No one can say where Michael Phelps would be if he’d continued taking medication. And, will he look back on these years of single-minded hyperfocus and decide it was worth the medals and endorsements? Maybe. Maybe not.
Will his swimming achievements enhance his ability to connect with people, to have good relationships, to manage his earnings, and to feel good about himself after his ability to win medals is past? How many medals will it take for him to overcome a childhood full of teasing because he was different? Only time will tell.
The public just simply does not understand the core of ADHD. People with ADHD can be motivated, but it often takes over-the-top motivation–perhaps promises of fame, money, and rewards that scream “success” because they often don’t feel like a success on the inside.
When motivation is low due to dopamine deficiencies in the brain, things like greed and fear can be disproportionate motivators. Fear of being “less than” or “fear of being made fun of” often motivates the person to be better than everyone else. But the victories are often hallow because all on the outside..
As long as the public largely insists on not understanding what ADHD is about, people with ADHD will continue to suffer from your misjudgments. They will be bullied and teased as children, and the adults who hyperfocus on proving the bulllies wrong will be held up as proof that people with ADHD can achieve.
We know they can achieve, but must the motivation be bullying and promise of validation as a person?
As for the rest of the people with ADHD who aren’t blessed with Michael Phelps’ remarkably “fish-like” physiology–or dedicated parents and coaches– we do know what happens to them when they they don’t address their symptoms: higher rates of bankruptcy, incarceration, unemployment, underemployment, divorce, traffic accidents, and more. Those are the facts.
Gina Pera | Aug 17, 2008 | Reply
Gina, you make an interesting point at the end of your comment that I ignored when I first read your statement. You point out that people with “ADHD” (my quotations) “who aren’t blessed with Michael Phelps’ remarkably “fish-like” physiology–or dedicated parents and coaches” experience problems when their “symptoms” (my quotations) aren’t addressed. There is no disagreement here. Some people are more complicated than others and need more attention to channel their energies. Michael Phelps is obviously one of those people. His “fish-like” (your quotation marks)physiology, whatever that is and we will assume that it is something that needs special attention, is as much of a liability as an asset if he does not get that special attention. He got it as I believe you are pointing out. I hope we would we both agree that a drug is no substitute for the kind of dedicated attention given to Michael although you seem to think that it can be.
There is something else that frightens me about your comment though. You seem to think that if I and others like me would only give up our misjudgements about ADHD as a phony disease, then the drug companies who stand to gain billions from marketing speed to young children could do their job of curing society of this unfortunate problem. And of course, it is only my irrational fear that would make me concerned that the psychiatric community might be preying on helpless children for financial incentives.
I don’t know how you draw the distinction between the helping drug companies and the helping psychiatrists who understand and care versus those steeped in irrational and primitive misconceptions like myself who somehow are enabling the bullies who want to hurt Michael and others. Still, it would be nice to know that those who have the most to gain financially from the promotion of this phony disease are in fact acting only from altruistic motives. But, Gina, I just don’t believe that they are. And if you want to appeal to the facts, please research the creation of this disease by the drug companies and the psychiatric community for their own gain and profit. Because, Gina, I want you to consider the possibility that some of those same bullies who made Michael’s life so miserable before he found a way to channel his special energies might have realized a more lucrative way to bully the different like him and even do it in the name of helping him.
Roderick Mills | Aug 19, 2008 | Reply
Sorry Roderick, but people with ADHD are as likely to BE the bullies as to be bullied.
And you’re just making a huge mistake, thinking that millions of people are so stupid that they’ll do what pharma tells them. They judge how the medications works for them. And they have to go through a great deal of trouble and expense to get them. They certainly aren’t handed on a platter.
And thanks to the anti-psychiatry forces aligning themselves with the insurance companies, all this ranting will do nothing but make it hard for people with ADHD to get and afford these medications.
If anyone doesn’t like the medications, feel free not to take them. But to actively agitate against these medications–increasing cost, stigma, and all the rest–you are hurting people who don’t deserve it.
Please think about that.
Gina Pera | Aug 29, 2008 | Reply
As for my commenting on Phelps’ “fish-like” physiology, I am merely referring to what has been widely reported. His body doesn’t build up lactic acid, the way other athletes do (I understand Lance Armstrong enjoys the same advantage).
He also has the perfect body structure–giant armspan, long torso, short legs, etc.
All the swimming experts comment about how he is more fish than human.
This has nothing to do with ADHD, BTW.
Gina Pera | Aug 29, 2008 | Reply
And as for helping the drug companies, I’d be the last person to do that.
I say we eliminate all the marketing people and let the scientists deal directly with the people using the breakthrough medications they develop. That would save a lot of money–and a lot of hokum.
Statins, antacids, and all the rest….for most people, these are poor substitutes for healthier habits. So curses on the pharma reps and the spineless uneducated docs who pass them out like candy.
But medications that help people focus, drive more safely, work at a level that matches their intelligence, manage their money, etc.–when all other methods have been tried–that’s something worth fighting for, IMHO. And it’s not for the companies–it’s for the people who take them.
Gina Pera | Aug 29, 2008 | Reply
Gina is right.
People with ADHD do not seek out or beg for their meds. In fact, as a clinician who works with folks with ADHD, I find that it is often very difficult to 1. help them find the right medicine and dosage, as most physicans have no clue how to treat this and 2. help people remember to TAKE their med, even though they can SEE how beneficial it is.
As for Michael, who can say what would have been had he taken meds as a boy? For all we know, he could have gained enough self-confidence, etc to have earned 12 gold medals.
Terry Matlen, ACSW
Oh Roderick, are you self-medicating with fear and scare tactics again? That poor child (”Ritalin Death”) should be allowed to rest in peace. And the very idea that Ritalin caused his death is preposterous.
The fact is, many children with ADHD are born prematurely or are born with other genetic conditions that make them vulnerable to asthma, diabetes, cardiovascular issues, and the like.
At least 40% of women in this country of child-bearing age are deficient in magnesium–a mineral that is critical not only to brain-signal transmission but a host of other cellular processes. So, I’d think if you did your research, you’d spend your time trying to educate people about that. I’d bet good money that that poor boy was severely deficient in magnesium in utero and throughout life–and no one ever knew it.
Far more children die or are sick from magnesium-deficiency-related cardiovascular issues than from Ritalin.
First rule of science, Rod: Association is not causation. And it’s a shame that the people behind “RitalinDeath” can’t find something better to do with their time–like actually helping children instead of spreading fear and misinformation.
Gina | Sep 5, 2008 | Reply