Debunking the ADD Myth
Part One: We've all heard about ADD but do we truly know what it is, how it works, and if our child or self really has it?
ADD has been around since since 1968. Back then psychologist believed it was a form of brain damage or a sever learning disorder as the first few names implied, Minimal Brain Dysfunction, Hyperactivity Disorder, and Minimal Brain Damage. By the early eighties the disorder assumed the name Attention Deficit Disorder and started to become one of the most commonly diagnoised childhood illnesses of the time.
As children were diagnosed with ADD they were put on medications to combat the disorder. More children were on Ritalin, Adderall, and Dexedrine than vitamins. To top it all off, most of these medications had bad side affects that were not released by their manufactures. People were seeing children who used to be very happy become, literary, zombie-like. The reasons for this was the drug not the disorder. Ritalin was a drug designed for adults, which meant, and still means, that a proper dose for a child was never created. In other words, every time a child takes Ritalin they are receiving an adult dose of it.
Parents are told not to give their children adult doses of anything including simple over the counter drugs like Advil, Ibuprofen, and even cough suppressants, yet they intentionally allow children to receive an adult dosage of a drug such as Ritalin, which surpresses brain functions.
After the initial medication rush of the eighties and nineties the psychological community realized they had made a mistake. Because of this mistake they decided to make a revision to the DSM or Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The DSM is the psychological handbook of diagnosis. Every certified psychologist knows that to diagnose a disorder the person being diagnosed has to meet the criteria that are featured in the DSM. So in the year 2000 the psychological community released a new revision to the DSM containing new diagnostic procedures for ADD.
One of the most extraordinary revisions was the alimentation of Attention Deficit Disorder. Instead ADHD or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is now the only disorder recognized in the DSM. But why was it taken out of the DSM and replaced with ADHD? To find out check out part two of this article.