I'm not disputing you there certainly. A better diet can and will help nearly anyone with a lot of problems. I know from personal experience as well that a more regulated diet did help me with my ADHD. I just don't think it's the only answer a person needs, it should certainly be considered and implemented as well though. Not eating well when you know it can help is just silly.
I feel the need to respond to this, because, bing in the psychological field, I've spent a long time looking at both sides of this (not just with ADHD, but Depression as well)
First, ADHD is real, I've had it all my life, and so have many others. It's not a childhood illness either, but most people leanr to work with it my adulthood. It was however massively overdiagnosed in the 80's, and sometimes still is, by pediatricians who have no idea what thier looking at. A parent would say thier child was inatentive, flightly, or hard to control and BAM! they're on Ritalin. There are lot more requirements to actually be diagnosed with ADHD, but many doctors ignored them. The same problem happened throughout the 90's to people who really did have Depression problems, because anyone who said they felt bad got some Prozac or Zoloft. I share your concern really, but please put the blame where it belongs, on the lax and often money-grubbing medical community, not on people trying to find a way to cope with a real problem. I haven't met him, and I don't know all of the details, but I'd still bet a good amount that the reason changing his diet and adding controls to his regiem helped your child is because he never had ADHD, and was mis-diagnosed, but not because there is no such thing.
Okay, I've had fairly severe ADHD Hyperactive/Inattentive type for nearly 30 years. I've looked at a lot of different angles and studied a lot of different reports, and teted a lot of different folk remedies.
First, ADHD is a genetic chemical imbalance in the brain resulting from the improper reuptake of several nuerotransmitters. It's not caused by parenting, and it's not caused by a bad diet. For most of the 80's it was indeed overdiagnosed, just like Depression was in the 90's, but those who really have the problem know it. It's not the end of the world though. Although medication is very helpful as a child, when your ability to comprehend the issue and control your enviornment is minimal, it is less or even not at all needed by late adolescence into adulthood.
It used to be believed that whatever ADHD was, that is 'went away' by adulthood, because most people never displayed symptoms that late. What is happening is that most (approx. 75%) of ADHD sufferers have a light enough problem that by adulthood they have learned to cope and struture thier lives to work with and around the problem, and it never seems like it there anymore. Some still have signs, like myself, having more severe cases, or they have never learned to cope.
The way to deal is very simple actually. Medication will still help as an adult much of the time, but it's not really nessessary. All that is needed is to understand and acknowledge the nature of your specific type of ADHD (there are 3 main types, and several subdivisions) and structure your habits and living around that. ADHD can work to your benefit even if you plan things right. I have trouble staying focused in groups myself, so I work independantly and in some degree of separation (I don't lock myself away, I just keep my headphones on) and I can work tirelessly for ages. I also acknowledge the need to get up and move frequently (around the office, etc.) and I do, and I keep working. ou run into problems mostly when you try to do things that will be blatently hard for you. If I decided to start working in large groups, where we were required to sit for hours without getting up, I would have huge problems, but they way I work now makes me more productive than nearly any other employee.
Feel free to refute me on any of this, I welcome new insights and other opinions.
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I'm not disputing you there certainly. A better diet can and will help nearly anyone with a lot of problems. I know from personal experience as well that a more regulated diet did help me with my ADHD. I just don't think it's the only answer a person needs, it should certainly be considered and implemented as well though. Not eating well when you know it can help is just silly.
I feel the need to respond to this, because, bing in the psychological field, I've spent a long time looking at both sides of this (not just with ADHD, but Depression as well) First, ADHD is real, I've had it all my life, and so have many others. It's not a childhood illness either, but most people leanr to work with it my adulthood. It was however massively overdiagnosed in the 80's, and sometimes still is, by pediatricians who have no idea what thier looking at. A parent would say thier child was inatentive, flightly, or hard to control and BAM! they're on Ritalin. There are lot more requirements to actually be diagnosed with ADHD, but many doctors ignored them. The same problem happened throughout the 90's to people who really did have Depression problems, because anyone who said they felt bad got some Prozac or Zoloft. I share your concern really, but please put the blame where it belongs, on the lax and often money-grubbing medical community, not on people trying to find a way to cope with a real problem. I haven't met him, and I don't know all of the details, but I'd still bet a good amount that the reason changing his diet and adding controls to his regiem helped your child is because he never had ADHD, and was mis-diagnosed, but not because there is no such thing.
Okay, I've had fairly severe ADHD Hyperactive/Inattentive type for nearly 30 years. I've looked at a lot of different angles and studied a lot of different reports, and teted a lot of different folk remedies. First, ADHD is a genetic chemical imbalance in the brain resulting from the improper reuptake of several nuerotransmitters. It's not caused by parenting, and it's not caused by a bad diet. For most of the 80's it was indeed overdiagnosed, just like Depression was in the 90's, but those who really have the problem know it. It's not the end of the world though. Although medication is very helpful as a child, when your ability to comprehend the issue and control your enviornment is minimal, it is less or even not at all needed by late adolescence into adulthood. It used to be believed that whatever ADHD was, that is 'went away' by adulthood, because most people never displayed symptoms that late. What is happening is that most (approx. 75%) of ADHD sufferers have a light enough problem that by adulthood they have learned to cope and struture thier lives to work with and around the problem, and it never seems like it there anymore. Some still have signs, like myself, having more severe cases, or they have never learned to cope. The way to deal is very simple actually. Medication will still help as an adult much of the time, but it's not really nessessary. All that is needed is to understand and acknowledge the nature of your specific type of ADHD (there are 3 main types, and several subdivisions) and structure your habits and living around that. ADHD can work to your benefit even if you plan things right. I have trouble staying focused in groups myself, so I work independantly and in some degree of separation (I don't lock myself away, I just keep my headphones on) and I can work tirelessly for ages. I also acknowledge the need to get up and move frequently (around the office, etc.) and I do, and I keep working. ou run into problems mostly when you try to do things that will be blatently hard for you. If I decided to start working in large groups, where we were required to sit for hours without getting up, I would have huge problems, but they way I work now makes me more productive than nearly any other employee. Feel free to refute me on any of this, I welcome new insights and other opinions.