<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:'comic sans ms',sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8px">Many of these traits are on a spectrum: we are all a bit paranoid, a bit scattered, a bit narcissitic, a bit unable to figure out others, and so on. So we can often recognize something of ourselves in people with a diagnosis, but the key thing is (1) do these things impair us enough that we need to change, and (2) would a medical gatekeeper recognize this as a proper, intervention requiring diagnosis? anders</span><br style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8px"></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:'comic sans ms',sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8px"><br></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:'comic sans ms',sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8px">The problem with all of it is that the gatekeeper decides where the line is, to try to reduce false positives or false negatives (can't reduce both without improving diagnostic accuracy), and so often says "Well, if we treat him he might not get better, but then he might, and if we don't he might get worse, so let's treat." This would be good thinking if the drugs weren't so powerful and didn't have side effects that included suicide. And then there are parents who push doctors to do something, and feel ill-served if leaving a physician's office without pills.</span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:'comic sans ms',sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8px"><br></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:'comic sans ms',sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8px">I have seen perfectly normal boys get drugs that turned them into zombies. It's always boys who get an 'overactive' rating. </span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:'comic sans ms',sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8px"><br></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:'comic sans ms',sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8px">bill w</span></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, May 5, 2016 at 11:39 AM, Anders Sandberg <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:anders@aleph.se" target="_blank">anders@aleph.se</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000"><span class="">
<div>On 2016-05-03 23:05, William Flynn
Wallace wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div dir="ltr"><font color="#000000" face="comic sans ms,
sans-serif">Anders, what's the situation in the UK?
Increasing diagnosis and treatment of ADHD? Many think it's
just a fad and only the extreme need diagnosis and treatment.</font>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br></span>
Overdiagnosed and overmedicated, *and* underdiagnosed and
undermedicated. There is a lot of inhomogenity in who gets the
diagnosis, partially mediated by (parental) social capital. <br>
<br>
Many of these traits are on a spectrum: we are all a bit paranoid, a
bit scattered, a bit narcissitic, a bit unable to figure out others,
and so on. So we can often recognize something of ourselves in
people with a diagnosis, but the key thing is (1) do these things
impair us enough that we need to change, and (2) would a medical
gatekeeper recognize this as a proper, intervention requiring
diagnosis? <br>
<br>
In practice, people are fond of ascribing creativity to all sorts of
mental conditions. The actual research data is much more equivocal.
<br><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888">
<br>
<pre cols="72">--
Anders Sandberg
Future of Humanity Institute
Oxford Martin School
Oxford University</pre>
</font></span></div>
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