Why is ADHD so prevalent now versus in the past?

[W_L]

I just found out today 2 more co-workers I know have ADHD.

 

Has anyone ever asked the question, why do so many adults and kids seem to suffer from this illness?

 

I mean, many kids are hyperactive and so are many adults, but what makes this condition so prevalent in modern times? Is it merely diagnostics? or is it a technicality?

[Graeme]

How do you know it's more prevalent today, and not simply being better diagnosed and reported?

 

It's possible that it may be overdiagnosed, but that's a different question. ADHD is a relatively new diagnosis, not making it into the DSM until 1968 under the name of Hyperkinetic Impulse Disorder. Once it was an 'officially recognised' diagnosis, it then took time before doctors accepted it. It didn't get the name ADHD until the 1980s. So, naturally you won't find any diagnoses of ADHD before then.

Edited March 24, 2017 by Graeme

[Former Member]

The diagnosis and name are existing since the 1980s like Greame says and I to my opinion people like to have a name for a problem.

[Arpeggio]

My little brother Noah has ADHD. I thought that I could manage him without medicine, and four weeks in, I was begging the doctor to put him back on his adderall. He simply cannot focus on ANYTHING. I started working with him on it once I got custody and got his grades up, and he's become a lot less defiant and troublesome than before, but after seeing him sit there and not take in a single word I said, I believe it's definitely a real disorder. I'm 26 now, and there are people my age who have children almost the same age as Noah, and I've noticed a lot of them will claim their kid is ADHD just to get their hands on their medicine. My other brother had a hard time with stealing Noah's medicine for himself. It's a shame. 

 

 

Noah turns 11 in July. He's getting so biiiiig! This was him at summer camp this year.

 

 

Edited March 24, 2017 by Arpeggio

[Sasha Distan]

Like @Graeme said, it's a new diagnosis, which doesn't mean it didn't exist in the past.

I agree with @Arpeggio it is a real clinical thing, but I also agree that it is also sometimes used (as almost anything can be) as a crutch by parents who just can't cope.

 

Unfortunately, like with the rise in various mental disorders such as increased rates of clinical depression and anxiety, that our lifestyles as modern westernised humans (who, in broad terms, spend lots of time in front of screens and interacting through social media) are doing little to improve this trend.  Various studies suggest that these things have direct correlation (though causation is not fully supported, and not everyone with ADHD, or depression, or anxiety spends lots of time online or playing video games).

 

@Arpeggio your little brother is adorable. Just wait, one day he'll turn round a declare he has a boy/girl friend and you'll go "Wait, wasn't it your 5th birthday, like, last year?"

[wenmale64]

I think a lot of it is a diagonstic issue.  It is a real condition that seems to be a fallback if a kid/adult is a bit overactive.  A hyper child is automaticly said to have ADHD or some simular condition and parents want the pill to "fix" junior.  A very poor choice.  When people have a condition then medication is a wonderful think.  Another thing that MAY be a contributing factor is simply our society.  People do not slow down anymore. Everything happens very quickly.  Watch a kid with a smartphone some time.  They can text at light speed.  If they do not get a response very quickly they get wound up tight.  Another young person area is video games.  Video games are action packed so things are changing very fast.  People today struggle with slow moving things, be it road rage, computer programs, other people or just life.  Many kids today view reading as a punishment in school, very sad.  My wife is a teacher at the high school level and often talks about needing to give the kids a stand and strech break every ten minutes or she will totally lose them to boredom.  It she does this the productivity in the clasroom goes up exponentially.  With this in mind, I think there are many factors in play here.  Just my thoughts.

 

@Arpeggio,  Good on you for taking in your brother and providing the help he needs to suceed.  You will be able to smile many times in the future years for your part in his life.  GREAT JOB!!!!!

[Former Member]

I am diagnosed with clinical depression and anxiety. I was recently tested for many things including ADD (I’m definitely not hyperactive), but I don’t meet enough criteria to be diagnosed as ADD or ADHD. Many of the criteria I do meet can also be symptoms of depression or anxiety. It’s also possible that some of the other things they discovered during the testing are masking symptoms of ADD.

 

I know that I am much more sensitive to background noise (including Muzak) that others can ignore and strong smells bother me (I do not wear colognes or perfumes).

 

 

My cousin was diagnosed as hyperactive and was on medication back in the ‘70s, so they’ve been diagnosing kids with hyperactivity for a long time.

[Solivagant]

Nowadays, most people are "brave" enough to seek help; the same has happened with Asperger's Syndrome: I was diagnosed with it only three years ago. I asked both my grandmother and mother about it, and they told me that the majority of parents used to be embarrassed and ashamed to go to a psychiatrist to seek out help for themselves, let alone for their children. Other people's opinions and perception were very important in the past, and there was too much ignorance: no one wanted to be known as the parent, sibling, or friend of a "crazy person." Thank goodness that things have changed for the best!

[CassieQ]

 

On 3/23/2017 at 10:36 PM, W_L said:

I just found out today 2 more co-workers I know have ADHD.

 

Has anyone ever asked the question, why do so many adults and kids seem to suffer from this illness?

 

I mean, many kids are hyperactive and so are many adults, but what makes this condition so prevalent in modern times? Is it merely diagnostics? or is it a technicality?

Not all people with ADHD are hyperactive.

 

I think it is a diagnostic thing.  I have primarily inattentive ADHD and I was never diagnosed in school  (back in the 80s), because I was quiet and didn't cause trouble because I was lost in my own head a lot of the time.  It was the impulsive and hyperactive kids who usually got help first, because they were easier to find and diagnose.  

 

I was diagnosed as an adult and the first time I took medication for it, I almost cried.  There was no noise in my head and all of a sudden my thoughts were clear and laid out in a way that made sense and were easy to follow.  I could look at a task in front of me and work on it without being distracted by every other thing in the room.  That's not a technicality.   

[Thorn Wilde]

On 11/4/2018 at 4:06 PM, CassieQ said:

 

Not all people with ADHD are hyperactive.

 

I think it is a diagnostic thing.  I have primarily inattentive ADHD and I was never diagnosed in school  (back in the 80s), because I was quiet and didn't cause trouble because I was lost in my own head a lot of the time.  It was the impulsive and hyperactive kids who usually got help first, because they were easier to find and diagnose.  

 

I was diagnosed as an adult and the first time I took medication for it, I almost cried.  There was no noise in my head and all of a sudden my thoughts were clear and laid out in a way that made sense and were easy to follow.  I could look at a task in front of me and work on it without being distracted by every other thing in the room.  That's not a technicality.   

 

It's actually very common for girls to have less of the hyperactivity thing and zone out more, while boys tend to act out. Whether that's due to biology or social conditioning is hard to say. So boys are more frequently diagnosed than girls, and a lot of ciswomen aren't diagnosed until well into adulthood. My mum has a coworker who's nearly fifty and was diagnosed last year. One of my best friends was diagnosed two years ago, at the age of 28, and while I'd never thought about it before, when she told me I was like, yeah, that makes perfect sense. I've known her for fourteen years, and she's always been like that. She has the hyperactive thing, too, super energetic and stuff, always has a million things going on. It's actually kind of crazy that she wasn't diagnosed until now.

Edited November 5, 2018 by Thorn Wilde

[TetRefine]

I can tell you, as a teacher in the elementary level, that ADHD is absolutely a real thing. I have students where I can tell within the first ten seconds of them coming into the classroom if they have taken their meds or not. The days they don't are incredibly frustrating, because no matter what you do they simply can't focus. They become distractions to everyone else, interrupt everything, and act out because their brain is just all over the place. Trying to get them to calm down is impossible, and you can't really be mad at them because they can't do a thing about it.  It simply is better understood now (like so many medical conditions) than it was 10, 15, 30 years ago. Can it be a fallback for kids who may be a little more hyperactive than normal? Yes, and there are several students I know whose diagnosis I highly question. But most kids who are diagnosed with ADHD legitimately suffer from it, and need to be on some sort of medication.  Without it, they can't function effectively in life. 

[Cia]

1 hour ago, TetRefine said:

I can tell you, as a teacher in the elementary level, that ADHD is absolutely a real thing. I have students where I can tell within the first ten seconds of them coming into the classroom if they have taken their meds or not. The days they don't are incredibly frustrating, because no matter what you do they simply can't focus. They become distractions to everyone else, interrupt everything, and act out because their brain is just all over the place. Trying to get them to calm down is impossible, and you can't really be mad at them because they can't do a thing about it.  It simply is better understood now (like so many medical conditions) than it was 10, 15, 30 years ago. Can it be a fallback for kids who may be a little more hyperactive than normal? Yes, and there are several students I know whose diagnosis I highly question. But most kids who are diagnosed with ADHD legitimately suffer from it, and need to be on some sort of medication.  Without it, they can't function effectively in life. 

Absolutely! And, since I have known or worked with a variety of SPED students, what I've seen when they switch medications or they overdo them it's just as bad. Then you have zombies in school-kid form. It's also drives just as crazy when people judge kids with legitimate behavior disabilities versus kids who 'act out'. Yes, there is a difference. Yes, they can be helped but no they can't always help themselves. No, not every kid being a little stinker in class or who doesn't want to do a lesson has a behavior problem that is a disability. GAH! 

[Efmaer]

On 11/4/2018 at 1:32 AM, Solivagant said:

Nowadays, most people are "brave" enough to seek help; the same has happened with Asperger's Syndrome: I was diagnosed with it only three years ago. I asked both my grandmother and mother about it, and they told me that the majority of parents used to be embarrassed and ashamed to go to a psychiatrist to seek out help for themselves, let alone for their children. Other people's opinions and perception were very important in the past, and there was too much ignorance: no one wanted to be known as the parent, sibling, or friend of a "crazy person." Thank goodness that things have changed for the best!

 

My stepson was diagnosed with ADHD and Oppositional Defiant Disorder in 1994. I had to argue with both the school and his father just to get him tested. The school didn't want to do the assessments because if they didn't use the allocated funds for testing they got to keep it and add it to the next year's budget.

 

My husband's instant reaction was a knee jerk "Not *MY* child!" He fought tooth and nail to prevent the testing. I had to have him sign the paperwork because while I was his wife I had no legal standing with regards to Geoffrey. I finally pulled the criteria from the DSMR IV and read them off.  I don't recall the actual numbers but lets say there were 10 criteria. According to the DSMR IV you only needed to match 4. Geoffrey matched 7. 

 

The only reason that child actually managed to turn into a teenager is that I got him diagnosed and put on medication.  There were still issues, but at least when he was on medication I wasn't driven to a desperate desire to turn him into wallpaper multiple times a day.

[Thorn Wilde]

11 hours ago, Efmaer said:

 

My stepson was diagnosed with ADHD and Oppositional Defiant Disorder in 1994. I had to argue with both the school and his father just to get him tested. The school didn't want to do the assessments because if they didn't use the allocated funds for testing they got to keep it and add it to the next year's budget.

 

My husband's instant reaction was a knee jerk "Not *MY* child!" He fought tooth and nail to prevent the testing. I had to have him sign the paperwork because while I was his wife I had no legal standing with regards to Geoffrey. I finally pulled the criteria from the DSMR IV and read them off.  I don't recall the actual numbers but lets say there were 10 criteria. According to the DSMR IV you only needed to match 4. Geoffrey matched 7. 

 

The only reason that child actually managed to turn into a teenager is that I got him diagnosed and put on medication.  There were still issues, but at least when he was on medication I wasn't driven to a desperate desire to turn him into wallpaper multiple times a day.

 

My aunt likely has an autism spectrum disorder (a fairly severe one), but she never got any help as a kid, because her mother refused to accept the idea that there was something wrong with her precious baby girl (youngest of four, and only girl). So they just kept changing schools whenever anything was brought up. This would have been at some point in the late 50s, early 60s, I believe. She never developed empathy, never learned how to relate to other people. She went on to have four children, all of whom are some degree of screwed up because she couldn't actually take care of them properly. It's so sad when parents sabotage their own children by refusing diagnosis and treatment. It can have far reaching consequences. I'm glad you managed to help your stepson.

Edited November 7, 2018 by Thorn Wilde