Education, Psychology

1. ADHD Does Not Exist.
The title of my lecture is ADHD Does Not Exist, based in the book written by Richard Saul
with the same title and my own experience and humble insight.
In first place I’m going to give you a sheet of paper, you have to tick the questions that match
with your usual behavior.
questionary
We can ask ourselves:
When you finish answering you have to count the ticks. Over four ticks indicated that you
may suffer for a condition whose acronym is ADHD (it stands for Attention Deficit and
Hyperactivity Disorder). You have an insoluble problem that requires an intake of
amphetamine pills (Methylphenidate mainly) to deal with the symptoms, chosen among
many brands: Concerta, Risperdal…
Amphetamines ara adictive an can cause side effects al lost of appetite and insomia,
besides psychosis.
But… what happens if the diagnosis is wrong?
Always is left the empiric test: the use of the mentioned drugs. As long as amphetamines
made an improvement in your arousal and thus, your attention and memory retention; the
diagnostic would be right. But, there wouldn’t be almost always an improvement in every
person when taking that drugs? So, isn’t it a fallacia that empiric test?
On the other hand, perhaps we have misdiagnosed you because there is a syndrome that is
causing the observed symptoms.
All this dawned on me years ago when I made up a database which calculated the
percentage of students with ADHD. I found out an amazing percentage (more than 15%)
suffering from that disorder, most of them taking pills regularly
“Something is going wrong” I thought to myself. But I didn’t know what. years later I noticed
the existence of the mentioned book, which awaked my uneasiness about ADHD.

2. In that book several misdiagnosis for that disorders are established:
● Vision problems: Vision problems are among the most overlooked explanations for
ADHD. Children who struggle to see normally are likely to demonstrate short
attention span.
● Sleep disturbance. It is mistaken with ADHD especially when they are part of a long-
standing pattern.
● Substance abuse: Overuse of legal or illicit drugs or alcohol, is likely to result in
distractibility, impulsivity an AD.
● Mood disorders (bipolar D & depression): This disorders are often accompanied by
symptoms of AD and impulsivity.
● Hearing problems: As in those children with vision problems, individuals with hearing
problems often display short attention spans.
● learning disabilities: Such as dyslexia or dyscalculia. These students may exhibit
poor focus, distractibility, fidgeting...
● Sensory processing disorder: Found when individuals have trouble integrating and
responding to informations from differents senses, resulting in poor attention.
● Giftedness: Their levels of talent sometimes make it easy for them to become bored
an inattentive.
● OCD: Mental obsessions and behavioral rituals can cause anxiety and distractibility.
● Seizure disorders: People with SD often exhibit short attention span and distractibility
due to momentary losses of sensory input.
● Tourette syndrome: It’s a multi tic syndrome, often seen as ADHD symptoms.
● Asperger (ASD): Can cause distractibility and sometimes is mistaken with ADHD.
● Neurochemical distractibility/impulsivity: Distractibility can be caused by abnormal
levels of the neurotransmitters serotonin and epinephrine. Perhaps this is the only
real ADHD.
● Schizophrenia: You can’t pay close attention to your hallucinations and the real word.
● Fetal alcohol syndrome: It has lifelong effect on a child, including challenges related
to attention, impulsivity and hyperactivity.
● Fragile X syndrome: This genetic syndrome is likely to include inattention.

3. ● Other medical conditions: Diet, iron deficiency, allergies, hyperthyroidism, pituitary
tumor, prematuring, mental poisoning…
In my experience, most of the times, ADHD students can be found in families with this
pattern:
● no clear limits for their children behavior, that is either too permissive or too punitive.
● low or no implication at all in the educational task of the sons and daughters.
So, my thesis is that no-educates students or bad educated ones are, by far, more prone to
have an ADHD diagnosis.
Furthermore, attention, self control, frustration tolerance (to prevent LFT), and patience
could be taught, and the best place to do it is at home in early years, before stepping the
school floor.
Later on, when the boys and girls became teenagers, there are attempts to solve the
problems that, frequently, consist on giving them pills. It is little chance that the family
changes his interactions and his usual way of behaving.
In the DSM-V (the official manual for diagnosis) the criteria for being cataloged as suffering
that dysfunction has lowered, so, from now on, we have to worry about an increasing
number of students taking pills, a really epidemia of ADHD.
WHAT I SUGGEST IS:
- Increase the exercise.
- Take away electronic toys and other screens.
- Reduce sugar intake.
- Increase social relationship.
MY CONCLUSIONS ARE:
1. It’s important to establish an accurate diagnosis.
2. Is better to talk about dysfunctional families.
3. Is better to educate than to give pills, but it’s more time consuming. To educate
implies 24 hours 7 days a week, and giving pills only one minute.
4. We have neither enough shrinks nor enough drugs.