History of ADHD Research a Story of Bad Research Behavior

The official history of ADHD research (Attention Deficit hyperactivity Disorder) can be summed up with the list of labels used to describe what we today call ADHD. It illustrates more of a bad attitude towards children than objective science trying to understand bad behavior in some children. All these descriptions are negative:

• Morbid Moral Defect of Moral Control
• Minimal Brain Damage
• Minimal Brain Dysfunction
• Hyperactive Child Syndrome
• Hyperkinetic Reaction of Childhood
• Attention Deficit Disorder with or without Hyperactivity
• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

History of ADHD Research

ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) has been with mankind since Adam, just as Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) and Conduct Disorder (CO) have been with us since Cain. ADHD research however has only a hundred year old history.

Adam and Eve? Deciding to eat the fruit of knowledge seems like a result of attention deficit and impulsivity. They were creative naming all the animals and creativity is a trait in the true attention deficit personality type.
 
The British paediatrician George Stills coined the first of these names 110 years ago. He was not writing about normal gifted attention deficit or hyperactive children. He was writing about young people with ODD (Opposition Defiant Disorder) and/or CO (Conduct Disorder).

Even though it is generally known by the foremost ADHD researchers that there is a clear difference between children and young people with ADHD and those with ODD and CO, they still group these very different youngsters together. These two groups, ADHD on the one hand and ODD and CO on the other have different responses to treatment and general life outcomes, but share a few symptoms. Not all, only inattention and hyperactivity. These are subjective criteria of symptoms and there is no objective medical, or physiological test for ADHD.

There will never be an objective test for ADHD as long the diagnosis criteria are symptoms. The signs or symptoms are not a disorder. A disorder is what causes the signs or symptoms.

Coughing is a symptom. Coughing is not a disease. What causes the coughing is the disorder. Coughing can be caused by tuberculosis, lung cancer, emphysema or a common cold. ADHD similarly is a list of symptoms. There are over 100 causes for these attention deficit and hyperactivity symptoms. They are medical, physiological, genetic, environmental, emotional and psychological. The majority of ADHD research projects unfortunately do not reflect this diversity of causes.

The future of ADHD history can go two ways.

Either it follows the old conventional way stuck in the “disorder” groove, only digging deeper into itt, and this is where the latest diagnostic manual, the DSM-V (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fifth Edition) is heading. This being rushed to be published by the spring of 2012.

Or science will ultimately triumph, and there will be an open debate in the scientific community. ADHD will be accepted for what it is by acknowledging the most basic of concepts, separating symptom from disorder or cause. ADHD is a confusing mixture of over 100 different conditions, with a set of common symptoms, each with its own cause(s) all stamped with the same unscientific label. We need an open debate without bigoted moralising arrogance with which many of today's foremost ADHD researchers, funded by drug companies seem to suffer from.

ADHD Gift or Curse?

Have you or your child been diagnosed for ADHD? Getting a label is the worst part for many people. One survey found that 80% of adults with ADHD symptoms feel dissatisfied with themselves. ADHD is short for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

It need not be a curse, ADHD can be a gift. Focussing on one’s weaknesses and trying to conform and be like everyone else is the main reason for this dissatisfaction. The first step for someone with ADHD is accepting one is different. Then it is possible to take control of your life and set the direction forward.

Do you have difficulty saying no? That’s ADHD. Do you know the answer to a problem without knowing how you arrived at the answer? That is ADHD thinking.

Understanding yourself is vital. Attention deficit is one side of the coin; the other side is super focussing, intuitive out-of-the-box thinking, enthusiasm, energy and helpfulness among a long list of positive traits.

Conventional thinking is that attention deficit is a disorder, but people with attention deficit have a different way of thinking. This is the idea behind the neurodiversity concept. The part of the brain that is controlling our impulses does not function well in the attention deficit brain. This is a part of the ADHD personality’s creativity.

Brain scans show a lack of cognitive thinking. When an average person’s brain is generating beta waves, indicating a well functioning cognitive thought process, the ADHD person’s brain is in an alpha or theta state. This is the sign of a well functioning intuitive thought process. We who have an attention deficit brain do not have a disorder; we are just different.

The reason it was previously believed that ADHD was only a children’s condition, was that by the early twenties attention deficit people have learned coping strategies and learned self-control. Hyperactive children are spirited souls who have not understood how to control their energy. Dissatisfiedl adults with ADHD have not understood how to harness their creative energy.

The danger for an attention deficit personality is learning to conform and become compliant, instead of guiding the creative spirit. Uncontrolled impulsivity is problematic and will result in difficulties in life, but a guided impulsivity is a creative force.

If attention deficit is a lack of dopamine, where does the dopamine come from when the child has left school, and become absorbed in a favourite hobby at home? ADHD is a gift. Do not put yourself down. Learn to use your strengths.

When ADHD is Normal - Neurodiversity

NEURODIVERSITY is all about accepting differences and then finding ways to work together. Accepting Neurodiversity also helps us understand ourselves so we can develop strategies and methods for handling and controlling our ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) behavior, or the ADHD behavior of our children.

A hyperactive or chronically daydreaming child does not understand why s/he gets irritated over small things, and can only be helped if a serious attempt is made to see the world from the child’s point of view. This is a vital insight for a parent of a difficult child to have.

For really serious behavior problems like oppositional and defiant behavior behavioral training is the only long term answer. Medication is not, as the effects last only a few hours, but side effects last longer. Also studies show that the effectiveness of stimulant medication decreases, as the person gets older.

Understanding and accepting Neurodiversity is a key to understanding the cause of ADHD bad behavior and can help people with ADHD understand their own behavior. It explains frustration, irritability and why parents or spouses misunderstand their loved ones with ADHD.

Often adolescents with ADHD leave school and enter adult life with a disorder label gives a victim status to many. One survey showed that 87% of adults with ADHD felt life is hopeless. Using one’s energy to constantly adjust and trying to fit in prevents development of a healthy self-esteem. Accepting that we are different and think differently to the average person, but are not disordered is a key step to taking control of one’s life.

Visit ADHD Health for more on Neurodiversity and ADHD.

ADHD - Positive Side of Attention Deficit

ADHD has been described as the most misdiagnosed and misunderstood condition in school children. It is officially the most commonly diagnosed chronic psychiatric disorder in school age children, described as a neurological, genetic and developmental disorder.

This article on the Positive Side of Attention Deficit shows that ADHD is situational, and depending on the circumstance can be the source of wonderful talent.

Somewhere between 6% and 10% of children in school are afflicted by this disorder. About 70% of them will continue into adulthood with this condition. There are an estimated 5% of adults with ADD or ADHD.

A long list of people who have had ADHD throughout their lives include the philosophers, scientists, entrepreneurs Richard Branson, actors, artists, composers, authors, many United States Presidents and innumerable sports stars.

There is obviously some benefit with this condition if so many successful people have had it. If it were not for some of those great people with ADD, ADHD and even autism we would not have come as far today as we have in science and technology. Many of humanity's greatest geniuses and creative people have had one of these conditions.

The positive side of ADHD people is a tendency, by their nature, to be enthusiastic, open-minded, determined, imaginative, creative, hardworking, insightful, trusting and sensitive.

This article is an encouraging and positive read for anyone with ADHD.

Coping with the effects of ADHD

Coping with the effects of ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) or ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder inattentive type) is often challenging, but this is partly due to the misconception that ADHD must be a disorder. Understanding your personal ADD or ADHD is your key to a natural ADHD cure.

ADHD is a complicated subject. Very complicated. Despite what we read in the newspapers and on most websites dealing with ADHD, there are many ADHD theories. The verdict is still out there and you can be the jury on your own personal ADHD signs. The neurodiversity and the social construct theory and the hunter farmer theory explain ADHD as normal variations within humanity’s diversity.

 Mainstream ADHD research is looking for one cause of ADHD and a miracle ADHD cure. This is like trying to find a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. A few centuries ago the scientists of the day were trying to turn lead into gold. Today’s gold is profits for pharmaceutical companies. The cure for your personal attention deficit and/or hyperactivity is in your hands.

In our Western society we have become accustomed to trusting science religiously. Science results do not lie, but where opinions differ, as they do in ADHD research, it is usually due to four reasons:

• What aspects of the subject are chosen to study.
• What results to choose.
• How the results are interpreted.
• The human factor; how honest are the scientists, in striving for the truth, or striving to gain status in their careers.

Is ADHD a disorder? Yes and no. It can even be the sign of a gifted child.
Is ADD ADHD a neurological genetic disorder? Yes and no. There are neurological genetic disorders that result in ADHD signs, but this is not the true or pure ADHD. Blond hair and brown eyes are also genetic, and talents for painting or writing are genetic neurological talents. The ADHD gifted child is neurologically and genetically different, but not disordered.

It all depends on which facts you choose you include, and which facts you choose to ignore.

ADHD signs are described in the DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fourth Edition) ADHD diagnosis. These are subjective interpretations of some behavior patterns and not anything objective. They are disconnected from the attention deficit causes.

Among the causes for attention deficit hyperactivity are these eight possibilities:

• Physiological causes
• Medical causes
• Psychological causes
• Personality disorders
• Developmental causes
• Genetic
• Personality types
• An Attention Dysregulation Personality or an ADD/ADHD personality

An understanding doctor who is aware of these other possible causes of ADHD symptoms is invaluable to tracing the reason for the attention deficit and/or hyperactive behavior.

An Attention Dysregulation Personality is a person who cannot by choice or willpower choose to be inattentive, normally attentive or hyperfocussed or super attentive. These people are unable to cope with boring tasks and respond to boredom by being easily distracted and attention deficit. When forced to do a boring task any distraction is a stimulant, which explains the distractibility.

There are many types of responses depending on personality types. For a child with ADD or ADHD the classroom can be boring. In the inattentive type, the child tunes out and daydreams, probably being very attentive, but not on what the teacher is talking about. In the the hyperactive type the child gets restless, fidgety and disturbs the class. These people have true ADD and ADHD. The attention deficit personality and attention deficit hyperactive personality are hereditary, and are personality types who do not easily fit into our modern regulated western society.

Sorry that I don’t have a miracle cure, but your path to coping or curing attention deficit is in your hands, by understanding your particular combination of symptoms, your personal talents and strengths. Schools tend to teach us to focus on our weaknesses, but with ADHD we need to assess and work on our strengths while developing strategies to deal with our weaknesses.

 

Really, Really Bad Expert Parenting Advice

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Sometimes when I read really bad parenting advice I think of a comment made by Groucho Marx: “A child of five would understand this. Send someone to fetch a child of five.”

A history of bad parenting, with advice from the foremost expert at the time, like character building by wearing thin leaking shoes to keep the child’s feet wet and cold, sounds more like physical and emotional child abuse.

 What has parenting advice looked like in the past? Before you smirk, just think that your Granny probably didn’t read this advice, or you would be in a long line of serial generations of psychopaths, but many people did believe these nutters as these were the experts of their day. Are our experts today any wiser, or are they equally dim-witted?

Emmett Holt, in “The Care and Feeding of Children” published in 1894, wrote, “Babies under six months old should never be played with; and the less of it at any time the better for the infant.”

This is a sure way of raising children who will suffer from Attachment Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder and a number of other emotional disorders.

John B. Watson in “Psychological Care of Infant and Child” published in 1928, wrote, “Never hug and kiss them, never let them sit in your lap. If you must, kiss them once on the forehead when they say good night. Shake hands with them in the morning. Give them a pat on the head if they have made an extraordinary good job of a difficult task.”

To be a good parent, just do exactly the opposite of this expert advice and you will do OK.

What is most natural to parents is to raise their children the way they were raised. So if your parents showed you respect, never got angry, gave you firm but loving limits, gave you all the attention you needed, built your self esteem, and were all around perfect parents, then being a great parent will be natural for you.

If however, your parents ever were stressed, expressed anger or frustration, ignored you, or fell short in any area of parenting, which is essentially everybody, then what comes naturally to you may be destructive for your child.

The world today is changing so rapidly and the challenges you face as a parent as so different than your parents faced raising you, that if your parenting style feels natural to you, it is almost certain you are missing something.

There is no way to perfect parenting, but there are hundreds of good ways to be a parent.

If you are unsure or struggling with difficult behavior, there are links to common sense and encouraging advice specially aimed at different age groups and different problems can be found at Agape Trust parenting advice.

ADHD classroom Environment

A humorous  article on boredom in the classroom “How to Fight Boredom at School” got me thinking about how little has changed over the last half century since I was at school. There is still a negative ADHD classroom environment. Schools are still designed for an average child and are fairly inflexible institutions towards kids on either side of the average bell curve.

Imagine a normal healthy child who is a kinetic learner; they have to touch and move to be able to learn anything. Most of us have met the child who has to touch and fiddle with everything. Now imagine that child with a teacher who reads the lesson from a textbook in a monotonous droning voice. This is one of the 101 reasons for ADHD like behavior.

This healthy active energetic child is unable to follow the lesson. This is not laziness, this is a genuine inability to understand what the teacher is saying. The child could have a Mensa IQ of 140, but would still be unable to understand what the normal child next to him/her with an IQ of 90 can understand so easily. This is not good for a child’s self esteem. The child needs encouraging guidance, something few schools have resources for.

It is not primarily the fault of the schools. The bankers destroy the economy and the politicians do not have funds for the budgets schools need. The kid who needs to be hands on, moving and touchy-feely to be able to learn, is the loser.

The child becomes frustrated and bored. The stimulus this child needs is lacking entirely. The poor child feels like climbing up the walls and cannot help him/herself, lets out a loud sigh, which is misunderstood as a lack of respect. Then follows fingers drumming on the desk, something the child is unaware of,  becomes a disruption in class. Now there is something for the child to concentrate on: keeping still and quiet.

Hyperactivity and typical ADHD behavior is the natural effect of this. Involuntary foot tapping results in yet another reprimand, and the child is sent out of the class for disruptive behavior.

What does the child feel?

• Remorse for having behaved badly?
• Anger at being misunderstood?
• Relief?

Yes, relief at being freed from the confines of frustrating boredom. If this scenario continues the child is being positively reinforced to behave badly. This normal decent child in a classroom environment that triggers attention deficit will become a naughty “trouble maker.” The parents are called in and both school and parents start a campaign of retroactive actions aimed at the child’s behavior and not the cause of the behavior. There are a number of natural attention deficit cures for

This leads to a downward spiral of positive reinforcement for bad behavior, parents in a hair-tearing frustration with their child who had been “so sweet” before, and a loss of self-esteem in the child who receives 90% to 95% negative communication from adults who’s task it is to build self-esteem.

Thomas Edison’s mother removed him from school and home schooled him so that he could reach his full potential. Albert Einstein was a school dropout, but did not feel a loss of self-esteem, instead he criticised the school for stifling his creativity. Both of them had typical ADHD symptoms. ADHD is linked to creativity and a gifted child.

Many problem children do not fit into the school system, and as parents we need to strengthen their self-esteem and encourage them to learn to understand themselves so that they can, as adults, lead a successful and productive life after they leave the ADHD classroom problems behind.