sometimes nebulous 
As for Aspergers, my brother is very high functioning, to the point where I feel even qualifying him with that word seems to be inaccurate, because it makes you feel like you are talking to someone who could be "sicker" than he is but had good fortune not to be... but the truth of course is that you use "high-functioning" when talking about people in general and when you know them, of course, they're just themselves. I'm sure that is the case for people with all sorts of "illnesses."
I always think that we are replacing adjectives that we used to use, like "energetic" for "ADHD" and so forth. Seven hundred years ago none of these terms existed and we used adjectives rather than labels to define the people we knew. I think there's a dignity in that; I almost feel nostalgic for a time I never lived through
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Is it even important to know what people have for disorders? Everybody has one or another problem, if it doesn't effect you or them unduly negatively, why care?
Does it even matter if it becomes the new normal?
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"Whatever happened to 'crazy'?"
- Chris Rock
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I blame too much sugar and carbs. Kids shouldn't be eating candy and drinking coke at a young age.
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On November 16 2010 03:08 DwmC_Foefen wrote:
I blame too much sugar and carbs. Kids shouldn't be eating candy and drinking coke at a young age.
A scientific study shows that you're saying random stuff.
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I have decided to add some more. Mind you, it is not addressing every single issue that I've discussed with family and specialists(most of it very recently), but it is some of the more important parts of my recollection. Rather than type it all up at once, I've learned that I do best with a reward system, as has been proposed for many ADHD children. After each entry, I am allowing myself a game of SC2. This will keep me from letting my... project... end up on my unfathomably long list of incomplete undertakings.
For the start of my life, I was relatively “normal.” The only differences between other children and me were my apparent self-isolating tendencies, as well as my natural creativity, and unique outlooks. My parents have told me many stories about my peculiarities as a younger child. I would fixate on very specific, very minute details, rather than look at an entire picture (related to my later Asperger diagnosis). At the same time, I was constantly misbehaving, and receiving a large amount of negative feedback. It was about this that my parents were most concerned. They were afraid that I would start taking this negative feedback, and I would let it eat away at my evolving self-esteem.
By the age of 5, I had been kicked out of 3 preschools, and my mother was beginning to break down from the amount of stress I was causing her. She was constantly crying because she had no idea what to do with me. They put me in an afterschool program when I started kindergarten. The faculty in charge got to the point that they absolutely loathed dealing with me. I was constantly acting out, could never sit still, never seemed to follow instructions, and seemed to always be the root of any problems that occurred.
It was at the age of 6 that I started to see a child psychologist. He happened to be one of the few people in our state who was educated in the autism spectrum of disorders. He quickly noted my ADHD-like symptoms, as well as my apparent lacking social abilities. However, what I lacked in social areas, I greatly made up for in intelligence. I ended up being diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome, along with ADHD, and OCD. I will not go into all the aspects of my OCD, as I find it rather unfit for this discussion, though I might cite some examples later.
Even my father, a clinical psychologist who specializes in medical psychology, was unprepared for this “revelation.” I would later find out that my father also has ADHD, but due to his upbringing in a very strict, unforgiving, communist society (Hungary in 1940s), he was given this “Sit down, shut up, do your work” procedure, as one reader had mentioned. If he acted out, which he did… constantly… he was severely beaten. If he did not conform to every norm that society had made, he was corrected, without any consideration of his “feelings”. For example, he is left-handed (as am I), but this was unacceptable as it was different. So, his school tied his arm behind his back and forced him to learn to write with his right hand (on a side note, he is now ambidextrous). At the same time, he also had an unbelievable intelligence. It was this that saved him, but at the same time nearly damned him. He knew all the material they would teach in school, as he was constantly reading at all times. He taught himself languages, mathematics, philosophy theories, and so on. This was his personal gift. He loved to learn, and he had this amazing ability to learn anything after seeing it once. However, because of this, he was often quite bored in class, which resulted in quite a bit of daydreaming and acting out.
It is here that I can see the constant correlation made between prevalence of ADHD in higher intelligence children. Or, at the very least, its existence is more easily noticed. Nowadays, we are so concerned with everyone’s feelings, with making sure there is absolutely no way we are “hindering” a person, that we often end up doing more harm than good. It could be argued when certain measures should be taken, whether it is a sound beating, chastising, negative reinforcement, or anything of that nature. I do think there needs to be SOME accountability in this regard. We have to teach the child that, regardless of his or her condition, in order to “fit” into society, there are certain absolutes. The only way to get past these obstacles (in the eyes of such an eccentric child) is to play the game until you are in a place that you can make your own rules. My father found this in his studies. At the age of 36, he finally was done with his academia. He had multiple degrees, a Ph.D., a Psy.D, etc. It was then that he was able to be with others of his “ilk.” He does not worry about how he is fitting into society in the painful ways I’ve heard, and experienced, from many with similar childhood difficulties. His was a very Eastern upbringing, one of little tolerance, of little knowledge, or care, in all these areas of psychology. My upbringing, on the other hand, would be one of a different nature; it would produce quite a diverse array of events.
More to come…
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i was diagnosed with ADHD at a young age. So its part of my life i suppose. I'm very upbeat attitude, but am laid back. Have a very low "give a shit" level, so i bounce to things alot.
But now that I'm in the workforce, and the responsibilities of life are hitting me. I think ADD. honestly is a benefit. I don't worry all the time, like others without ADD. I mean seriously, it feels like the classification is pointless. I twiddle my thumbs, i don't stay concentrated on thing in particular too long, and really it doesn't fucking matter too function in a working environment.
If you want to understand the Attention Deficit part of the disorder. here's what happens when i get home from work. First thing i pull up teamliquid.net meh, nothing of interest, so i decide i guess ill play some guilty gear online, play like an hour, get tired of fighting venom. Watch a 15 minute episode of animaniacs. Pull up starcraft 2, play 5 zvzs in a row and get annoyed. Watch GOMTV finals, get bored of some of the games, play some Quakelive duels while listening to the finals. Talk to my girlfriend for 10 minutes, bored, while talking to her on mumble, i play some TF2 deathmatch. Get interested in play some scrims in TF2, finish conversation with her, Play 3 scrims with my team. get bored, wanna chill with some friends, call some friends over, and play Some Dungeons and Dragons, get bored half way through, and we all start bullshitting, talking about how one of our friends needs to get some fucking skills to get out of the hell hole that is Fast food. They leave, i play some starcraft 2, and go terran cause i'm bored of ZvZs, face a bunch of toss and do well with mech, but get bored cause i felt the games were too easy. Play some League of Legends with the friends that just left, get bored of owning unorganized teams. Watch a Nova special on the discovery of cold, half way through, get bored of it. Throw on some Cisco training material. As im listening to that, fall asleep.
And despite my total lack of attention span, I can still function fine.
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I'm probably a mess of all these disorders, as asberger's syndrome runs in one side of my family and ADD/ADHD runs in the other half. However, I haven't ever attempted to get diagnosed with anything because whatever I have makes me a productive and so far successful person who tends to have an exciting life. So, like a poster above said I consider whatever I have a positive quality because most of the time I'm either stressed out or happy but always energetic, and almost never sad.
My biggest issue is that whenever I am conscious of the fact that I'm thinking about something, my thoughts start deviating towards that meta level thinking instead of thinking about what I want to be doing. This is awkward when it happens in social situations, and annoying during work situations. I've written/rewritten this paragraph several times and it's taken me like 20 minutes to write it because of that haha. However, most of the time I can just let my brain go without consciously thinking about the concept of what I'm thinking about and do great.
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On November 16 2010 03:21 Djzapz wrote:Show nested quote +On November 16 2010 03:08 DwmC_Foefen wrote:
I blame too much sugar and carbs. Kids shouldn't be eating candy and drinking coke at a young age. A scientific study shows that you're saying random stuff.
A random study shows that I'm saying scientific stuff.
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found it!!!!
i got this book from amazon a while ago; i didnt read much but it was good:
Is madness purely a medical condition that can be treated with drugs? Is there really a clear dividing line between mental health and mental illness – or is it not so easy to classify who is sane and who is insane?
In Madness Explained leading clinical psychologist Richard Bentall shatters the modern myths that surround psychosis. This groundbreaking work argues that we cannot define madness as an illness to be cured like any other; that labels such as ‘schizophrenia’ and ‘manic depression’ are meaningless, based on nineteenth-century classifications; and that experiences such as delusions and hearing voices are in fact exaggerations of the mental foibles to which we are all vulnerable.
We need, Bentall argues, a radically new way of thinking about psychiatric problems – one that does not reduce madness to brain chemistry, but understands and accepts it as part of human nature.
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Thanks for the comments so far.
It should be noted that I am in no way trying to give an excuse for any bad decisions, for any misbehavior, or anything of that sort. I have, recently, learned to love these peculiarities about myself, and after making friends with another very weird individual, it has made me a lot happier. This is just my thoughts, and my observations. My personal story, as it were, will be divulged as I collect my thoughts. By posting in bursts, although I can see it being less likely to be read entirely, it allows me to go through a mental checklist. Too often I will have a discussion on a forum or with a teacher, and only later realize how much I'd left out.
Take from these posts what you wish. My opinion and my analysis of my memories are completely subjective. I actually find it more interesting to see the various perspectives, no matter how much in contrast with my own they may be, than to have a thread of nothing but agreement.
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I agree with Ramiel and NukeTheBunnys's posts. Let's not forget also that mental health is an industry worth billions that employs thousands of people. It's a profitable model: invent the need and then sell the cure. I'm not saying all of it is bad but there is lots of bad in it.
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I think there's a lot to be concerned about, especially since human minds can function so strangely... Sometimes all we need to have a disorder, is to give it a name. The placebo effect is very powerful.
I'd say the most widespread 'disorder' is hypochondria. Our culture has a very 'pity me' attitude, especially among teenagers. Growing up it's always about who has it worse, who has the better reason for being the way they are...
Sometimes you really can't help it, but I think there's also some times when you really can, but would rather play victim.
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For me, after I was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome and ADHD, I really saw nothing different. Only differenece? I was put on Ritalin, and eventually Prozac as well, to help with my OCD and Depression. Without an intent to start a debate, I'll just state that my parents were frightened to death that I was going to kill myself because even at the age of 4, I was talking about suicide (as if my mind could comprehend this properly). But, I digress.
Interestingly enough, after my first day of Ritalin, when my mother came to pick me up from daycare, and the teacher in charge came to my mother and HUGGED her. She said "What on EARTH did you do? He is an absolute angel!" This is the story my parents always tell me, as well as others with "problem children." For the next few years, I started to see a huge increase in self-esteem. I was not constantly receiving negative feedback for every single thing that I did. On the other hand, I had a reputation as being a troublemaker already established, so I was often the one immediately suspected of being an instigator in the majority of undesirable situations, regardless of "truth." I was still liable to random outbursts of misbehavior (though, what child of such an age is not, to some extent?). I was also extremely clumsy (still am ^^). To counteract this, my parents enrolled me into Taekwondo.
This experience was advantageous in many respects, but at the same time, I was finding myself extremely unhappy whenever Tuesday and Thursday would roll around, as I would inevitably have to go to Taekwondo. Without going too far into the details, the instructor was a pretty big jerk. I ended up breaking down at the age of 13 and getting my parents to stop taking me. Again, not the point.
Anyways, that was one way my parents helped to address some of my coordination problems. However, I was still clumsy in my social skills. At about the age of 7, my best friend's father was coaching his children in to play chess competitively. One day, while visiting, I asked him to teach me. This turned out to be a life-altering moment. One year later, I took place in my first chess tournament, placing 3rd in K-6 division.
Over the next few years, I would continue to add trophies, awards, and relationships through chess. This... art... allowed my "quirks" to shine, and greatly decreased the amount of problems I would bring upon myself. The reason? Whenever I would find myself getting anxious, overexcited, or losing my temper, either I or my teacher would recommend that I go to the library to practice chess either with myself or with whatever book I was currently reading on theory. I got to the point where, despite being quite isolated from others, as I was currently in special education too, I was feeling very comfortable with myself. I would sit at lunch, playing chess by myself, while others were at different tables with their respective classes. I was allowed to invite people to my table, and occasionally I would have someone play with me. Either way, I was happy with myself.
At about the age of 12, I found myself alone, with my best friend moving to another state. I continued to participate in tournaments, and accumulate friends (and enemies). At this same time, in seventh grade, I made friends with an absolutely amazing teacher. He was the first teacher to truly love me for my uniqueness. He also had an interest in chess, though he was pretty bad. We talked about starting up a chess program for the school, and within a few months, it was so. Over the next 6 years, I would continue to go to this chess club, even becoming its coach when I could no longer be on the team, and had to go to High School. We did a few school tournaments, but there was not much enthusiasm in the group. It was not until college that my participation started to dwindle.
At the same time that I started to become a big part of the chess scene in my state, I was also starting to get into playing video games by myself. The first game that really engrossed me would end up being Final Fantasy 7. This would go on to give me joy from games like Diablo 2. In 1998, I found out about a game called Starcraft. I had played Warcraft 2 before, and thought it was pretty sophisticated. But this Starcraft sounded like a total rip off. I would leave this game unopened for about 5 months.
However, once I DID start playing it, I found myself absolutely immersed. This would go on to take up a good bit of my free time during middle and high school (though I would end up going back and forth between it and Diablo 2). This was one of the first games I'd played that let me play missions over and over, choose my own style based on the race I chose, or the kind of strategies I identified with. In many ways, it reminded me of chess. In fact, it would not be until around 8 years later, when I started getting into the competitive Starcraft scene, that I would realize just how much I related the two.
(On a side note, I find it humorous that it was because of Starcraft that I ended up having one of the highest WPM in my class when we started learning to type. The average was around 15 or so, while mine was at a ridiculous ~100-120. The actual reason? I had a piece of crap computer, and it took about 8 seconds to load a mission on Starcraft. I memorized all the cheats, and realized that I could type in as many as I wanted before the game finished loading, and they would all be enabled. This way, I'd be completely even with the computer on the surface, but have a significant advantage in ability to dominate).
I will continue in a bit
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As a person with autism that is very successful in relations, private life, personal achievements and businesses I think the problem lies with the labels people put on things they don't understand anything about.
There are all kinds of racism related views in today's society regarding diversity, it might be culture, skincolour, religion, sexual orientation or gender specific. This also applies to a persons neurology.
In any given group there is a standard that all people have to follow in order to be seen as mentally stable, it's called being neurotypical and is strongly associated with a persons behavior. The more a person deviate from this the more odd the person is seen.
All this talk about fixing peoples neurology is really no different than asking a person that you will help him turn from black into white or that since being a girl has it's disadvantages and she should perform a sex change to get it easier in life. For me it's nothing more than yet another form of discrimination and ignorance. I mean it wasn't that long ago that homosexuality was on the list of mental illness in the field of psychology. People have to start accepting others for what they are instead of judging them.
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EPT![[image loading]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US-autism-6-17-1996-2007.png)
