More on Adderall, warnings, and medication decisions
As a follow-up to my post about the FDA and Adderall, I came across this report of a new study just published in Biological Psychiatry which contradicts much of the current buzz on the topic.
I’m noticing a lot of negativity around the Internet about ADHD and ADHD medications in general.. Everything from characterizing medications as gratuitous “good behavior drugs” to the tired old saw about ADHD being nothing more than an invention.
The problem with approaching ADHD that way is that it forecloses true cases of ADHD. And it does exist. Anyone who actually has a child with an attention deficit knows it exists. The fact of its existence doesn’t mean that medications are the automatic panacea. But they ought to be one option that parents can look at realistically and objectively without the stigma that seems to ebb and flow through the parenting communities on and off the Internet.
If my parents had known about ADHD when I was growing up, perhaps my father would have applied some of the compassion he had toward the juvenile delinquents he supervised (he was a probation officer in LA County for many years) to me. They got counseling; I got smacked. They got most of his attention; I got threatened with being put in the same facility with them. They got a break; I got to fly through a sliding glass door at the ripe age of seven.
My point in bringing that up is to illustrate that foreclosing options to already-frustrated and guilt laden parents is bad for them, bad for the kid, and bad for society as a whole. My father handled things badly — he has a narcissitic personality (even diagnosed!) and anger control issues. But for all the talk about parents who want superkids, some of us just want kids who are happy, healthy, living their lives to the fullest and succeeding without hindrances. Shouldn’t that be an attainable goal without being covered in criticism for opting for medication for our children?
The brain as mirror to social cues
An interesting article about the brain, intuition, and social cues. It mentions Asperger’s Syndrome and Autism as conditions which short-circuit social cues, but ADHD is another one of those. The impulsivity and hyperactivity that comes with ADHD (either physical, emotional, intellectual or all three) tends to manifest in social ineptitude, which turns into rejection by peers, which in turn can go a couple of different ways — depression or extreme shyness.
Sticks is just beginning to overcome the shyness this year. For me, it is still work to be in a group of people and have to read those social cues. There have been points in my life where Bigdog has criticized my conversation and/or judgment in social situations (not meanly, but still…), and that sends me back to the hidey-hole again. It really IS work — I’m exhausted after too many people situations.
My mother-in-law thinks I am a recluse. Tonight is a great example — MIL, FIL and SIL are having dinner, invite us to go. Sticks is at a rehearsal till 9, so I decline and Dancergirl and Bigdog go without me. I take the camera out and work on long-exposure-just-past-sunset photos, perfectly happy in that world. I’m energized, they’re energized, and it’s all good. It’s not that I don’t like them or like being around them — I really do. But I’m tired and it’s work to make and follow dinner conversations in crowded noisy places.
If I had to choose, I’d take shyness or withdrawal over depression. I just wish that it were easier to explain why it’s just easier NOT to work at being in a group.
Technorati Tags: ADD, AD/HD, Adderall, social cues
