One of the things that defines my generation of Millennials is the idea of an over diagnosis of Attention Deficit (Hyperactive) Disorder, or more commonly known as ADD/ADHD. For those who are unaware of what this is, it is a mental disorder that is most commonly diagnosed in children that have difficulty keeping focus on a subject for a long period of time. Depending on which of the two you are talking about, this also includes impulsivity, irritability, disinterest in deeply understanding a topic, fidgeting, forgetfulness, and a whole lot of other stuff that makes school pretty hard.

Now, I would consider myself a pretty average person in terms of intelligence, however high school wasn’t exactly a challenge for me. More often than not, I could get by without studying for tests and doing homework at the last possible moment, all while keeping my GPA above 3.0. This isn’t the case in college. The rigid schedule that is so beneficial to people with ADD/ADHD is magically gone and everything is placed upon you to handle. Of course, this becomes a challenge for anyone who transitions from high school to higher education, but for someone who lives best in a structured lifestyle, this creates complete chaos. For the first time, I had to read, plan, and study to full extent without knowing how to.

As you can probably guess, going to college was not exactly the best experience for me. It never was really that exciting for me since I was still living at home, studying something I hardly knew anything about, and was going to a school that has always been within a 10 minute drive. Almost a third of my graduating class also were attending this university, which didn’t really push me to make more friends. And I didn’t, which to this day still was a mistake. What this ties to is the suppression of my disorder. I had been diagnosed with ADD for about a decade, and yet never considered it to be a large part of my lifestyle. Everyone has ADD, so why did I need to put time into what was considered normal?

The center of this article lies here: ADD/ADHD is not as common as you think, and I believe it is due to the very blurred lines between having a cognitive disorder and being a child. Early in my experiences with ADD, a doctor diagnosed me by examining how I responded to him introducing himself. Luckily, my mother definitely did not see how a robust, six foot tall man could diagnose a learning disability by simply stating his name. The battle went on, but it was confirmed by multiple doctors that I had this condition. Many of them, however, were inconclusive to come up with a simple diagnosis. Some had multiple theories, other were convinced I was a normal child.

With this understanding of the pediatrics industry of the early 2000s, it’s no surprise that so many children were deemed to have ADD/ADHD. My best friend had it, both of my sisters, and a large portion of my peers did as well. When searching on the web for ADD/ADHD, Google claims that it is “self-diagnosable” and “very common”. While I do agree with the commonality, it should not be considered “self-diagnosable”. As far as I’m aware, someone specifically with ADD has a brain/chemical deformity.* In my case, there are hormones that are released when you are satisfied with a task at hand. A drastic overabundance of this hormone leaves me to be satisfied with something within two minutes.

Now pause and think: do children often get distracted easily? Indeed, children often get bored with something very easily. As we progress technologically, we can cater to the constant desire to learn in children. However, with that comes the influence of growth and development. My generation grew up in a time where technology was (and still is!) constantly changing, having one new product after another. We remember a time where the internet was believed to be “evil”, but now spend hours each day on it. Did this influence our attention spans? I believe so, since many of what is on the internet is developed to be quick and time reduced. And since ADD/ADHD have to do with how long a person can sustain focus, it’s no wonder that our declining attention span increases the diagnoses of this condition.

If you’ve read up until now, you might be bored, confused, or a bit of both, and I apologize for this is my first article. As I claimed before, ADD/ADHD is not as common as you might think. This is very important to understand because too many people who believe to have this condition, but don’t, tend to take medications anyway. In a video entitled “ADD is Real”, a girl with ADD perfectly describes what happens when you take a stimulant for this condition but don’t have it. In short, you can develop the condition itself by taking medicine for it. Strange, right? This is because by taking the stimulant, your body is trying to fix a cognitive issue. But if there is no issue, your body “fixes” an issue that isn’t there. It’s sort of like having a perfect stack of boxes and you push a box to the edge of the stack because you think it will fix the issue. Doesn’t make sense, right? That is what you are doing to your brain. ADD/ADHD medication also have very horrible side-effects as well that I have dealt with. Depression and appetite loss are the two largest side-effects that have remained consistent across the varying prescriptions I’ve had. To this day, my stomach’s sense of hunger is all out of whack. In middle and high school, I could go the entire day without eating, only to go home and eat food that I was still not hungry for. I fear the day that the repercussions of this will appear. Depression is self explanatory, and isn’t desired by anyone. I will go further into that in another article.

Lastly, it is very important not to self-diagnose for the sake of those who legitimately have the condition. Do I believe everyone who claims to have ADD/ADHD have it? Absolutely not. I do believe a large amount do, but not to the extent as we are convinced it is. For someone who has only recently taken this as an important part of my learning style, I spent many years ignoring a part of me that would later play a big role in my future. To prevent this struggle to someone else, we must change the stigma around not only this condition, but all forms of mental health. The human brain is a very delicate and important part of the body. Without taking proper care of it, it will only suffer and promise you a lifetime of challenges. So remember to take care of yourself, there’s nobody else like you in this world.

Post-note: As I said before, this is my first article and do hope it was interesting and enjoyable. I appreciate any and all constructive criticism but also praise. The denotation (*) I had earlier was to signify that in the restricted amount of time I had, I could not supply sources to back up my argument and speak from what I know. Thank you the time for reading and have a lovely day.