Tracy Dalziel said:
This was a poor choice of words on my part, I should have said pathological basis rather than biological basis. To elaborate, having an underlying genetic component doesn't qualify a feature present in a minority of a population as a medical problem. Using this logic, one could regard left handedness and even blue eyes as pathological conditions.
If you want to play word games, that's fine. I honestly should do something other than argue online anyway. And that's all this is--a word game. You want to put dyslexia--which no one can possibly argue isn't detrimental to someone's quality of life--in some box that relegates it to a minor issue that deserves no concern. And to do so, you're arguing to the point of nearly abandoning intellectual integrity.
Here's the thing: Dyslexia is real. It's detrimental. You may be able to argue with the first, but if you could you'd have done so by now. You can't argue with the second--not as someone typing a response on a computer. Thus, it's an issue that the victims, or patients, or plerglspats need to deal with. That's all I'm saying.
As for the whole "biological continuum" thing, it's pure garbage and, if you thought it through, I think you'd know it. Just because there's a range of values that something can safely have, doesn't mean that it can have any potential value without any problems. I can safely be anywhere from, say, 97 to 101 degrees F, but if I'm 110 F I'm dead. Doesn't help if you say it's not a medical condition--I'm still dead. Similarly, my blood can have a range of oxygen concentrations. Too high or too low, and I'm still toast. If you want to go with genes, we can play that game too--I have enough genetic disorders that are all extreme examples of traits which commonly vary within human populations that I can probably go as long as you and not look outside my own body for counter-arguments. I mean, let's start with my heart murmur. Everyone has some natural variability in how their heart functions. They have to--it's a chaotic system. The variability in my heart is more extreme. And it's caused some minor problems--things like needing to stop an activity for a while until my heart reached a natural rythem (doesn't sound like a huge issue until you realize that "an activity" for me frequently means "hiking up cliffs of unknown stability overhanging brush infested with poisonous snakes").
The fact that a trait varies doesn't mean that the extremes aren't dangerous. It never does, and there's no logical defense of it. And if the extremes are dangerous, it doesn't make one iota of difference what you call them: the person who has that extreme trait is going to suffer, and potentially die. That, to me, sounds like something we need to deal with.
On the subject of external stimuli I had 2 specific points in mind.
That's nice. I had the entire history of modern medicine in mind. If we give Patient A Chemical X, Patient A gets better. If we give Patient B, who has the same condition as Patient A, a placebo, Patient B does NOT get better. Thus, we can conclude that Chemical X treats Condition Y. That's basically what every double-blind study boils down to in the end.
Again in this respect, ADHD is better compared to a minority trait like left handedness than a medical disorder.
I watched my sister's marriage almost disintigrate (and I mean she already had talked to a lawyer and had a place to stay) because of her husband's untreated ADHD. I also watched someone nearly kill themselves by doing something stupid and impetuous that they admitted (and observation bore out) they'd never have done if they were on their meds. You're going to have some trouble convincing me that it's akin to being left-handed, or that the effects are minor. It's anecdotal, yes, but it's sufficient to disprove your premise that the condition is generally innocuous.
If you want to argue that ADHD and ADD are overdiagnosed, I'll agree 100%. However, until you can disprove the cases I've seen where the people actually had ADHD, or until you can prove that ruining a marriage is a minor issue, I'm sorry but I can't accept that ADHD isn't, at least for some, a serious problem and something that certainly needs to be dealt with in order to live anything like a decent life. If you want to say it's not a medical condition, fine--I can make up a word to call it. It doesn't matter. The effects ARE real, and they can certainly be worse than you're portraying them.
I would still question the use of dangerous medications in its management, there have been children who died as a result of this even though the parents administered the prescription as the doctor advised.
While it's sad that children have died, I'm not one to be swayed by that simple fact. I mean, children have died eating peanuts. Doesn't mean we should take them off the market. A huge number of children are killed each year by cars. Doesn't mean we should ban those. My point is, there are always going to be inherent risks with medication, and while some children have died that neither suggests that the medication isn't a good option for other people, nor does it say how dangerous the medication really is ("some children" is just about as vague and irrelevant as you can get--the number is so nebulous as to be nonexistent, and the age is nothing more than an emotional appeal).
You can have your own personal opinions about ADHD, and that's fine. We all have our opinions. But I'd suggest looking into the medical research a tad more before setting your opinions in stone. At least in some cases, ADHD is bad enough to actually damage or destroy the quality of a person's life, and to seriously harm (financially and emotionally, in my sister's case, but in some cases I've heard of the harm was physical) the people around them. Sure, it may be nothing more than an extreme version of a trait which normally varies within the population--but when it gets this bad, medical condition or not, it's something that needs dealt with. Same with dyslexia--when it gets bad enough to affect the quality of one's life, personally I'd say that means that whatever you want to call it it's something you should do something about.
. I do however suffer terribly from mixing up words and numbers. When I look back it did hinder me in school, I worked well in class and understood what I was taught. When it came to exams it just didnt come together.
