ADD/ADHD Caused by SIBLINGS???

I have a theory. Some will call it narrow minded.. I call it a great way to find out where other people are with it. I will state it so arrogantly as this

"I believe that children who are diagnosed with ADD/ADHD are seldom the only child in the family"

"I believe that children who are diagnosed with ADD/ADHD are often competing for parental acknowledgement and adequate levels of discipline and affection are given or not given at a very early age"

Does anyone know of a family where "a single child resides with both parents and one of those parents is home with the child and that child has been diagnosed as an ADD/ADHD child who does not have any other associated medical conditions"???

Just wondering if there is even one case of this... Text

Hi, I do know of an only child who was borderline ADD and was an only child. But the other conditions you mentioned were changed. His parents were seperated and he had Tourette's. Not the same, but I do understand your theory. Although I would have to go back to my original posting at the other thread, I think doctors are too quick to diagnosis "symptoms" as ADD/ADHD. I also asked why they were always grouped together when it is two different conditions.

My youngest brother [three siblings, me(19), my 14 year old brother, and my 13 year old brother] has ADD and learning disorders, although neither I nor my 14 year old brother have any learning or development disorders; the 14 year old is actually the most mentally stable and gifted of all of us.

Originally posted by dirty_underground
Hi, I do know of an only child who was borderline ADD and was an only child. But the other conditions you mentioned were changed. His parents were seperated and he had Tourette's. Not the same, but I do understand your theory. Although I would have to go back to my original posting at the other thread, I think doctors are too quick to diagnosis "symptoms" as ADD/ADHD. I also asked why they were always grouped together when it is two different conditions.

Sorry for taking so long to reply.. I am thinking that the classification of ADD and ADHD go together as they are "Medically" treated the same. I am going to be suprised if anyone REALLY knows a child who is the only child in a dual parented stable environment that has this "medical" condition. I think it is a social condition actually.. well more FAMILY than social.. Just another thought

Originally posted by dirty_underground
Hi, I do know of an only child who was borderline ADD and was an only child. But the other conditions you mentioned were changed. His parents were seperated and he had Tourette's. Not the same, but I do understand your theory. Although I would have to go back to my original posting at the other thread, I think doctors are too quick to diagnosis "symptoms" as ADD/ADHD. I also asked why they were always grouped together when it is two different conditions.

Sorry for taking so long to reply.. I am thinking that the classification of ADD and ADHD go together as they are "Medically" treated the same. I am going to be suprised if anyone REALLY knows a child who is the only child in a dual parented stable environment that has this "medical" condition. I think it is a social condition actually.. well more FAMILY than social.. Just another thought

Originally posted by dirty_underground
Hi, I do know of an only child who was borderline ADD and was an only child. But the other conditions you mentioned were changed. His parents were seperated and he had Tourette's. Not the same, but I do understand your theory. Although I would have to go back to my original posting at the other thread, I think doctors are too quick to diagnosis "symptoms" as ADD/ADHD. I also asked why they were always grouped together when it is two different conditions.

Sorry for taking so long to reply.. I am thinking that the classification of ADD and ADHD go together as they are "Medically" treated the same. I am going to be suprised if anyone REALLY knows a child who is the only child in a dual parented stable environment that has this "medical" condition. I think it is a social condition actually.. well more FAMILY than social.. Just another thought

I have ADHD supposedly...honestly I just think it's an excuse to get young people on the pharms early.I was kind of rebellious and stuff,and when the doctor heard about this he just says,"Yup....you have ADHD."

I mean,some of the freaking symptoms were so vague,that they'd fit ANY teenager.

Doesn't pay attention in class.

Doesn't do homework.

Has a had time concentrating etc.

Everyone I knew in highschool had ADD if that is true.

Hmm 3 active boys.. Well there would definately have been competitiveness in your family while you were growing up and from a very early age.

Hmm 3 active boys.. Well there would definately have been competitiveness in your family while you were growing up and from a very early age.

Mate.. going by the "outlined descriptive for diagnosis... we all have it brother Some of us a just a wee bit naughtier than others aye?

I think I will look to see if I can find some statistics on it. It's an interesting view for sure. I'm sure someone has looked into it, but you know how that goes. While TV may play a part, I can't expect that it would be the entire problem for it.

Originally posted by dirty_underground
I think I will look to see if I can find some statistics on it. It's an interesting view for sure. I'm sure someone has looked into it, but you know how that goes.

While TV may play a part, I can't expect that it would be the entire problem for it.

Some cases where there are obvious other medical reasons it can be justified.. However.. Its the phenomenon of the millenium.. its slack parenting and a society that condones it afterall.. we are in the age where the MARVEL OF MEDICINE can fix everything.. Pfffffft what a crock. if we never had medicine beyond natural therapies of our tribal ancestory we would never have had disease... Oops.. im a bit left of topic. Any way ADD or ADHD is NOT A MEDICAL CONDITION IN MOST CASES..

Completely agree with you! Who cares if you go a little off topic, it's your thread.

I agree that multiple children could help cause constant distractions at times. It's a condition I haven't even heard of until the medical companies started pushing the drugs. The kids with ADD when I was a kid tended to score a bit less on tests, ended up not doing great and not going to college, etc. ADD kids do well in things like music or sports, though, and there are avenues for them in areas that don't need a whole lot of intense concentration. I know a few guys who have ADD and play drums - could be a correlation in rythm calming down their distraction.

Unfortunately I do not have the time to go into a detailed response at this time as I am just off to work, but may I respectfully suggest that, as with any other thread posted on ATS, you take the time and trouble to do a little research before you start posting ridiculous theories.

You might wish to start looking at the causes of ADD/ADHD, the differences in the development of the brain, its long term effects through to adulthood. Then research the behavour of people with ADHD.

You will quickly find that attention seeking is the least of their problems.

Btw, how many kids have you raised?

Well I work with mentally challenged kids, which covers everything from things like autism to just depression. I think these people are idiots for sticking autistic kids with kids with bi-polar and depression, but that's another thread! Anyways, theres this kid in one of my classes, and I can tell you, his ADHD is a real medical condition. I do not think he has any siblings either. So my question to you is, have you ever met anyone with ADD/ADHD? I'm sure in some cases siblings could be an issue. And I agree the doctors just love to throw meds at these kids. My brother was diagnosed with ADD when he was in elementary school and I have never seen any major symptoms. So it's very possible that having 2 brothers and a spoiled little sister led him to act out a bit.

P.S. I can't tell if i'm spelling things right, I am half asleep.

A friend of mine had one son.

She fell pregnant a couple of years later. Throughout her pregnancy, she was convinced that the forthcoming child would be a girl. She instructed her husband to paint the nursery in shades of pink and white. She purchased masses of beautiful, lacy and frilly baby-clothes for her expected daughter.

Her husband was concerned and did all he could to get her to at least acknowledge that the new baby might be a boy, but my friend threw temper tantrums at this suggestion. ' I'm having a girl ! ' she informed him.

By this stage, we were all worried about my friend's state of mind. She was a lovely person, but when she didn't get her own way or was upset or unhappy about things generally, she was prone to 'moods' that could go on for days, during which she would not speak to people, or she would toss things, etc.

By my friend's reasoning, her sisters in law each had a boy and a girl, as did most of her friends, and she believed this was the natural order of things and that she too would, *should* also have a son and daughter, to complete her personal version of a perfect, normal family.

Some months later, my friend's husband contacted my husband and I. He was panic-stricken. His wife (my friend) had had her baby, but she was refusing to touch it. In fact, she was refusing to acknowledge its existence, because instead of a girl, it was another boy. Every time the nurses wheeled the baby in, my friend apparently screamed: ' Get it out of my sight ! '

The weeks passed and I visited my friend several times. By now, she outwardly appeared to have adjusted to her situation, but was withdrawn, depressed and seemed to be harbouring a low-grade anger that flared up unexpectedly over trivial things.

As the months passed, I often observed her coldness towards her new baby, who was actually a delightful little boy with tons of personality. I tried to encourage her to see how great he was, but she neglected this child in a way she had never done with her older son. Whenever her coldness towards her younger son was mentioned by her husband or friends, she denied it with a laugh and claimed she was happy she'd had two boys, because they were good company for each other.

Fast forward 17 years, during which my friend had moved with her family to another State. We got in touch again after those years and began chatting about family, etc. My friend said she'd 'given up' on her youngest son, because he was 'hopeless' at everything. She claimed he ran with the wrong crowd, was irresponsible, had almost broken up her marriage.

My friend told me that she and her husband were moving again. She said her youngest son would not be welcome in their new home and would have to find a place of his own.

I asked about the older son and my friend gushed on an on about him, saying he was perfect, always had been and would of course be moving to the new home with them.

As explanation for her younger son's alleged 'problems', she claimed these were caused by ADD. She said a doctor had put him on medication for this condition, but it hadn't 'worked'.

All along, my private thoughts have been along the lines of: ' Oh, that poor, poor kid.'

My first child - a daughter - was ADHD - - way back in 1973 - - before it was the "catch all treat all" for normally overactive kids.

It IS REAL - - - I Know. It is a brain dis-order or dys-function. A part of the brain is underdeveloped or damaged. There are varying degrees and dysfunctions - - each case is individual. Some will completely outgrow it - - some will carry it into adult hood.

But - - it is being abused. There are normal over active children that are being drugged today. It is horrible.

Being a 50+ yr old with ADD, it bothers me to see people with theories, claiming authority, on something they don't understand.

From a family with 8 children, I am the only one who has this condition. I figured it out when my Son was diagnosed with the same thing in his early teens.

The worst part of the whole experience is people think that I am sitting there with a blank expression, seeming lonely, but in my mind I am thinking of 20 - 30 things per minute. No time to be lonely.

Being a High School drop out, because I couldn't concentrate on any subject for more than 5 seconds, has been the hardest thing for me to get past (stigma & peer pressure). I have learned what I can and can't do. I have geared my work to doing things that I can handle and I have learned which types of jobs to stay away from.

I am guiding my Son into work that he can do, for him to become productive and fit in to society. He seems to like what he is doing.

That is a key....we don't feel that we fit in. Things are moving way too fast in our brains and the world seems to work at a different speed. That is why TV is a big draw for us. I do get weary from the adds though. A good hockey game gets me glued to the action. Action is the name of the game. Slow moving sit com's are a bore, that is why we channel surf.

The one thing my son and I have in common is a traumatic birth experience, which may have deprived our brains of oxygen during the birth experience. The pressure may have put our skul plates out of allignment, thus puting abnormal pressure on parts of the brain that trigger this condition. You may want to study if the natural birth experience of first borne children who are fairly large babies with petite mothers, has any relationship to this phenomena.

The free movement or shifting of the skul plates, may be the answer to helping ADD people become more normal. Could be those plates are locked up and didn't shift back properly after birth. Has anyone done this type of study?

win52 - - - yes I understand. Most of my family have inherited "Fast Brain" - - good for multitasking - - bad for focused concentration.

But only my oldest daughter has actual ADHD - - and YES it is a real condition/dysfunction as I said above.

I was one of the lucky ones - - I had an incredible pediatrician. He focused purely on her everyday acceptance of herself in her environment. He said the most important thing is she Loves Herself. He would use Ritalin for very short periods - like a month - saying kids are smart - they can tell the difference in themselves - and most will strive to improve their behavior on their own once they see the difference.

We used diet - - no sugar - additives - coloring - preservatives - etc. Plus - putting her on a swim team which is a "patterning" and breathing exercise.

This pediatrician also said - "No one knows their child better then its mother". He also said - - "I don't care if you have to turn your home into a padded cell to protect your child - - NO DRUGS AT HOME".

My daughter was 9 before she could safely be left alone for even 5 minutes.

Today she is healthy and a manager at a steak house.


However - - today drugs are being abused in treating Normal Active children - - who should not have to sit on hard chairs everyday for hours at a time. The system needs to be tweaked - - not the kids.