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Old 03-19-2008, 03:43 PM
WanderingOak WanderingOak is offline
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Personally, I think ADD, either in children or adults, is overdiagnosed, and that in most cases, drugs are not the way to deal with the problem. There is a lot of money in treating everything with pharmaceuticals, so of course that path is going to be promoted by those who stand to profit. Of course the people trying to sell you the meds are going to try and convince you that you have the disease that they are promoting the cure for.

With children, I think it is a combination of the rigid structure of schools, and the propensity of overworked teachers to deal with 'problem students' by doping them to the gills. I'm not saying that it is the fault of the teachers, but rather the institutional environment that our schools have become.

With adults, I think one problem is that modern 'plugged in' office environment is so overwhelming with email, television, blogs, cyberforums, cellphones, cubicle-farms, blackberries, sales projections, meetings, meet-me numbers, voicemail, deadlines, powerpoint presentations, etc., that many people have sensory overload and can't focus. The fact that there is probably a Starbucks in the office lobby doesn't help. I have found it very difficult to focus in such environments.

I do not believe that the human brain was designed for multitasking, and think ADD is just a symptom of this problem. For example, I seriously doubt if ADD is very prevalent among the 'plain folk' such as the Amish. Admittedly, becoming a total Luddite and giving up on technology and 'modern life' altogether is probably not a solution for everybody, any more than retreating to the 'snow-capped peaks' of Feudal Japan is. Both probably will quiet down the 'mad chattering ferret' in your brain that keeps you from focusing, but both are also rather extreme. I have had ADD-type symptoms from time-to-time, and have discovered that they are lessened when I don't try to multitask and am in a distraction-free environment. Of course, not everybody has a choice about the environment that they work in, so if you have to work in a modern office, then perhaps meditation or martial arts training will help your focus.
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