Yet Another Place To Point The Blame

If you've read through my blog or know me at all, you already know that I am not one to accept anyone placing blame where it doesn't belong and particularly not when it belongs on themselves. Try, if you will, to imagine my disgust today when I read an article in the Daily Oklahoman titled "Many Adults Suffer ADD Problems". Excuse me?

The article claims that 17 million American adults suffer from ADD. How do they know? How do you pin that number down? Judging by their criteria which includes:

Inattentiveness
Easily Distracted
Disorganized
Aggressive

....

I'm sorry, what was I saying?

That list of criteria goes on and on, but if you take even those four I listed then I'd say they seriously lowballed their number! How many people do you know (including yourself) who regularly exhibit at least a couple of those? Yeah, pretty much everyone.

The basis for this article is a book titled "Healing ADD: The Breakthrough Program That Allows You To See and Heal the 6 Types of ADD" by Daniel Amen, M.D. The problem, of course, is that since your already inattentive if you are ADD you will never get to the end of the title much less have the attention span required to read it!!!

I just don't buy it. I say that so many people exhibit these traits because it's the kind of society we have built for ourselves. We're constantly pulled in several directions at once. We are bombarded with information at such a rate I don't think it's possible to keep up with it all. The machine is raging out of control and noone knows who's driving. It's yet another label to put on it to give people an out. Can you see the possibilities here? "I am a severely ADD adult so I can't help it if I don't remember to pay my bills." "I can't help it that I shot the guy in the other car. I'm ADD and he was pissing me off!" Need I go on???

There are exceptions to every rule. I am not naive enough to think that there aren't people out there who truly do suffer to the point that they cannot participate in society without help. I would also be shocked if that number were 17 million. What I fear is that articles like this will only fuel the phenomenon in today's society where we seek to find any other place to put the blame for our behavior and actions than where it should be resting...on ourselves. People who really need help are most likely either going to see a doctor on their own or have a friend or loved one take them. The doctor should be the one to direct a course of treatment, not a book recommended by a newspaper reporter.

I'm inattentive at times. I've certainly been known to blow my top at people on the roads. There are times, and not always rare ones, that I exhibit pretty much every behavioral trait mentioned in that column. Let me assure you that I am NOT ADD anymore than I'm from China. I accept the responsibility for my actions and face the consequences, both good and bad, that come from my choices. My hope is that, someday, society will have a change of heart and stop accepting the placing of blame for personal behavior on things like ADD.