Advertisement
Help Keep Boards Alive. Support us by going ad free today. See here: https://subscriptions.boards.ie/.
https://www.boards.ie/group/1878-subscribers-forum

Private Group for paid up members of Boards.ie. Join the club.
Hi all, please see this major site announcement: https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058427594/boards-ie-2026

Does anyone else thing ADD, Aspergers and Social Anxiety disorder are all fake

  • 17-03-2009 04:23PM
    #1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 26,242 ✭✭✭✭


    this topic came up in a pub discussion the other night, i know 2 lads who claim to have aspergers (self diagnosed with an internet symptom check sheet) and it got me thinking, in the last few years these new 'conditions' have been appearing, anyone ive heard of with these 'conditions' just hides behind it as an excuse to use drugs or be a recluse or why they cant get laid , anyone else think these conditions are just a load of bull ?


    *noticed the misspelling in thing, its supposed to be think, f*ck off grammer fags


«134

Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,020 ✭✭✭Ardscoil Ris


    I have super aids :(

    Worst super power ever!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,487 ✭✭✭banquo


    ADD yes. Asperegers no. Social anxiety yes.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,369 ✭✭✭✭Zillah


    i know 2 lads who claim to have aspergers (self diagnosed with an internet symptom check sheet)

    If I self diagnosed myself as having cancer, but I didn't, would you conclude that cancer doesn't exist or that self diagnosis is foolish?

    Also, this is a moronic thread.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,916 ✭✭✭RonMexico


    ADD ADHD and all the other ****ing excuses for bad parenting - complete and utter cop out by parents who need to spend more time with their children and give them a kick up the hole when necessary.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 24,369 ✭✭✭✭ejmaztec


    this topic came up in a pub discussion the other night, i know 2 lads who claim to have aspergers (self diagnosed with an internet symptom check sheet) and it got me thinking, in the last few years these new 'conditions' have been appearing, anyone ive heard of with these 'conditions' just hides behind it as an excuse to use drugs or be a recluse or why they cant get laid , anyone else think these conditions are just a load of bull ?


    *noticed the misspelling in thing, its supposed to be think, f*ck off grammer fags

    I think that you've developed SPC, or Spelling Persecution Complex, for which there is therapy available.


  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 577 ✭✭✭Milky Moo


    I think there for awhile ADD and ADHD were used as an excuse for bad parenting
    'leave little billy alone he is only sticking fireworks up cats bums cause he has ADHD I cant control him he has a mental disorder!'
    For those that do actually have it it's something they have to try live with and conquer not an excuse.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,432 ✭✭✭big b


    Everything has to have a label these days, and as soona s there's a label some people will want to attach themselves (or their kids) to it to justify laziness, bad parenting or whatever.

    I know one fat f*ck who is claiming social disorder (or similar) and is quite happy to spend a full day shopping in town, but claims they're too nervous in company to take a job.
    C*nts like that drag down those who genuinely need help.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 26,242 ✭✭✭✭Eric Cartman


    Zillah wrote: »
    If I self diagnosed myself as having cancer, but I didn't, would you conclude that cancer doesn't exist or that self diagnosis is foolish?

    Also, this is a moronic thread.

    not really, its a valid AH thread, and no cancer exists and you can pick it up in scans and has physical attributes and there is medication and surgical treatments for cancer

    aspergers or ADD are really just labels for bad parenting or kids who dont socialise much or are a little weird


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 406 ✭✭Disease Ridden


    ADD: I dont think this is a real disorder, a good fukking beating will sort out any attention problems.
    Just as everybody has varying levels, for example, of intelligence and creativity, so everybody has varying spans of attention. This variation occurs naturally and I would hesitate to call ADD a disorder since it then begs the question of where along the spectrum of attention spans should the disorder be considered to be present...if you get me!!

    Aspergers: I'd be inclined to believe this is a true disorder albeit not as common a disorder as medical books etc. might have us believe. I think too many social isolates spend their time diagnosing themselves with diseases like Aspergers syndrome etc rather than just having the balls to go out and face their problems. I'd imagine a lot of people who self diagnose themselves with Aspergers really suffer from this....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munchhausen_syndrome

    Social Anxiety Disorder: I'm not too sure about this. Like I doubt there were many people 100 years ago who would have presented the so called symptoms of this disorder, simply because society wouldnt have accomidated for it!
    The problem with Social Anxiety Disorder is that the type of people who would think of themselves as suffering from it are the same type of people who would spend time on the internet researching the "disease" and further reinforcing to themselves the idea that they have the disease! All they need is to break out of their comfort zone and stop thinking they have a disease! :confused:


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,510 ✭✭✭Hazys


    Considering the fact that we have an incredibly high sucide rate in this country and the main victims are males aged 15-24, I think a lot of those guys would have suffered from Social Anxiety disorder.

    Its a horrible thing to have, and people with Social Anxiety disorder generally don't go round telling people they suffer from it so if somebody is talking about it and u are not good buddies with them, they're probably talking sh1te. Its a seriously problem and shouldnt not be taken lightly.


  • Advertisement
  • Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 35,948 Mod ✭✭✭✭dr.bollocko


    It's hard to tell if ADD is real in any society where we are simply distracted from distraction by distractions.

    Yeah.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,368 ✭✭✭thelordofcheese


    this topic came up in a pub discussion the other night, i know 2 lads who claim to have aspergers (self diagnosed with an internet symptom check sheet) and it got me thinking, in the last few years these new 'conditions' have been appearing, anyone ive heard of with these 'conditions' just hides behind it as an excuse to use drugs or be a recluse or why they cant get laid , anyone else think these conditions are just a load of bull ?


    *noticed the misspelling in thing, its supposed to be think, f*ck off grammer fags

    Your friends are idiots and should be slapped up-side the head. Self diagnosis is the forté of cretins and attention whores.

    This doesn't make ADD, Aspergers or Social Anxiety disorder any less real though.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,836 ✭✭✭Sir Gallagher


    not really, its a valid AH thread, and no cancer exists and you can pick it up in scans and has physical attributes and there is medication and surgical treatments for cancer

    aspergers or ADD are really just labels for bad parenting or kids who dont socialise much or are a little weird

    Aspergers and ADD are completely different really, you should read "The Curious Incident the Dog in the Night Time" it's narrated by a 15 year old boy with aspergers/autism and gives a interesting and frightening insight into the world of the sufferer.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 226 ✭✭Ajos


    They are real.

    They are frequently used as excuses by/for people who do not have them.

    These aren't contradictory statements.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,556 ✭✭✭Nolanger


    Know what I hate - this modern-day psychological revisionism.
    Take a famous scientist from 200 years ago.
    Spends all his life alone, in a lab or visiting countries.
    Makes a scientific discovery that's absolute genius.
    Now we say he must have been autistic/apergers.
    No - he was just a good scientist dedicated to his work.
    Hate this excuse where brilliant people must have a psychological disorder because they are different.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,073 ✭✭✭sam34


    i am a psychiatrist, and worked for some time in child psychiatry.

    i am convinced that ADD/ADHD exists, but it is wildly over-diagnosed. Not so much by medics (altho they do have to take some responsibility) but by parents and schools.

    it amazed me how many parents would bring their kid in for first assessment and tell me with absolute certainty that "he has the ADD thing, doctor", or "his teacher says he had ADD" .

    it was frustrating and infuriating.

    most of the time, these kids didnt ahve ADHD, they were simply products of bad and inconsistent parenting.

    of course, the parents didnt want to hear this, and would keep telling all and sundry that the kid had ADD.

    even if a kid had ADHD, that doesnt absolve parents from their responsibility, which some think it does. they still need to use good parenting techniques.

    As for social anxiety disorder, yes it exists. it can be very crippling and disabling. it can ruin lives.

    these days, we seem to be seeing more of these things because of teh internet - people have more access to information and more access to "self diagnosis kits".
    and then you get people who have traits of an illness, but not neceaasrily the full blown disorder, who tell you thay have it beacuse they can tick one of the boxes on the form.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,073 ✭✭✭sam34


    oh, forgot to say that yes, Asbergers and autism are very real disorders.
    they are not simply labels for people who are just odd.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 577 ✭✭✭Milky Moo


    There is some manner of benefit you recieve from having a child with ADD or ADHD some people that have brought about bad behaviour through bad parenting just see this as another payday


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 32,387 ✭✭✭✭DeVore


    I have dealt with and worked with people who were dealing with children properly diagnosed with these "disorders" (and some are simply not neuro-typical and not "disorders" at all).

    There are two issues here, firstly idiots who self-diagnose from the internet... those people need to go to see a doctor, and ironically, quite possibly a psychiatrist.

    Secondly the genuinely distressing "disorders" a small number of children suffer from which I can tell you are very very real.

    I'm leaving this open because clearly there is a need to educate the general public if they believe these things dont exist. They do. A more interesting question is about those parents who think their children will be "more special" if they "have" one of these disorders... Munchousen By Proxy anyone?


    DeV.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 26,242 ✭✭✭✭Eric Cartman


    sam34 wrote: »
    oh, forgot to say that yes, Asbergers and autism are very real disorders.
    they are not simply labels for people who are just odd.

    autism, definitley is, aspergers im not so sure, or like you said about ADD/ADHD is just overprescribed, or even if it is real i think people who claim to have it need a serious attitude change and to stop using it as a safety net for their own laziness/shortcomings


  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,142 ✭✭✭Karlusss


    "Social anxiety disorder" is an amazing concept.

    I think I have it.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,483 ✭✭✭Ostrom


    this topic came up in a pub discussion the other night, i know 2 lads who claim to have aspergers (self diagnosed with an internet symptom check sheet) and it got me thinking, in the last few years these new 'conditions' have been appearing, anyone ive heard of with these 'conditions' just hides behind it as an excuse to use drugs or be a recluse or why they cant get laid , anyone else think these conditions are just a load of bull ?


    *noticed the misspelling in thing, its supposed to be think, f*ck off grammer fags

    Whatever about the sub-classifications; anxiety in its extreme forms is crippling.

    Aspergers also - anyone going on a self diagnosis deserves a slap, as do the many parents I have come across who band about terms like ADD as an opt-out from good parenting.

    On the other side, I have worked with kids with a severe ADD diagnosis who obviously had serious behavioural problems beyond parenting and environment. Their behaviour was the worst I have ever seen, and their behavious toward us was on the level of autism.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,073 ✭✭✭sam34


    autism, definitley is, aspergers im not so sure, or like you said about ADD/ADHD is just overprescribed, or even if it is real i think people who claim to have it need a serious attitude change and to stop using it as a safety net for their own laziness/shortcomings

    why the doubt about aspergers?
    do you realise that it is on the same spectrum as autism?

    im not sure what you mean by "shortcomings" - i'm presuming you mean impaired social functioning. but thats one of the keystones of an autistic spectrum disorder - difficulties in reciprocal social interaction, and language difficulties. thats what the disorder is. those who have it cannot do much about their symptoms.
    so why do you feel people need a "serious attitude change" - do you also feel that epileptics need a serious attitude change to stop using epiliesy as a safety net excuse for having seizures???


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,537 ✭✭✭Gyalist


    The problem is that the treatment for these very real conditions is being driven by the pharmaceutical industry with the collusion of many doctors. Watch American TV for 30 minutes and it will amaze you how the drug companies push their products on you.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 26,242 ✭✭✭✭Eric Cartman


    sam34 wrote: »
    why the doubt about aspergers?
    do you realise that it is on the same spectrum as autism?

    im not sure what you mean by "shortcomings" - i'm presuming you mean impaired social functioning. but thats one of the keystones of an autistic spectrum disorder - difficulties in reciprocal social interaction, and language difficulties. thats what the disorder is. those who have it cannot do much about their symptoms.
    so why do you feel people need a "serious attitude change" - do you also feel that epileptics need a serious attitude change to stop using epiliesy as a safety net excuse for having seizures???

    i feel the serious attitude change is needed because of the way ive seen people who supposedly have this disorder go on, one of the lads mentioned above can go to a pub and hang out with people just fine, can make friends no bother , but even if girls are quite obviously into him hell just go "theres no way i could talk to her cos of my aspergers" then bitch "i dont have a girlfriend cos of my aspergers" and even blamed being bad at counter strike on having aspergers.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 22,048 ✭✭✭✭Snowie


    Milky Moo wrote: »
    I think there for awhile ADD and ADHD were used as an excuse for bad parenting
    'leave little billy alone he is only sticking fireworks up cats bums cause he has ADHD I cant control him he has a mental disorder!'
    For those that do actually have it it's something they have to try live with and conquer not an excuse.


    Oh right add and adhd are suddenly only for parents who are bad, it could happily be to do with an actual disorder ?
    I've got add i was diagnosed with it at 8 year's old, Let me see i could'nt eat chocolate i couldn't have orange i could drink coke i was on a the strictist diet known for any child sweets as a child was like giving rocket fuel to an anti christ.

    Then we could disscuss, my grade's in school snowmonkey has poor concintration, in every report from the age of 5 to 16 when i left school...
    How ever, you take some one with the above condition's give them a big bag of rope in a nots, they'le untangle it in half the time it takes a normal kid to why because there mently stimulated diferently.
    or given them a puzzel where there using there hands again they can do it ridiculasly quickly..

    the there's the troubel of exceptance as a kid and the bullying because the teacher's label you slow leave you sitting down the back of the class and paying feack all attention to you except to call you stupid... Thats from my own aexperence and many other who i know who are add, sufferer's.

    there's also huge benfit's to children who suffer from these gift's they have suberb imagination skill, bag's full of creative energy. at the end of the day, add takes a long time to over come...

    even something as easy as reading a book. You cleerly have no idea what the hell your talking about...:rolleyes:


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,073 ✭✭✭sam34


    i feel the serious attitude change is needed because of the way ive seen people who supposedly have this disorder go on, one of the lads mentioned above can go to a pub and hang out with people just fine, can make friends no bother , but even if girls are quite obviously into him hell just go "theres no way i could talk to her cos of my aspergers" then bitch "i dont have a girlfriend cos of my aspergers" and even blamed being bad at counter strike on having aspergers.

    dont base your opinions on one guy who claims to have an ilness based on information/tests found on the internet.

    the fact that he is promoting that alone should tell you enough to question his judgement.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 26,242 ✭✭✭✭Eric Cartman


    Oh right add and adhd are suddenly only for parents who are bad, it could happily be to do with an actual disorder ?
    I've got add i was diagnosed with it at 8 year's old, Let me see i could'nt eat chocolate i couldn't have orange i could drink coke i was on a the strictist diet known for any child sweets as a child was like giving rocket fuel to an anti christ.

    Then we could disscuss, my grade's in school snowmonkey has poor concintration, in every report from the age of 5 to 16 when i left school...
    How ever, you take some one with the above condition's give them a big bag of rope in a nots, they'le untangle it in half the time it takes a normal kid to why because there mently stimulated diferently.
    or given them a puzzel where there using there hands again they can do it ridiculasly quickly..

    the there's the troubel of exceptance as a kid and the bullying because the teacher's label you slow leave you sitting down the back of the class and paying feack all attention to you except to call you stupid... Thats from my own aexperence and many other who i know who are add, sufferer's.

    there's also huge benfit's to children who suffer from these gift's they have suberb imagination skill, bag's full of creative energy. at the end of the day, add takes a long time to over come...

    even something as easy as reading a book. You cleerly have no idea what the hell your talking about...:rolleyes:

    dunno what school you went to, but in mine ADD/ADHD were practically a badge of honour worn by the 'cool' kids who used it as an excuse to do anything


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 577 ✭✭✭Milky Moo


    Oh right add and adhd are suddenly only for parents who are bad, it could happily be to do with an actual disorder ?
    I've got add i was diagnosed with it at 8 year's old, Let me see i could'nt eat chocolate i couldn't have orange i could drink coke i was on a the strictist diet known for any child sweets as a child was like giving rocket fuel to an anti christ.

    Then we could disscuss, my grade's in school snowmonkey has poor concintration, in every report from the age of 5 to 16 when i left school...
    How ever, you take some one with the above condition's give them a big bag of rope in a nots, they'le untangle it in half the time it takes a normal kid to why because there mently stimulated diferently.
    or given them a puzzel where there using there hands again they can do it ridiculasly quickly..

    the there's the troubel of exceptance as a kid and the bullying because the teacher's label you slow leave you sitting down the back of the class and paying feack all attention to you except to call you stupid... Thats from my own aexperence and many other who i know who are add, sufferer's.

    there's also huge benfit's to children who suffer from these gift's they have suberb imagination skill, bag's full of creative energy. at the end of the day, add takes a long time to over come...

    even something as easy as reading a book. You cleerly have no idea what the hell your talking about...:rolleyes:
    I said ADD and ADHD was an excuse for bad parenting,a child is hyper active and won't listen to authourity he must have ADD, it's a quick solution to a problem that may not even be correct.
    For those that do not it have yet are readily diagnosed with it by people who are not trained to diagnose such things i.e teachers which i have seen first hand.
    I also said that this was wrong and for those that do have ADD etc they general don't use this as an excuse and try and live life in spite of it


  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 22,005 ✭✭✭✭cnocbui


    A lot very ignorant posts IMO.

    There was a BBC program a year or so ago about the UK's maths Olympiad team and those trying to get on it. The prospective team members featured seemed to have Apergers of varying severity. But the couple that had it bad would dispel any doubts about it being real.


Advertisement
Advertisement