"Are Americans More Prone to A.D.H.D.?"

Parents Forum
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<p>(I think) Interesting threads from a psychiatry forum</p>

<p>"Are Americans More PronetoA.D.H.D.?"</p>

<p>Are</a> Americans More Prone to A.D.H.D.? - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com</p>

<p>and the debates</p>

<p>The</a> Role of A.D.H.D. Diagnoses in College Admissions - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com</p>

<p>American</a> Culture and A.D.H.D. - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com</p>

<p>Racism</a> and Sexism in Diagnosing A.D.H.D. - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com</p>

<p>"More teens than school-age kids now on ADHD medication"</p>

<p>"Stimulant Medication Use in Children: A 12-Year Perspective </p>

<p>Samuel H. Zuvekas, Ph.D., and Benedetto Vitiello, M.D. </p>

<p>From the Center for Financing, Access, and Cost Trends, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, Md., and the Division of Services and Intervention Research, Bethesda, Md. </p>

<p>OBJECTIVE: The authors examined the utilization of stimulant medications for the treatment of ADHD in U.S. children during the period 1996–2008 to determine trends by age, sex, race/ethnicity, family income, and geographic region. METHOD: The 1996–2008 database of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, a nationally representative annual survey of U.S. households, was analyzed for therapeutic stimulant use in children age 18 and younger. The data for 1987 were also recalculated for reference. </p>

<p>RESULTS: An estimated 3.5% (95% confidence interval=3.0–4.1) of U.S. children received stimulant medication in 2008, up from 2.4% in 1996. Over the period 1996–2008, stimulant use increased consistently at an overall annual growth rate of 3.4%. Use increased in adolescents (annual growth, 6.5%), but it did not significantly change in 6- to 12-year-olds, and it decreased in preschoolers. Use remained higher in boys than in girls, and it remained consistently lower in the West than in other U.S. regions. While differences by family income have disappeared over time, use of stimulants in ADHD treatment is significantly lower in racial/ethnic minorities. </p>

<p>CONCLUSIONS: Overall, pediatric stimulant use has been slowly but steadily increasing since 1996, primarily as a result of greater use in adolescents. Use in preschoolers remains low and has declined over time. Important variations related to racial/ethnic background and geographic region persist, thus indicating a substantial heterogeneity in the approach to the treatment of ADHD in U.S. communities "</p>

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<p>I really worry for this generation of kids who took or are taking amphetamines for long periods of time. I’m not sure that anyone understands fully if there are long term cardiovascular or other implications that will pop up as they kids enter mid-life. I pray that doesn’t happen.</p>

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<p>Inventions of the 20th century since my parents were born in 1917 include: the modern zipper, the pop up toaster, short wave radio, radio tuner, tommy gun, band aids, traffic signals, television, the self winding watch, frozen food, quartz crystal watch, liquid fueled rockets, techicolor, iron lungs, aerosol cans, pennicilin, electric shavers, bubblegum, scotch tape, jet engine, neoprene, electronic microscope, zoom lenses, parking meters, radio telescope, FM radio, tape recorders, canned beer, radar, photocopiers, jet engines, LSD, teflon, helicopters, electon microscope, computers, aqualung, atomic bomb, microwave ovens, transistors, tupperware, velcro, cake mix in a box, superglue, credit cards, hydrogen bomb, musical stynthesizer, the pill, fiber optics, hover craft, liquid paper, fortran, computer modem, laser and the integrated circut. </p>

<p>That takes me to the year I was born. Now add on the thousands of inventions and spectacular technological advances that have become a part of our everyday life since we were children.</p>

<p>Our brains are pretty much the same brains as those of our ancestors thousands of years ago, but we are coping with overloaded senses, and an unnatural pace of life.</p>

<p>Its a wonder any of us cope with life in the 21st century as well as we do.</p>

<p>The comments sections after each of the forums listed by Shrinkrap were fascinating.</p>

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<p>I have a theory. A totally non scientifically based and unproven theory.</p>

<p>I blame it on American football. it stops and starts so much, and there is so much else going on with cheerleaders and what not (don’t even start me on the constant intermissions for advertisements during college ball games), that it makes us all loose the ability to focus for prolonged periods of time.</p>

<p>I never thought for one minute I had ADD until I started going to HS football games when my kids were in HS. The game would be going along, then stop, then cheerleaders would do something, then band, then the game would have restarted and I’d miss it. Oh look, a squirrel</p>

<p>And the longest minutes in the world are in American football. </p>

<p>That’s my theory. Someone should research it. Not me. Though of course I don’t have ADD…Oh look, a squirrel.</p>

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<p>Some say it all started with Sesame Street- the short segments, the very entertaining approach, the constant novelty.
SERIOUSLY. I have heard LD educators and academics say this.</p>

<p>Less seriously, D2 (HS age) says"Oh MOM, EVERYone in my generation has ADD! That’s because we multi-taks constantly, and have to be able to do that to keep up! You are such an old fogey!"—
to my pleas that she focus, turn off the technology, and so forth.</p>

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<p>a couple of weeks ago they were blaming it on spongebob squarepants.</p>

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<p>I’ve heard it said that the rise of ADHD coincides with both the rise in popularity of football, and the demise of baseball as our national sport. The slime mold like pace of a baseball game sends most of us into death throes of boredom. </p>

<p>I found myself sort of praying, “Oh, please don’t love this sport”, somewhere in hour 2 of game 10 of S1’s first and only year of tee-ball. The kids couldn’t hit the ball past the pitcher’s mound, and nobody in the outfield had a clue about what was going on. It was excruciating.</p>

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<p>You must have ADD, then, eastcoascrazy…</p>

<p>p.s. why no t???</p>

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<p>Consider that we are a nation of immigrants (primarily). The kinds of folks that decide to move to another country/continent tend to be a bit restless.</p>

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<p>Performersmom, I, like most adults I know, have self inflicted ADD… Back when we only had 3 channels on the one TV in the house, when kids rode bikes and walked and had to be home when the street lights came on, when I had time to read for pleasure when my homework was done, when we had two recesses plus an hour for lunch (because all walkers had to go home for lunch), I had great powers of concentration.</p>

<p>Right now I’m writing this in my IPad, while listening to the traffic report on the TV…HURRY UP, YOU’RE GOING TO MISS THE BUS…thinking about several emails I need to…DON’T FORGET YOUR UNIFORM! THERE’S A MAKE UP GAME TODAY… send. and I’m not conducting business calls during the commute, or participating in conference calls while driving the carpool. I know people who do, though.</p>

<p>Which ties nicely into my name. I’m originally from Lake Wobegone, butoboeI live on the east coast, a place that I frequently think is a hotbed of 21st century crazy.</p>

<p>The “t” is missing from my name because I was distracted whe setting up my CC account.</p>

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<p>Should be " but now I live on the east coast" , and “I was distracted when setting up my CC account”. Sheesh.</p>

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<p>I think the diagnosis for most of us multi-taskers is really ADOS …
attention deficit oooh <em>shiny</em> … easily distracted by shiny objects. </p>

<p>I am just back from the biggest pet industry trade show of the year … and boy was my ADOS coming out …</p>

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<p>My theory is that Americans are a privileged class who have the time to worry about ADHD, same with menstrual cramps and childbirth. We are also a lazy bunch of people and forget that, as eastcoascrazy said, our bodies are still basically prehistoric and we ignore our bodies needs. </p>

<p>I could go on for hours but I’ll leave it here.</p>

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<p>I’m voting with Olymom. No one in their right mind gets on a teeny tiny leaky boat and crosses the Atlantic to a new world. If they weren’t crazy before they left home, they certainly would have been by the time they got here. It is proof positive of the resilience of human nature that we have managed to form a semi-functional modern society.</p>

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<p>Yep, and add to the mix that mainly the strongest / cleverest survived after arrival. We’ve got quite the gene-pool in the US. Tough stuff! Hope we can continue to weather the storms.</p>

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<p>Shrinkrap: I am very interested to know what you think about this? You are a psychiatrist?</p>

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<p>I expect we are more prone to ADHD.
I belong to ancestry dot com & my sister has researched our heritage back to the 14th century. On my fathers side of the family, many politicians & painters, on my moms side, inventors & outlaws.
My ancestors have been in this country for hundreds of years, I expect those who were driven to make the journey needed a bit more stimulation than those who stayed in Europe.</p>

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<p>I read somewhere at theory that distractibility was, at one point in our development as humans, a benefit. Paying attention to changes in the landscape was a lifesaving advantage, as it is to most wild animals today. Concentrate too much on the hole the mouse ran into, and you might ignore that small flutter in the bushes off to the side that signals there’s a cougar about to pounce on you. </p>

<p>Maybe we are hard wired for distractibility as an evolutionary advantage, and now that we’ve created all those shiny things that really aren’t important our old brains are in contant battle with our modern lives.</p>

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<p>emeraldkity, my FIL has often made the comment that the reason we Americans have done so much compared to Europes slow growth is that anyone with enough gumption and brains picked up and left, leaving only the wealthy, effete and stupid behind. </p>

<p>Now, I don’t believe it, but it always makes me laugh a bit when I hear massive complaints over 30 hour work weeks. </p>

<p>And I have heard this blamed on Sesame Street as well. Shame on them all!</p>

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<p>I think it’s because of whatever is causing the peanut allergy in all the kids now. ;)</p>