Recently ADD/ADHD is being attacked by Media

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[Jalexander]

There are several articles that started getting released yesterday and even hit the news today on cnn. This regards ADHD loss of time at work and how they are trying to convince employers to screen for it now. Here are several links:
WebMD
http://www.webmd.com/add-adhd/news/20080527/adults-with-adhd-miss-more-workdays?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Salon
http://www.salon.com/wires/ap/scitech/2008/05/26/D90TK5300_attention_deficit_disorder_work/index.html?source=rss&aim=wires

USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-05-27-adhd-work_N.htm?csp=34

Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080527/ap_on_he_me/attention_deficit_disorder_work;_ylt=AmB9XhhFx_F.4bO08FYhh5XWn414

Washington Post
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/checkup/2008/05/adult_adhd.html

I think this is an extremely important issue and is actually why I looked for a support group yesterday and joined after seeing the article online.

Thanks,
Joshua Alexander, MBA

[Mcm774]

Hi - I just found this meet-up site. Thanks for posting the links to the news articles.
I am in grad school and asking for accommodations for my ADD is like asking for a miracle. They all don't believe I have it even though I have proper documentation and they act like it doesn't exist. If the media continues to discredit ADD or any and all LD issues then we are all screwed!

Marlene
mcm774

[Steve]

Well actually they are not denying the existence of ADD in this spate of articles, they are encouraging screening for it by employers, and then, presumably, treatment or some other action.

Looking at the results, Spain has a lower percentage of of ADHD among adult workers surveyed. Does that mean that ethnic Spaniards have something different going on in their neurological makeup? Very likely. Are these results conclusive, or just good enough to start a new marketing effort to doctors and patients?

Who stands to benefit from these revelations? Do you think think there might be drug company money behind this?

How about this conclusion from one of the researchers:

"The researchers were unable to explain why the ADHD affected workers in the Netherlands had improved performance rather than the declines seen in every other country studied.

"We periodically find one of those blips, we just don't know why," Kessler said.

( http://www.salon.com/wires/ap/scitech/2008/05/26/D90TK5300_attention_deficit_disorder_work/index.html?source=refresh ) 

Watch this 20 minute segment from video from the Bill Moyers Journal:
 http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/05162008/watch2.html

Author Melody Petersen wrote a book called Our Daily Meds that's about the disingenuousness of the drug companies, how they plant research articles and manipulate willing M.D.s to help them out.

Steve

[Lauren]

Looking at the results, Spain has a lower percentage of of ADHD among adult workers surveyed. Does that mean that ethnic Spaniards have something different going on in their neurological makeup? Very likely. Are these results conclusive, or just good enough to start a new marketing effort to doctors and patients?

I am an ethnic Spaniard by definition and I have ADHD/combined-type.  I know there are always "exceptions to the rule" but still, I thought I'd point out that -- well, I'm sure there are quite a lot of us "exceptions" out there.