The Stigma Persists: Why we need to keep advocating for our kids and ourselves

There have been numerous articles published recently about the FDA's warning that many commonly prescribed medications for ADHD are currently in short supply.  On most news sites people are encouraged to comment on articles, and this can often be a place where you get some lively debate as well as some insight into what the prevailing attitudes are about the subject of the article.  On MSNBC.com, the article about the medication shortage elicited well over a thousand comments.  (You can read the article and the comments by clicking here ).  What the comments revealed to me was that there is still a shocking amount of stigma and ignorance surrounding the diagnosis of ADHD in general, and the use of medications to alleviate the symptoms.

Here's a few choice thoughts from the readers of this article where I have emphasized certain phrases:

"If parents would teach their children how to eat healthy and play outside instead of just eating sugar & caffeine while playing virtual sports, there would be less need for ADD / ADHD drugs. "

"A lot of the ADD/ADHD is liberal pansy teachers, not wanting to deal with healthy active young boys. My son was pretty much a normal active boy, but his teachers pushed until we finally relented and put him on Adderall. WORST mistake we ever made rasiing him."


"While I will not argue that some kids (and adults) truly have ADD/ADHD, I still feel it is the most over-diagnosed "disease" among children. Schools and teachers that do not want to be bothered dealing with a kid who is a little more active label the kid as ADD/ADHD. They then force the parents to medicate the kids. Those that say the school can not force you to medicate your child naive. They give you two choices, either you drug your kid into submission or we will throw him out of the school." (this comment was truncated by me as it was quite long).


Finally my favorite: 

"Did someone say "self control"? Next thing you know they will be saying "personal responsibility".  I thought we abolished those and left all decisions to the state and our behavior to medication.  Maybe I should repost this in a few years. But seriously, you have to learn how to control your mind. You have to be able to be alone with your thoughts. This is basic human stuff.  You have to learn how to focus. Many times these kids are just alot quicker than their parents or their teachers. If they can focus that mental ability, what we call genius emerges.  Medicated focus isn't the same thing.  Obviously, parents were able to control children with these problems long before there was medicine for it.  And despite the massive amounts of medications handed out for this "condition" the problem just keeps expanding every year.  Earlier I read an article about a child who was given one alcoholic drink, one time by accident at an Applebees.  It was considered SO dangerous.  Compared to giving a kid SPEED everyday for life?"

To be fair, there were many comments that were accurate in their description of ADHD and the benefits of medication.  Also to make a full disclosure, I did not read every single comment.  I also deliberately did not show you some of the crazier comments some people made, but they make for an amusing read if you click over to the article. 

The key thing these comments showed me is this:

1. There are still significant numbers of people who don't realize or believe that ADHD is a neurobiological condition that requires treatment.  It is not a failure of parenting or willpower. 

2. There is still a tremendous stigma associated with a diagnosis of ADHD and the use of medication to treat it. 

3.  Those of us in the ADHD community (healthcare providers, therapists, coaches, parents, educators, and researchers) need to continue to educate the public about this condition, and how it's treated.  

Willful ignorance of factual data seems to be in vogue with certain political and religious groups these days; we must be vigilant against allowing uninformed opinion to perpetuate myths and stereotypes about ADHD.  While much progress has been made from the looks of the comments above, much more needs to be done.