The Forums › Forums › Emotional Journey › Other › Why is ADD such a sensitive subject for some people? › Re: Why is ADD such a sensitive subject for some people?
People are being bombarded and overwhelmed with all the bazillions of new and constantly changing information on physical and mental health. It’s so bad, that I think people are actually pretty pissed off, and the idea of ADD just triggers the frustration they may have about their own ailments and the helpless feeling of trying to navigate through the health care system. People seriously have given up, and don’t think you should waste your time trying to go around in circles with doctors unless you’re having a heart attack or something. Plus there’s been some really nasty stuff in the media about prescribing medicine to kids.
People are also angry because the first time they ever heard of a medical condition was in a commercial made by the drug companies, selling a drug to treat said condition. It makes it seem like the conditions are just made up to sell a new kind of pill. People just automatically scoff when you try to explain ADD – they think you’ve been sold some snake oil, and now your trying to convince them.
It’s no wonder that ADD is difficult and awkward to deal with… we don’t really have an adequate cultural context to place it in. Adults learn by connecting new information into what they already know. ADD doesn’t connect well with what most people have grown up thinking about behavior, work ethic, free will, religeon, etc.
Neuroscience is in its infancy compared with other medical disciplines… It has taken very sophisticated technology to actually be able to see how the brain functions, and there’s still so much the researchers can only guess about.
Psychology has come up with one theory after another on personality and behavior, debunking their own theories, and coming up with new ones at a rapid rate. It takes societies generations to process new ideas and fit them into the framework of what is fact, theory, relevant or irrelevant to the greater good. Honestly, I think your average person is just barely catching up with Freud (hence the over use of the term “anal” haha)
I’m just grateful to be able to benefit from what little is known about adult ADD – but it’s a leap of faith – one that I know I can’t necessarily expect others to make. I am highly motivated by a desire to bring my quality of life up to an acceptable level. People who don’t have ADD or don’t know they have it, or have never heard of it, just don’t have the need or want to wade through the controversy and conflicting information to actually have an intelligent conversation about it.
I’m so glad for this site, because it gives us the luxury of being able to communicate about our lives with a small slice of people who are much more informed, interested and invested in figuring out ADD. I’m pretty selective in who I’ll discuss it with outside of this site – I find other peoples attitudes disheartening, but I understand why they are skeptical.
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