this post was submitted on 06 Mar 2026
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According to the administration at a school I’m familiar with, at least 50% of the 5th grade class has ADHD.
So, not having ADHD is the disorder.
Their source is they made it up. Getting diagnosed is a pain and there is no way 50% of any sizable population has gone through that process, let alone received a diagnosis.
Of children ages 12-17,
This data is national, but as you can imagine, there are some schools with fewer diagnoses, and some like the one I mentioned where it’s the norm.
Is it a wealthy area? That often skews things...
You might find this an interesting read, then.
That statistic says less to me about prevailing diagnosis rates of ADHD than the 'meritocratic' rat race of the upper echelons.
50%?
The national stats are ~1:10 people have it. 50% is a huge anomaly. Something isn’t right.
Yes, what isn’t right is that it’s an upper class private middle school full of wealthy parents with access to psychiatrists who are financially motivated to provide a fashionable diagnosis.
It’s also a way to get extra time (accommodations) on standardized tests (time and a half or even double time) which further widens the success gap between rich and poor students.
A prescription for Ritalin /Adderall would probably help too
I know a 5 year old that the teachers at her private school complained that they were spending to much time talking to other children instead of doing school work so the teachers recommended that she be put on medication.
Now apparently she just has horrible night terrors that has her rip at her skin each night but she's much more calm now... Anyways the teacher ended up hitting her and the 5 year old got expelled for being a nuisance anyways.
This…doesn’t make much sense. Teacher struck the child and the child got expelled? Where do the night terrors come in? This sounds very little like ADHD.
The night terrors came after starting the medication.
But also yeah, some real bullshit with the school and the teacher. The only thing on record was that she was obstinent and difficult to deal with. Due to multiple issues with apparently that she was expelled. But afterwards her friends came forward to ask if it was about her being hit that she wasnt in class anymore.
Its honestly bad all around.
ADHD meds absolutely can cause bad dreams in kids, I don’t know about bad enough to “tear at skin”, that’s outside my knowledge area. We had to get a different script for a family member because of scary dreams and racing heart, difficulty sleeping, even after adjusting dosage. It was doing more harm than good. After the med swap it got way, way better.
Yeah, the parents were warned about the night terrors and supposedly hanging outside the room to be there to cuddle her as soon as she starts screaming is enough to subside them and get her back to bed but jeeze that is a horrible symptom to be ok with or even struggle through. Flailing and scratching, if it leaves marks I would call that instastop bad.
I am on the side of med swap but they supposedly like the results of the medication otherwise which I feel is not worth it.
Oh no, she's got the bugs. If you're on the wrong dose, or that particular stimulant doesn't work well for you, it can start to feel like you've got bugs crawling under your skin.
Oh... Ew.
She was never able to voice the issue just said it was scary so.. Thank you.
I spent a number of years doing care for developmentally disabled adults, and saw it there. It's a terrifying situation to be in, and I hope they can get it figured out for her!
I ended up talking to the parents and they say that if the sensations don't end by the end of the week they will look at asking about non stimulants with her doctor.
Thank you.
No, that isn’t worth it. That’s just wrong and f’d up putting your kid through that. Damn, just get a different script. Odds are another will do the job.
Yup, but being a parent doesnt make you know things and "the doctor said we should expect this" makes apparently people (at least these ones close to me) complacent to the harm. I am just against the suffering and it makes me upset. While I know this isn't a likely common story its one that is close to home and happening so... Yeah. I dunno. It does at least once. I am happy you are on the right side of empathy to try again with something new to help someone. There should never be 1 answer only and it feels wrong to just accept it.
I dunno this is such a failure of people with authority in my case but authority figure doesnt mean all knowing. And I have no authority to make it stop.
Glad to know that because of this one totally believable piece of anecdata, ADHD doesn't fucking exist.
That wasnt stated. You are not responding to me but your own internal issues with other conversations
Because it is not a disorder if our lives were not a prison, but here we are. Even the rejection issues wouldn't be there if we were not beaten half to death for being a healthy kid told to sit for 8 hours. Maybe the anxiety and depression all come from that.
Go deny science somewhere else
Vanity diagnosis.
At what point does it just become a personality trait, like introversion vs extroversion?
When it causes active problems with life. It's also worth noting that it's a brain chemistry change. Where on the sliding scale you pick is, ultimately, a little arbitrary.
I personally suspect modern life isn't helping. The pressures on children are quite different now. I suspect many children who wouldn't develop symptomatic ADHD in earlier years now do.
When it stops having negative outcomes on peoples' lives.
Do we ever stop and think that the negative consequences are from our newly constructed hyper engagement focused society?
And maybe we are blaming the individuals for failing to live up to an impossible standard of productivity at the behest of our abusers?
It's the other way around. ADHD gives people an evolutionary advantage in crisis situations. Surviving through war, famine, and all the worst situations that humanity has survived through.
ADHD isn't incompatible with modern life because it got too hard. It's incompatible with modern life because it got too easy.
Hmm. Yeah, we as a society want people who can at tedium repeat a basic task and then not interact with the world much more than that or what is sold to them.
So I wouldn't say easy as much as easy as it is very difficult for those with it but simplified. And the toys we have created to play with to distract them/us from how basic our life is are incredibly dangerously good at mimicking progress.
That's such a pessimistic way of looking at it. All the efforts of humanity up until this point have gone towards sparing us from the horrors of what used to be the human condition. Generations and generations of toil and sacrifice so we could be bored at work instead of dying from the plague.
I struggle with ADHD because I am one of the luckiest human beings born so far.
Meh, just cause someone tried to do something nice for us doesnt mean the outcome actually was. We can keep adjusting and trying find what actually is good for people as a whole instead of free of effort.
I don't know but I don't think its bad to have the opinion of the recipient as well, and its not like every day was a horror for them anymore than it is for ours. It ebbs and flows but if we made a wrong turn we can do our part to correct it.
To a horrifying degree, work does define the human experience. Removing it isn't lucky but a part of who we are being removed and I the name of a nameless idea's of perfection. And I think its realism not pessimism to recognize that.
This is just not accurate.
Infant mortality rate before the industrial revolution was like 30%. Something like 50% of children didn't survive to their fifth birthday. But you think life was about as good then as it is today? I mean people still have to work for a living, so I guess it's all a wash?
I'm not suggesting that we can't still improve. I'm just pointing out that you don't seem to have the proper context for this stance you've taken.
I didnt say as good and I don't think it invalidated my opinion. I am say that their day to day was not just tragedy and to define them solely by that is akin to saying survivors of abuse are always defined by it.
Yes we have gotten better access to food and better medicine but if our day to day has less humanity in it we are allowed to have issue with it.
Its a disservice to say we can't be upset about our reality because people died in the past. Not every day of their life was tragedy they had days they laughed and people created and lived all the same, and not every moment of ours is better just because we have cheetos and epidurals. Its like saying we have to eat our dinner of razor blades cause a child is starving in Africa. Its bitter and doesnt help them or us.
I didn't read that comment so uncharitably. I think they're saying that society is unkind to people with ADHD.
Yeah we don't exactly have an equal world. Or one that even allows for much deviation without heavy punishment as basically seen by... Well above comment.
I don't understand why you are being hostile...
Nowhere did they say that ADHD is a made-up condition. What I got from the comment was that a lot of the difficulties with ADHD are due to societal expectations and norms rather than inherent to ADHD itself. Which I'm not saying I agree with or disagree with (it's probably a mixture of both).
I get being upset at people denying ADHD, especially if it's something you suffer from and have had negative experiences in your life, but that's just not what is happening here. I was recently diagnosed with BPD by my psychiatrist and that is to my understanding one of the more unpleasant things to deal with, but projecting the frustration of dealing with a tough mental health condition outwards is not really healthy.
In my experience the majority of people on Lemmy and specifically this community are pretty understanding and I think deserve the benefit of the doubt.
Sounds rough. Don't take it out on me.