If you think ADHD is just about disorganization and restlessness, think again

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ADHD is trivialized everywhere. Every month I see articles characterizing it as normal rambunctiousness. Pundits question parents' decisions to medicate, sometimes portraying them as stifling “normal” childhood exuberance and vitality. Sometimes even I get angry that kids have to rely on a medication simply to succeed in school. If we changed the schools, I think, maybe they wouldn't need the medication – or at least the dose could be lowered.

Don't get me wrong. I think classrooms need to change to be more supportive of students with ADHD, and favor all change in that direction. However, there is no denying that ADHD is a serious, even
life-threatening, disorder for reasons that extend far beyond the classroom.

Take car accidents, for example. According to the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH), “in their first few years of driving, teens with ADHD are involved in nearly four times as many car accidents as those who do not have ADHD. They are also more likely to cause injury in accidents, and they get three times as many speeding tickets as their peers.” When you look at all accidental injury, a child with ADHD is 57 percent more likely to injure her or himself accidentally.

Take smoking, for example. People with ADHD are more likely to smoke, and hence die from smoking-related causes. They are also more likely to abuse illegal substances.

Take friendships and marital success, for example. According to Russell A. Barkely, M.D., “50-70% of adults with ADHD have few or no friends.” In their book, ADHD and Marriage: learn to thrive in your relationship, Melissa Orlov and Ned Hallowell cite two studies. In one, “a person who has ADHD is almost twice as likely as one who does not have ADHD to be divorced [ Biederman et al., 1993].” They describe a later study where it is suggested that “58 percent of relationships with at least one person with ADHD are clinically dysfunctional—twice that of population [Murphy and Barkley, 1996].”

Other devastating outcomes include increased risk for teen pregnancy and STDs, depression, and sometimes incarceration for antisocial activities. A 2004 American Medical Association press release titled, 'New analysis cites economic impact of ADHD," quotes Joseph Biederman, M.D.: “Our survey shows that ADHD is a highly disabling disorder with a significant effect on a broad range of areas of functioning, including education and employment." He continues, "even when matched for educational levels, ADHD individuals with a high school degree earn significantly less than their non-ADHD counterparts.”

All the aforementioned evidence plus my own personal experiences lead me to conclude we should not be joking about ADHD. It needs prompt, effective evidence-based treatment. Russell Barkely M.D. and his colleagues put it much better than I ever could:

“The media can help substantially . . . . It can do so by portraying ADHD and the science about it as accurately and responsibly as possible while not purveying the propaganda of some social critics and fringe doctors . . . .To publish stories that ADHD is a fictitious disorder or merely a conflict between today’s Huckleberry Finns and their caregivers is tantamount to declaring the earth flat, the laws of gravity debatable, and the periodic table in chemistry a fraud. ADHD should be depicted in the media as realistically and accurately as it is depicted in science—as a valid disorder having varied and substantial adverse impact on those who may suffer from it through no fault of their own or their parents and teachers.”