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Areas › Focus, starting, and ADHD › Treatment and medication
The old picture of ADHD was a careless child and a lazy adult, and that picture kept a great many people from ever mentioning it. An athlete at the top of her sport saying she has it does not fit the picture at all, and the picture is what quietly loses. If you have been putting off an assessment because of what it might say about you, notice that a good deal of what you are afraid of belongs to that old story rather than to the condition.
This explains how treatments work. Never start, stop or change a medication because of something you read here.
No blame will be attached to the blind, the lame, the sick (Quran 24:61). Bodies and minds that work differently are named without blame, which is a long way from lazy.
النور
لَّيۡسَ عَلَى ٱلۡأَعۡمَىٰ حَرَجࣱ وَلَا عَلَى ٱلۡأَعۡرَجِ حَرَجࣱ وَلَا عَلَى ٱلۡمَرِيضِ حَرَجࣱ وَلَا عَلَىٰٓ أَنفُسِكُمۡ أَن تَأۡكُلُواْ مِنۢ بُيُوتِكُمۡ أَوۡ بُيُوتِ ءَابَآئِكُمۡ أَوۡ بُيُوتِ أُمَّهَٰتِكُمۡ أَوۡ بُيُوتِ إِخۡوَٰنِكُمۡ أَوۡ بُيُوتِ أَخَوَٰتِكُمۡ أَوۡ بُيُوتِ أَعۡمَٰمِكُمۡ أَوۡ بُيُوتِ عَمَّٰتِكُمۡ أَوۡ بُيُوتِ أَخۡوَٰلِكُمۡ أَوۡ بُيُوتِ خَٰلَٰتِكُمۡ أَوۡ مَا مَلَكۡتُم مَّفَاتِحَهُۥٓ أَوۡ صَدِيقِكُمۡۚ لَيۡسَ عَلَيۡكُمۡ جُنَاحٌ أَن تَأۡكُلُواْ جَمِيعًا أَوۡ أَشۡتَاتࣰ اۚ فَإِذَا دَخَلۡتُم بُيُوتࣰ ا فَسَلِّمُواْ عَلَىٰٓ أَنفُسِكُمۡ تَحِيَّةࣰ مِّنۡ عِندِ ٱللَّهِ مُبَٰرَكَةࣰ طَيِّبَةࣰۚ كَذَٰلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ ٱللَّهُ لَكُمُ ٱلۡأٓيَٰتِ لَعَلَّكُمۡ تَعۡقِلُونَ
No blame will be attached to the blind, the lame, the sick.Whether you eat in your own houses, or those of your fathers, your mothers, your brothers, your sisters, your paternal uncles, your paternal aunts, your maternal uncles, your maternal aunts, houses you have the keys for, or any of your friends’ houses, you will not be blamed: you will not be blamed whether you eat in company or separately. When you enter any house, greet one another with a greeting of blessing and goodness as enjoined by God. This is how God makes His messages clear to you so that you may understand
Qur’an 24:61read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
A randomised, double blind, placebo controlled trial in 445 young adults aged eighteen to thirty looked at atomoxetine's effect on symptoms and on how people were functioning. It is worth knowing that adult ADHD is treated and studied seriously, which is what asking the question leads towards. The trial says nothing about disclosure or stigma, only that there is real work on the other side of the door.
Durell TM, Adler LA, Williams DW, Deldar A, McGough JJ, Glaser PE, Rubin RL, Pigott TA, Sarkis EH, Fox BK. (2013). Atomoxetine treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in young adults with assessment of functional outcomes: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial.. Journal of clinical psychopharmacology doi
Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.
A stereotype loses its hold when you can see somebody it plainly does not fit.
Said plainly, because it should be: medication is the most effective treatment for ADHD, and by a good margin. Everything else in this area is something you add to that decision, not something that replaces it.
The therapy that helps adult ADHD is not really about arguing with your thoughts. It is practical work on how your week is built, and it works because you are the one who can go and rebuild it.
Paying someone to help sort the house will not mend the marriage. It will remove one of the things you fight about most weeks, and that counts for more than it sounds.