What is ADHD?
ADHD or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is the name given to a whole lot of behaviours exhibited by youngsters particularly school-going children. Those children who find it difficult to concentrate or pay attention to their studies, and are excessively active, are often diagnosed by some psychiatrists as suffering from ADHD (For details of ADHD you may visit CDC and NIH). This condition was recognised as a disease in the US in 1960.
Is it a real disease?
According to Dr Richard Saul who is a Behavioural Neurologist from Chicago, ‘ADHD – as currently defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and as understood in the public imagination – does not exist’. An international neuroscientists, Duncan Smith has suggested that ADHD is not a real disease. Their views are shared by some other renowned experts, too.
Do goat kids and puppies get ADHD?
Those of us who have spent time with goat kids and puppies know how hyperactive and attention deficient they are, indeed. If they aren’t the way they are, then they sure have some health problem or probably they are starving! So are our own lively children. Their attention span is well-known to be woefully low. They get bored very soon if they are not actively engaged in things they like. They have to be active all the time until their eyes close (for sleep) against their wish. That is how they manage to grow, grow and grow.
Some children, of course, are below the average in their attention span. One of my sons was a typical example of such an attention deficit and hyperactive kid. His class teacher would complain to my wife, ‘Your son never pays attention to me when I teach. He looks at crows and pigeons through the window and when he does, other children follow, too!’ Well, he did fall behind in his studies for quite a while until I took him aside one day to explain to him, for nearly an hour, the advantages of doing well in studies and the disadvantages of not doing so. Gave him examples of those who were accomplished and those who were not. That did it. He improved in his studies from then on, and even completed a biology Ph. D. in the US with scholarship and in record time. Imagine what would have been his fate had we treated him for ADHD!
Is medication the answer?
According to Dr Saul “severe attention issues, ‘require a full evaluation to find the source of the problem’. Usually, once the original condition is found and treated, the ADHD symptoms go away.” He asserts that “While medication may not be avoided in serious cases, the common adverse side effects of medication on the mental health and future of the children should not be ignored“.
Other psychosomatic illnesses dealt with in our website are:
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