Why Are Allergies/Disorders More Common Nowadays Then When We Were Kids?

[Lyaer]

For the record, I didn't mean to imply that Asperger's/autism are not in any way evolutionarily viable or useful. Just the "next step in human evolution" thing, which makes us sound like x-men or something.

EDIT: Ooh. Preempted. Yeah, I hear ya.

[Toast]

They practically hand out ADHD diagnoses with the Sunday paper these days. Or I should say student IDs. In many cases, given an overworked mental health care system (at least in America), teachers will notice a kid fidgeting, label him disruptive (and it's often boys), suggest a diagnosis of ADHD, shunt him off to a child psychiatrist who's too busy to actually check, and the kid ends up scarfing pills for the rest of his career when it's less that there's a real problem with him and more that the drugs shut him up to compensate for a fundamentally backwards educational system that takes all the fun out of learning, when kids are programmed to find learning fun.

It's not just an overworked mental health care system. Don't forget that ADHD can be diagnosed by pediatricians and family physicians who, for all intents and purposes, shouldn't be allowed to diagnose psychological disorders.

[Eldezar]

There is a lot of mercury in fish. Lakes are contaminated, too.

Many vaccinations have ridiculous amounts of mercury.

And I don't think I need a link to tell you that it doesn't take much mercury to mess someone up pretty bad, but I'll give you one anyways.*

**I know the hatters generally took a few years before they went mad, but remember this is starting out in children now, even during pregnancy.

[stefan]

Originally Posted by Eldezar

Many vaccinations have ridiculous amounts of mercury.

Not this shit again.

tl;dr: Mercury was only used in concentrations of about 1 in 20,000 parts per million at most and most of the time its not even used any more.

for future reference, a website named something like "natural news" is probably full of bullshit and outdated hippie nonsense.

[Osterbaum]

To get back to ADHD, I have a hard time swallowing that it is somethign that needs to be classified as a psychological "condition". Why? Just because it's less common than what is the mainstream?

[stefan]

Originally Posted by Osterbaum

To get back to ADHD, I have a hard time swallowing that it is somethign that needs to be classified as a psychological "condition". Why? Just because it's less common than what is the mainstream?

see, here's the thing. ADHD is real, and its classified as a disorder because many people who have it are effected so severely they're incapable of functioning properly in society.

However, the sheer amount of people who DON'T have it, and were diagnosed anyway because they were too hyperactive for someone's taste, taint the public perception of ADHD.

[bluestarultor]

Yes, to back Stefan up, when ADHD first was being diagnosed some nearly 20 years ago, it was this big education movement. People with valid ADHD had just been considered flaky or retarded or disruptive without any real explanation. Once people started realizing there was a reason for it and that it could be treated, it slowly got around and people were able to get help. Then it just got to the point where the symptoms got generalized because everyone had heard of them, in the same way med students end up thinking they're going to die from a million diseases because they have something like the symptoms. So if a kid gets bored or fidgets these days, rather than, you know, fixing the school system or really giving a damn, schools just tell parents to stuff pills in their kids' mouths. And unfortunately, it works to shut them up, but it's often not necessary and can cause actual chemical changes in the brain, aside from the drug costs. So people keep on doing it and messing up the next generation because it's easier than actually doing something for them.

[Seil]

SCIENCE! from the INTERNET! (This is what I got out of the first page of Google.)

Student Health Issues
Main Street
Encyclopedia.Com
Lifeline

[Donomni]

I was kinda surprised that the number of kids with Aspergers has been climbing so much.

The cynic and self-loather in me wants to say it's along the lines of "NO MY KID IS NOT A NERD HE HAS A DISORDER GAWD", but we still have no idea how so many are getting it(at least not anything solid atm).

It's strange knowing there's a lot more people like me, but it's a complete pain in the ass to be like that.

[Eldezar]

Originally Posted by stefan

Not this shit again.

tl;dr: Mercury was only used in concentrations of about 1 in 20,000 parts per million at most and most of the time its not even used any more.

for future reference, a website named something like "natural news" is probably full of bullshit and outdated hippie nonsense.

Mercury is still one of the most poisonous substances on earth. I also know it is still used in shots because a friend of mine has 3 grandchildren. Only one of them has autism, and only one of them got vaccinations as a baby. Guess which?