Does Bush have ADD? Attention Deficit Disorder?

[opihimoimoi]

He often shows signs and symptoms of having problems recalling just what is it he is supposed to say, hence the, "uh, uh,,, uh" we all see during his speeches.

We know he practices. and when he finally recalls, he tends to "spurt".... usually the same ole lines we all heard before.

but, of late, he is showing signs of being unglued.

[2Design]

1. he is too stupid to have ADD.....

many of the greatest geniuses have had ADD, they could focus and create.......Read ADD success stories.

Not the books which tell everyone they have to conform and kids who can't sit still are ADD. Get them back out on the play grounds and stop them from sitting at a desk for 6 hours a day...and eating junk for lunch....let them walk to school again and get exercise and get those endorphins going..


this man is no genius

[Maddy McCall]

5. Exactly. Many children with ADD have IQs that qualify them for gifted...

and advanced placement classes.

Bush is a dry alcoholic.

[opihimoimoi]

6. I did say Bush was a genius. Is it not possible to be stupid and still

have ADD? Just asking

[2Design]

32. From what I have read people who have ADD are not stupid

people who want to control kids are....
Control kids at desks in a school without arts, gym and other activities is insane...

[Gemini Cat]

2. No. He has something called S.T.U.P.I.D

Slimy
Treacherous
Ugly
Petulant
Ignorant
Dunce (or Drunk if it fits and I think it fits too.)

The ummms and uhhhs and duhs are the manifestations of the STUPID syndrome.

[aquart]

3. What nerve, blaming Bush on ADD.

We are a much better class of people.

[republicansareevil]

27. Ha ha! No one wants Bush to have what they have.

ADD people insist Bush does not have ADD. Dyslexic people insist Bush is not dyslexic. Drug and alcohol abusers are the only ones on this board who seem willing to claim him into their group. I don't really know what Bush's problem is -- petit mal seizures, dry drunk syndrome, narcissism... they all make sense in some ways. While very bright people can have ADD or dyslexia or autistic spectrum disorder, I don't think those conditions are necessarily limited to gifted people. None of us are probably in the position of being able to diagnose Bush. We lack the expertise (most of us) and the access to his private life (all of us). But I have no problem diagnosing his "presidency" as a complete disaster. Let's just hope that he'll soon be out of this high-pressure job and getting whatever treatment and care he needs. :)

[leftofthedial]

4. ADD

Asshole Dickwad Disease

[opihimoimoi]

7. Oh my....is it contagious?

[leftofthedial]

25. it was highly contagious beginning with

the first widespread outbreaks in the 80's, but the spread seems to have slowed recently.

We'll never be safe until it is wiped out though.

[opihimoimoi]

29. Its gone Ebolaesque. I never knew the term , thank you for informing

us. Its been ravaging this Nation eversence it took root.

I first noticed it when Pat Robertson teamed up with Paul Weyrich, Terry Donlen, Rick Reed, etc. Jerry Foulbreath joined in too.

They teamed up to defeat our Nobel Peace Prizing winning Jimmy Carter installing Ronny Raygun... That was the start of Asshole Dickwad Disease going "Airborne". Damn.

[Don_G]

8. No Way

He just has a nasty attitude coupled with a chemically self-induced lobotomy.

[thebobartist]

9. A serious response

I suppose it's possible, but there's many other things to resort to before turning to "ADD" as the reason, just like if you were diagnosing a child as an ADD case. More pediatricians should take that advice.

[JSJ]

10. He has a receiver...

...secreted within his inner ear- with KKKarl on the other end telling him what to say. Beats the teleprompter with the big confusing words on it.

[durutti]

11. No, because there's no such thing.

Phamaceutical drug dealers would like you to believe otherwise, of course.

And this is coming from someone who supposedly has it.

Flame away.

[thebobartist]

12. ADD?

I certainly wouldn't flame you for it, though I do disagree, unless there is another reason for this "I can't concentrate hard on anything" feeling I get, and the fact that when I DO try to concentrate hard, it's almost as if my mind is actively battling me. I would get halfway through a math problem, then I would get stuck on some arbitrary thing like "9+12=..." and then I wouldn't be able to figure it out for five minutes and I'd just freak out.

Maybe that isn't ADD, I don't know, that's what they told me, anyway.

[durutti]

38. I have no doubt that you're telling the truth.

But the question isn't whether or not these "symptoms" occur, but whether or not they should be classified as a mental order neurological "disorder".

Some things to consider:

1. "Mental illness" is a social construct. A person is considered "mentally ill" when s/he exhibits behavior frowned upon by society. Homosexuality was, for example, considered a mental illness until relatively recently. Another example is suicide, which is considered almost always a result of mental illness in our culture, but accepted in others.

2. No "mental illness" has ever been conclusively demonstrated to have an innate, genetic cause, with the exception of Alzheimer's.

3. Genes don't cause any behavior. Behavior a product of the constant, irreducable interaction between gene, organism, and -- crucially -- environment.

4. Genes may predispose people to act a certain way in a certain environment, but it is society that determines the manner in which these urges are expressed and are acceptable to express.

5. There are tremendous ideological and institutional pressures in psychiatry and in science generally to tow the line that much behavior (including "mental illness") is innate and that it can hardly be altered by environment. The manifestation of these pressures most relevant to this discussion is the fact that the psychiatric profession is very much in the pocket of the pharmaceutical drug industry.

6. The diagnostic criteria for ADHD are extremely vague. Indeed, there's no one standard used to test for it. In light of #5, I would argue that this vagueness is deliberate.

7. Scientific evidence indicating an innate predisposition to ADHD is equivocal -- and that's being charitable. In contrast, there is a great deal of research indicating that environmental factors contribute to ADHD-like symptoms.

8. Reported incidences of "ADHD" are far more numerous in the U.S. than anywhere else in the industrialized world; the diagnosis isn't really taken seriously by professionals in other countries. The number of American children taking Ritalin has multiplied severalfold in recent years.

9. A very small number of children may suffer ADHD-like symptoms due to changes in the brain caused by lead poisoning, drug intoxication, exhaustion, and head injury.

***

In conclusion, I would argue that ADHD is vastly overdiagnosed at the very least, and probably a fiction.

I really think that we're too quick to blame the brain when there are obvious answers right under our noses. We allow our children to be raised by televisions then ship them off to factory-schools where creativity, individuality, and intellectual curiousity are often vigorously discouraged.

That's why there are a disproportionate number of "ADHD" cases among highly intelligent people. It's not because there's something wrong with them; it's because they're simply not being stimulated.

Why on Earth would we assume that if kids can't focus in school, there must be something wrong with them, when it's obvious that public schools in this country really are deadly boring?

[Pithlet]

37. Why do you think there is no such thing?

I can see the argument that it may be overdiagnosed, but I don't understand the assertion that some have that it simply doesn't exist.

[durutti]

39. See #38.

You can't prove a negative. But there's no evidence that it does exist. I don't believe in ADHD for the same reason I don't believe in the Tooth Fairy.

[Swamp Rat]

13. Something else.

But the ONLY cure is a frontal lobotomy.

[Hubert Flottz]

14. No, Sir Shrubbie has "TSTWHOA", it's a GOP thang!(Disease)

That explains why Karen and Mary had to rush back to his afflicted backside! Khandy and Pickles couldn't stand the strain! Too much deep Doo-Doo for a half a Doo-Doo crew to handle! The GOPers gal are facing too much Goo and not enough Glue because they sElected a damned Fool! All that wiping them poor gals are doing and the mess just keeps piling up! It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it!

Back in the old brown shoe Army, they called a guy like that a Dud instead of the Commander in Chief!

[opihimoimoi]

20. Karen was brought back to clean the pig shit dropped by Bush

as he slithers along down the path to Defeat. It still not working as the stench of his coming continues which explains his falling poll numbers. Bush should write a book like Big Dog did. Prolloy be 4 pages long and filled w pictures.

[Hubert Flottz]

23. Which would you rather read a book by a Stud or a book by a ...

Dud! The only words in Bush's book would be I, Me and Mine! The rest would have to be pictures for his readers, as well as the writer! Besides, I don't read fiction!

[Warpy]

15. Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome

It's what old drunks get when they fry their brains. Check it out.

[Hubert Flottz]

17. He can't have many neurons firing in that pickled skull!

They may want to color the GOP elephant pink when Bush clocks out, instead of putting him on the penny or the plug nickel! He was prolly seeing pink elephants when he signed the torture orders! I think he has shown about every sign of having advanced "Spuffet's Disease" also!

[dbt]

16. At the LEAST, he has been treated with drugs used against ADD.

One has only to compare his stuttering, stammering, halting and uncertain public speeches before 9/11 with the address he made to the nation some days after 9/11.

For some reason, the former scatterbrain was able to stay focused on what he was reading. In the medical parlance, he was able to stay "on task." There are several medications that bring this about: Ritalin, Cylert and Dexedrine among them. And the time lag referred to the first graf would be just about enough time for the meds to hit therapeutic levels!

I am NOT saying that bu$h has ADD; it may WELL be that this is only ONE of his afflictions. He's sure as hell on SOME medication(s)!

:freak:
dbt

[Stephanie]

18. What are the side effects of those drugs in adults?

Let me guess - irritability?

[dbt]

22. No more calls, please. We HAVE a winner!

Dead on it, Stephanie. Anybody who's ever done any form of speed can tell you about how pissed off a week or two of use left them! And you know bu$h likes the high...

:bounce:
dbt

[meow2u3]

26. As an adult afflicted with ADD, I know some of the side effects...

...of taking speed legally (I take Concerta, but in small doses):

--insomnia
--dizziness
--loss of appetite
If you take too much:
--irritability
--a feeling you're high as a kite
--sped-up heartrate

and I'm just scratching the surface!

[Cheswick2.0]

19. No he has E.B.D.

Evil bastard desease

[linazelle]

21. Hey maybe it's early Alzheimers---it couldn't happen to a better person

[Skittles]

24. no, he is just a stupid f***ing asshole

nt

[TryingToWarnYou]

28. ADD and stupidity are not related. NT

NT

[opihimoimoi]

30. If smart people can have ADD , then , Lolo people cam also have ADD

Bush is a long term victim of loloitis.

[ElectroPrincess]

41. Yes, to claim Bush is afflicted is an insult to ADDer's Everywhere :P

[FredScuttle]

31. DADD

Deficit Attention Deficit Disorder

[Disturbed]

33. H.U.A. Syndrome

It is highly contageous. All of BushCo Cult have it and it is spreading rapidly to the rest of the population.

The Disease Control Dept. must declare a War on H.U.A. Syndrome!!!

[opihimoimoi]

34. Its gone wild, its airborne, its everywhere. Cure being worked on

now by the small contingent of sane people not yet afflicted. Lets hope they find the solution soon else all is lost.

[tom_paine]

35. No, he is deeply psychotic and sociopathic

[opihimoimoi]

36. Could he not suffer from ADD as well? in addition to being NUTz?

A Fruitcake who cannot remember? Dats the Prez it seems.

[MoonRiver]

40. I'm sure he has ADHD, plus a whole lot more.

He's also LD, and has several personality disorders. The guy is a total mess. He'd probably be barely functional were it not for his rich rightwing parents and a compliant whore media.