It’s All In Your Head: The Logic of the A.D.D. Deniers
We’ve got Holocaust deniers and global warming deniers so it’s not surprising that we have A.D.D. deniers.
The A.D.D. deniers follow an interesting logic:
The “Invention” of A.D.D. by the drug companies.
- Premise 1: Drug companies create drugs.
- Premise 2: Drug companies need a disease that will be “cured” by the drug.
- Premise 3: Drug companies find a bundle of annoying behaviors.
- Premise 4: Drug companies bundle the annoying behaviors into a “package” by giving it a name, such as A.D.D.
- Conclusion: Drug companies have created a market by “inventing” a disease which, coincidentally, is “cured” by the drug they already have in hand.
Now they need the public to accept this new disease as being real and, of course, to accept the “cure” that the drug companies have. So, here’s the next argument.
The “Adoption” of the drug companies’ definition of A.D.D. by the psychiatric community.
- Premise 1: Psychiatric community composed of sycophants.
- Premise 2: Psychiatrists adopt the drug company definition of A.D.D.
- Conclusion: Psychiatrists find A.D.D. everywhere using this definition. They prescribe the “cure” discovered by the drug companies.
Of course there are teeny tiny nuggets of truth buried in these arguments. You’ve got the effect of good ‘ol labeling theory from Sociology 101. You’ve got the tenuous symbiotic relationship between the drug manufacturing and drug dispensing community. You’ve got the shift in the psychiatric community to more pharmacologically-based “cures”1 which almost always entails drugs.
However, despite these tiny nuggets of truth, none of this necessarily means that A.D.D. doesn’t exist. Ask anyone who has lived with A.D.D. for 20, 30, or 40 years (or more!) and who didn’t know they had it, what it was like to finally be able to explain a whole constellation of behaviors. Ask them about their daily struggles - with or without drugs. How can anyone deny the similar experiences of so many A.D.D. people?
So, what is it that these “deniers” are so afraid of that they refuse to see what everyone else sees? Are they afraid of the reductionistic nature of explaining psychical phenomena in physical biological terms? Are they afraid to admit that sometimes willpower does not conquer all?2 I’m not sure what their fears are but it’s something. Hopefully the drug companies will come up with a cure for their “disease.” 
Some choice quotes from the A.D.D. deniers:
“They made a list of the most common symptoms of emotional discomfiture of children; those which bother teachers and parents most, and in a stroke that could not be more devoid of science or Hippocratic motive–termed them a ‘disease.’”
See: http://www.adhdfraud.org/
“I’m possibly the only person involved in the ‘ADHD debate’ that I know of who has no first-hand experience of the problem whatsoever. For me, the subject is entirely to do with ideas and beliefs and how they compare with my own experiences and whatever facts I’m able to discover.”
See: http://www.adhd-report.com/letter.html
“Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) is a fake disease created by boring out-of-touch leaders who are pissed off that kids aren’t listening to them.”
See: http://www.wcool.com/mo96/0226.html
“ADD is a ‘mood’ in which someone has a difficult time staying focused.”
See: http://www.wcool.com/add.html
“The Great A.D.D. Hoax”
See: http://keirsey.com/addhoax.html
YouTube - Audio from Michael Savage Radio Show - ADD/OCD are a hoax.
See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C29OuQ9dmiU
[Updated on Aug 6, 2007 @ 15:09]
And now…the alternate view.
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a real disease linked to changes in production of the brain chemical dopamine, two new reports suggest.
See: Brain Studies Show ADHD Is Real Disease
[Updated again on Aug 23, 2007]
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(On Aug 6th, 2007 at 6:29 pm)
ADD Blog Carnival #32
The Attention Deficit Disorder blog carnival is a collection of recent blog entries about Attention Deficit Disorder. The hope is to expose blog readers to blogs that have a different perspective on Attention Deficit Disorder. Here are some of the best…
(On Aug 6th, 2007 at 7:14 am)
[…] examined the cockeyed logic of the A.D.D. deniers in an earlier blog posting: The Logic of the Deniers. __________________See: The Flat Earth Society [?]Impeccable logic. I feel like Dr. Pangloss! […]
(On Aug 6th, 2007 at 5:32 am)
[…] have said that I look like Howie Mandel…shaved head, earring and all. [?]See this posting: The Logic of the A.D.D. Deniers where, according to the great Dr. Baughman, drug companies invent drugs and then find (concoct?) […]
(On Aug 6th, 2007 at 1:43 pm)
Hey Jeff,
Happy New Year! - What a refreshing blog you have over here - and copious comments from my insightful good buddy Gina Pera!
We are, my friend, much on the same path, - and I have found in both office practice and regular consultation with medical colleagues, that much of what your are reporting here does have to do with the limitations of the diagnostic parameters, and the frequent imprecision with medication dosing strategies.
Said more simply: many are simply not paying attention to the necessary details. Paradoxical but true.
If we don’t think and thereby practice more scientifically, we will continue to be accused of not knowing what we are doing!
I look forward to following your work over here, and look forward as well to our future conversations.
Chuck
(On Aug 6th, 2007 at 9:17 am)
I know ADD is real. I think(uh-oh)..of telling someone about something funny that happened to me(not ADD stuff,just an event),and they have a look,as to say,;”Wheres the funny part?”. In frustration/feeling stupid, I can only say;”Ya had to be there.”
Denier’s will most likely not “get it” in this comment I made.I bet you(ADDers like me)did’nt have to read to far before knowing what I mean.