Recently, a friend of mine asked my opinions on the validity of attention deficit disorder and related maladies. My response, which began life as an email, is reproduced here.

Regarding attention-deficit disorder.

My chequered career involves being IN secondary school when this entire ADD/HDD thing first started (mid- to late-70s), an undergrad in education in the early 80s, and teaching in various posts at both secondary and college levels, as well as a 3-year stint as a private high school principal.

My findings–only mine, of course–but what I believe.

ADD and HDD are not a myth. They are real, bonafide chemical imbalances that can, in fact, be helped by judicious application of certain mood-altering drugs. Let’s not call ‘em “medicine,” cause they’re NOT, not any more than Prozac is a “medicine.” They’re mood-altering drugs, regulated by government guidelines, as well they should be.

That being said, however, it also is a fact (remember, you’re seeing this through my eyes, so take it for what you will) that at least for 20 years (’75 though ‘95) the stock reaction towards ANY kid who wouldn’t sit still, didn’t concentrate on his/her schoolwork, etc., was that this child was ADD/HDD, which simply is not true. The analogy I used with parents when I was a principal was “If you have a burning sensation in your chest, yes, it could be a heart attack. It could also be bad kippers, a strained muscle, or any of a hundred other things.”

For a _long_ time–a generation, when you think about it–the immediate reaction to a child who was “jittery” was to, bluntly, drug the fuck out of them and, _even_more_importantly_, teach them that the fact that they had trouble in school was not THEIR FAULT, not THEIR RESPONSIBILITY–and the medical and psychological professions hammered that viewpoint home to the parents as well. To take the wide viewpoint, the diagnosis foisted on everyone (and readily accepted!) was that the kid’s behavior wasn’t anyone’s _fault_–ergo, NO ONE WAS RESPONSIBLE.

IMHO, that’s bullshit.

I’d say, using a ballpark guess from my experience, that of every 10 kids I’ve taught or lorded over who took Ritalin or some other drug, only about 1, maybe 2 of them actually needed it.

The rest? Lazy kids, lazy parents (frequently), adults who wanted to _have_ children but not _teach_ them or engage in any active parenting skills. So, so many people don’t understand–and, might I add, don’t WANT to understand–that being a parent is very, very difficult, and takes dump-truck loads of patience to do right. Since WW2, the prevailing and escalating though-processes of American societal mores has been the move towards what I call the “I’m not responsible” mentality, and it makes me sick.

Remember Glenn Frey’s hit of the ’80s, “Get Over It?” A silly pop song, but uncomfortably near the mark–I used to quote it (sometimes SING it) to my college classes:

I turn on the tube and what do I see
A whole lotta people cryin’ “Don’t blame me”
They point their crooked little fingers ar everybody else
Spend all their time feelin’ sorry for themselves
Victim of this, victim of that
Your momma’s too thin; your daddy’s too fat

Get over it
Get over it
All this whinin’ and cryin’ and pitchin’ a fit
Get over it, get over it

You say you haven’t been the same since you had your little crash
But you might feel better if I gave you some cash
The more I think about it, Old Billy was right
Let’s kill all the lawyers, kill ‘em tonight
You don’t want to work, you want to live like a king
But the big, bad world doesn’t owe you a thing

Get over it
Get over it
If you don’t want to play, then you might as well split
Get over it, Get over it

It’s like going to confession every time I hear you speak
You’re makin’ the most of your losin’ streak
Some call it sick, but I call it weak

You drag it around like a ball and chain
You wallow in the guilt; you wallow in the pain
You wave it like a flag, you wear it like a crown
Got your mind in the gutter, bringin’ everybody down
Complain about the present and blame it on the past
I’d like to find your inner child and kick its little ***

Get over it
Get over it
All this bitchin’ and moanin’ and pitchin’ a fit
Get over it, get over it

Get over it
Get over it
It’s gotta stop sometime, so why don’t you quit
Get over it, get over it

NOW you know why I didn’t post, but just in writing this email, I’m tempted to go write something in that topic…
Grrrrrr,
-m

This entry was posted on Monday, January 2nd, 2006 at 12:00 am and is filed under Ivory Tower, Rants. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.