ADHD Does Not Exist
TLDRHuman civilization was created on the backs of eccentrics doing weird stuff. The children of eccentrics have been labeled ADHD.
In the 1930s a quack gave random drugs to children to see what would happen. Some became obedient, so narrow minded fellows made up the term ADHD to keep prescribing drugs.
You are not broken, you just need a continent to explore or a flying machine to invent.
Ok, it's a real entry in the DSM, it has defined characteristics, it is heritable, demonstrable, and falsifiable. Experts also thought glass eels were five different species because no one saw their maturation. Other experts identified 17 species of triceratops, but that number is now down to three species because the rest were adolescents. Same here. We already had a term for people with the attributes of adult ADHD, but because the diagnosis was based on children, doctors incorrectly identified it as a distinct condition.
The first example was given by Sir Alexander Crichton in 1798: "The incapacity of attending with a necessary degree of constancy to any one object."
The Goulstonian Lectures of Sir George Frederic Still in 1902 found “defect of moral control as a morbid manifestation, without general impairment of intellect and without physical disease” (Still 1902, p. 1079)
In 1937, Charles Bradley attempted to treat headaches... with benzedrine which was “the most potent stimulant available at the time” (Gross 1995). However, benzedrine had a negligible effect on the headaches, but caused a striking improvement in behavior and school performance in some of the children.
Ritalin was first synthesized in 1944... and was initially used in the treatment of “a number of indications such as chronic fatigue, lethargy, depressive states, disturbed senile behavior, psychosis associated with depression and narcolepsy.”... “However, its most impressive effect has been the reduction of symptoms seen in ADHD.” NIH
In 1987, the APA included the three symptoms of inattentiveness, impulsivity, and hyperactivity.
You cannot define an animal by its various adolescent forms, and in the same way this fully heritable variation of human characteristics cannot be accurately defined by its childhood symptoms. Divergence from the mean comes in many forms. ADHD and Autism might be the most popular these days, but left-handedness used to be brutally punished in childhood with associations to bad luck and demons. High intelligence and homosexuality are also reasonably regarded as neurodivergence, and while each of these brings challenges in society, none of them are reasonably called disorders.
Let's see what the adult looks like to get a better idea of the adult ADHD animal:
- Hundreds of hobbies, sometimes bizarre.
- Intensely creative and curious.
- Boundless enthusiasm for novelty.
- Always up for an adventure.
- No interest in social norms.
- Zero regard for chain of command.
- Prone to travel, often with no plan or warning.
- Intense intuition; Can vibe check at a glance.
- Aware of everything around them and unable to filter the unimportant.
- Uses curios on display as visual cues or reminders.
- Knows what you're going to say and wants you to talk faster.
- Due tomorrow? Do tomorrow.
- Can hammer out 18 hours of work without food, water, or toilet breaks.
- Unable to do or attend to the boring thing.
- Up at all hours of the night.
Compare that to the absurdity of a formal diagnosis of ADHD per the DSM-5: ADHD is classified as a "neurodevelopmental disorder" characterized by impairing levels of inattention, disorganization, and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity.
You see the issue. Before the APA formalized their diagnoses, we were called Eccentric. Leonardo DaVinci, Mozart, Amelia Earhart, Benjamin Franklin, Richard Feynman, Nikola Tesla, Ada Lovelace, Alexander von Humboldt, Marie Curie, Theodore Roosevelt, Buckminster Fuller, Mary Shelley! It is hard to think of a world-shaper who wasn't Eccentric.
Right now, and since the 1990s in particular, Eccentric children who are still developing have been emotionally and mentally abused by teachers, administrators, psychologists, and parents who regard them as having a "disorder." The children are too young to understand, but the use of disorder there exclusively refers to the assembly-line classroom being disturbed by a free-thinker. Hyperactivity in a triathlon is a winning trait. Unfocused attention in the forest is a survival trait. Impulsiveness is how we learn more than our peers. What is the natural result of an Eccentric child being diagnosed as being broken? Of them being continuously corrected and steered into blind obedience, chastised for creativity and interests, and punished for pursuing their interests when misaligned with curricula? Depression.
What does depression look like for Eccentrics?
- A dearth of enthusiasm.
- Lack of curiosity and creativity.
- Lost interest in hobbies.
- Conformance to societal norms just to avoid the hassle.
- No travel, adventures, exploration.
- Sleep for recreation.
- They sit still and dissociate without disturbing the class.
In short, when an ADHD child becomes a depressed ADHD teenager, they start to look neurotypical. "Some adults appear to outgrow ADHD." chadd.org
It is important to call out the negative impact of the symptoms themselves. A lively conversation is ongoing as to whether the negative impact is primarily due to our societal rigidity or due to the traits themselves. An argument can be made that most negative impact of symptoms is due to children internalizing near-incessant criticism and chastisement from authority figures 16 hours per day for the most formative 15 years of their lives. On the other hand, there is value to being able to conform to society and meet expectations for an average person with an average life, and that often is only accessible via treatment.
The APA does good work and they help a lot of people. They have also made a mistake here. ADHD is not a neurodevelopmental disorder. Our society was built by Eccentrics who broke norms and disregarded boundaries, connected incongruous ideas, and invented new fields. These children are not wounded, they are simply fish being asked to climb a tree, then criticized and medicated when they fail. Drugs aside, the experience is traumatic, bordering on psychological abuse.
If all the Eccentrics listed above had been drugged, lobotomized, or mollified into obsequiousness, we would live in a far darker world. Without the Eccentrics' unfocused energy, occasional hyperfocus, and uncountable hobbies, we would not have lightbulbs or gunpowder or bread. Only an Eccentric would have ground up perfectly good seeds and mixed in water, then tried to dry it by the fire like a mud brick. In my estimation, we owe half of civilization to the Eccentrics, and the other half to Autistics. That may be my next topic, if I don't lose interest in posting articles and move on to another hobby tomorrow.
To esteemed members of the American Psychological Association, I petition you to reevaluate your designation. We have already lost two generations of Eccentrics to self-doubt and heavy-handed medication. We cannot know the full toll our society will pay for this. Please reevaluate.
To my fellow Eccentrics, you are alright. You are better than alright. You are the change agents of human civilization. You are the best humanity has to offer. If Superman had been in our world, he would have been imprisoned from childhood for breaking every hand he ever shook. They don't know your value, and they have no right to call you broken, even if they did their best to break you. Be weird. Be fun. Be wild. Unmask and relearn who you are.
-Robert Allen