Posted by alohashirt on March 12, 2006, at 22:31:17
In reply to Re: NYTIMES- Attention Surplus?Re-examining a Diso » alohashirt, posted by Chairman_MAO on March 10, 2006, at 13:03:13
The reality is that a lot of medicine today (ADHD, testosterone deficiency, anxiety) is more about quality of life than illness. The model is an illness model so its reasonable we perceive everything as illness even when the metaphor doesn't fit. It takes a brave doctor to see past this.
> Any psychiatric diagnosis has a wholly negative connotation. The notion of "mental illness" itself is a "behavioral pathology", which in turn cannot be anything but a value judgement.
I agree - though thinking of ADHD as a illness is a shade better than my prior view of it as a moral weakness / sloth.
> Is it that you find it easier to concentrate while under pressure, or that while under pressure you are more motivated to overlook what you'd ordinarily perceive as a shortcoming?
the former. One part of my ADHD is that I make suboptimal choices abt how to direct my energy. Pamic and terror can really help motivate me to focus on doing a better job of this.
> Certainly I agree with you that one needs more than medication.
poster:alohashirt
thread:617202
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060310/msgs/619626.html