This recent USA Today article discusses how the number of adults who are being prescribed drugs for ADHD has doubled in the past four years. What's behind this sudden upturn? Is this an expanding problem for society or the condition simply being overdiagnosed?
One huge tip-off to the problem is that boys are more than twice as likely than girls to take ADHD medicine. If you've read much about evolution or evolutionary psychology, the bells should be going off. Here is a brief summary of the evolutionary argument for ADHD, by critic Zdenek Matejcek:
"Their idea is roughly as follows: ADHD is characterized by transient concentration, hyperactivity and impulsiveness. In the extreme conditions of prehistory, man's survival required hypervigilance, rapid-scanning, quickness to move, hyperactivity and response-readiness. This would have been an advantage "under the harsh conditions of the frozen steppe or humid jungle". In different environments however, with societies becoming more industrialized and organized, "problem-solving and analytic strategies, restraint of impulsivity, and the controlled deployment of energies" would more and more become the order of the day. Still the population continues to retain the genetic variation of these original traits, which is reflected in the development of this kind of behavior. Crawford and Salmon'sconclusion is that what is adaptive in one type of environment may no longer be adaptive in another."
In a nutshell, what may have been an adaptive variation for some in ancient times now causes problems in an orderly society. To think of it another way, hunter-gatherers lived through all kinds of drama: warfare between tribes, perilous hunts, in-fighting and jealousy - all through their lives. Males especially were involved in plenty of life-or-death struggles. These are our origins - so Is it any wonder people get bored sitting in front of a computer all day?
Personally, I think ADD/ADHD is far overprescribed, if the condition even exists at all. I remember reading one story about a young boy who was "diagnosed" with hyperactivity because he couldn't sit still at school. Instead of drugs, the family had the boy run the few miles to and from school each day instead of taking the bus. Sounds crazy? Guess what - there were no more complaints at school.
All of us, especially young people, were designed for action. Sedating someone with drugs because their intrinsic desire for activity conflicts with modern society won't solve any problems.
This recent USA Today article discusses how the number of adults who are being prescribed drugs for ADHD has doubled in the past four years. What's behind this sudden upturn? Is this an expanding problem for society or the condition simply being overdiagnosed?
One huge tip-off to the problem is that boys are more than twice as likely than girls to take ADHD medicine. If you've read much about evolution or evolutionary psychology, the bells should be going off. Here is a brief summary of the evolutionary argument for ADHD, by critic Zdenek Matejcek:
"Their idea is roughly as follows: ADHD is characterized by transient concentration, hyperactivity and impulsiveness. In the extreme conditions of prehistory, man's survival required hypervigilance, rapid-scanning, quickness to move, hyperactivity and response-readiness. This would have been an advantage "under the harsh conditions of the frozen steppe or humid jungle". In different environments however, with societies becoming more industrialized and organized, "problem-solving and analytic strategies, restraint of impulsivity, and the controlled deployment of energies" would more and more become the order of the day. Still the population continues to retain the genetic variation of these original traits, which is reflected in the development of this kind of behavior. Crawford and Salmon'sconclusion is that what is adaptive in one type of environment may no longer be adaptive in another."
In a nutshell, what may have been an adaptive variation for some in ancient times now causes problems in an orderly society. To think of it another way, hunter-gatherers lived through all kinds of drama: warfare between tribes, perilous hunts, in-fighting and jealousy - all through their lives. Males especially were involved in plenty of life-or-death struggles. These are our origins - so Is it any wonder people get bored sitting in front of a computer all day?
Personally, I think ADD/ADHD is far overprescribed, if the condition even exists at all. I remember reading one story about a young boy who was "diagnosed" with hyperactivity because he couldn't sit still at school. Instead of drugs, the family had the boy run the few miles to and from school each day instead of taking the bus. Sounds crazy? Guess what - there were no more complaints at school.
All of us, especially young people, were designed for action. Sedating someone with drugs because their intrinsic desire for activity conflicts with modern society won't solve any problems.