In part 2 of this series on ADD, I'll talk more about some of the common myths about ADD. Anyone who has been touched by ADD personally, either through their own symptoms, or by the diagnosis of someone in their family, can personally attest to the wide range of beliefs about people with ADD. Many times, people with little or no knowledge about the condition can have preconceived ideas about ADD that make it difficult to feel comfortable talking about the diagnosis freely.
This can create a stigma of shame around ADD that is not only based in ignorance, but can be further damaging to the cause of diagnosing and treating people with ADD.
Education is the key to bringing about change in the public perception and in the private management of ADD.
One of the most common misconceptions about ADD is that this is a problem that only children and teenagers experience, and that people with ADD will "grow out of" ADD when they pass through adolescence. This is not true. In fact, about half of all the people who have ADD in childhood will continue to have symptoms well into adulthood, and even into later adulthood. It is very common for several members of the same family to have ADD, and for the children to be treated along with their parents and even grandparents.
Many people believe that ADD is a minor problem in our society. However, the impact of ADD on our society can be staggering.
Approximately 35% of children who are diagnosed with ADD but are untreated never finish a high school education.
The economic impact of this, not only on those people who have ADD, but on their families and on the community which helps to support them, is enormous. Because many people who have ADD also suffer from problems like substance abuse, there are also huge social implications to failing to diagnose or failing to treat people with ADD. There are studies which indicate that about half of people with ADD abuse drugs or alcohol, and about 40% of untreated aggressive and hyperactive boys will be arrested for a felony by the time they are sixteen years old. Additionally, as much as 75% of people with ADD have interpersonal problems with relationships. This could be due to a number of problems, such as not being able to filter the thoughts that go through their heads and subsequently out of their mouths (lack of tactful communication), difficulty in maintaining long-term relationships (restlessness with the "sameness" of everyday life with the same partner), and the inability to focus on achieving the long-term goals of a family or of a committed partnership can all be detrimental to having a long-term relationship with someone who has ADD.
Another myth about ADD is that people who have ADD simply aren't trying hard enough.
Many teachers and even parents, when faced with a child or adolescent who is underperforming in school, simply label him as being lazy, stupid, or just simply unmotivated. Multitudes of studies and medical test have revealed that the brains of people with ADD are simply different than the brains of people who don't have ADD. Simply put, people who have ADD simply are incapable of willing themselves to pay attention and concentrate, just as people without ADD are incapable of simply willing their bodies to fly when they take a running leap off of a building.
Another misconception about ADD is that it is a disorder that only affects males. Studies indicate that ADD affects at least as many girls as it does boys. However, since girls often manifest their symptoms in ways that are less likely to include hyperactivity, and more likely to include disorders of organization, they are less likely to be diagnosed with ADD, and more likely to be labeled as lazy, incompetent, or just not that bright.
Lastly, many people have a misconception that ADD is a passing fad, or it is a "new" problem. The symptoms of ADD have been described in medical literature for well over a hundred years. Many adults with ADD today remember simply being labeled as lazy or stupid in school. There was little to no thought that these children had a brain disorder; only that they needed to be punished more strictly so that they would behave themselves.
In part 3 of this series, I'll review some of the many ways that people with ADD can make the most of their lives, and learn to celebrate some of the ways that people with ADD contribute to the world in ways that they might never have imagined.
