Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is one of the most debated topics in the fields of psychology and education today. Even though ADHD is one of the most common diagnoses in psychology today, being prescribed to approximately 11% of children 4-17 in the US, I stand with the side of the debate that doesn’t think that ADHD is a psychological disorder.
Rather than a specific definition, psychologists generally classify something as a psychological disorder if it is dysfunctional, as in something in the patient’s thought process isn’t working, has a negative impact on the patient or those around them, or is deviation from the norm. The video and paragraphs below show why. when handled correctly, ADHD does not match any of these descriptions. (Broadway, 2011)
Rather than a specific definition, psychologists generally classify something as a psychological disorder if it is dysfunctional, as in something in the patient’s thought process isn’t working, has a negative impact on the patient or those around them, or is deviation from the norm. The video and paragraphs below show why. when handled correctly, ADHD does not match any of these descriptions. (Broadway, 2011)
Thomas Edison the famous inventor who is reported to have been thrown out of school for not giving suitable attention to the teacher and fidgeting and getting out of his chair constantly. Throughout his life Edison continued to show signs of ADHD, but that is what enabled him to create so many diverse inventions. Dr. Thomas Hartmann, a psychotherapist, states that most children with ADHD are similar to Edison, their brains don’t necessarily work the same way most people’s do, but that is not to say that their brains don’t work wonderfully nonetheless. (Hartmann, 2003) The traits that characterize ADHD, rapid focus switching and the ability to hyperfocus on something that is of interest, make children with ADHD maybe not ideal students, but very ideal scientists, engineers, artists, and inventors.
However, we should also consider why ADHD has been considered a disorder for so long. One convincing piece of evidence for ADHD being a disorder is many neurological studies have consistently discovered abnormalities in the brains of subjects with ADHD. However, these findings are in question because Neurology and head scans are still so new we are still trying to define a normal brain and because many of the subjects tested had already been using corrective drugs such as Ritalin which could have caused these developmental reactions in the brain. But this does show that ADHD very much is a real physical condition, but not necessarily a disorder.(Millichap, 2010)
However, we should also consider why ADHD has been considered a disorder for so long. One convincing piece of evidence for ADHD being a disorder is many neurological studies have consistently discovered abnormalities in the brains of subjects with ADHD. However, these findings are in question because Neurology and head scans are still so new we are still trying to define a normal brain and because many of the subjects tested had already been using corrective drugs such as Ritalin which could have caused these developmental reactions in the brain. But this does show that ADHD very much is a real physical condition, but not necessarily a disorder.(Millichap, 2010)
So if ADHD, when handled correctly, is benificial. And if 11% of the population has has been diagnosed with it, with possibly thousands more undiagnosed, can it really be considered unusual or not normal? I certainly don't think so. And so we need to focus on how to treat kids with it correctly, not just try to suppress the effects.
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