> Like with ADHD, the benefit of a diagnosis is usually more 1-on-1 time with a teacher

Funny, they wanted to put me on Ritalin, not give me more 1-on-1 time.

I wish I had a doctor who wanted to get me on ritalin when I was younger. Everyone I know who had been prescribed has sung praises even still today well out of schooling.

The thing is, I didn't have ADHD, I was just kind of rambunctious (and said the word "butt" one too many times, apparently). It was being used as a "I'm too lazy to teach" remedy, which was of course my fault, not the teacher's.

Luckily my parents laughed at the idea and thus the poor teacher had to actually do her job: teach kindergartners, not child-shaped vegetables.

I wish I had been on ritalin at school. As an adult I have found my ability to retain, recall, and communicate information is so much stronger when I am on ritalin than when I am not. But, alas, I was not and here I am, decades later, trying to decide whether the expense of gaining a degree would be repaid with my remaining years in the workforce.

Same experience in the UK. And much worse.

> Like with ADHD, the benefit of a diagnosis is usually more 1-on-1 time with a teacher, which leads to better scholastic outcomes regardless of if the underlying issue is truly present.

My observation has been that usually diagnosis results in dependence on amphetamines.

That's what my parents tried to avoid for the first 15 years of my life. Finally, in my junior year of HS, they relented. My live improved 1000% overnight.

There's a reason why they're used. Because they're effective for the vast majority of people.

Apparently my spelling and ability to proofread did not improve, however :)

I mean, no more dependent than a neurotypical person is on their naturally-produced neurotransmitters.

Although purely annecdotal, I've seen a close personal friend with ADHD develop severe abuse issues with their prescribed medication. I don't have data on how high the risk is, but it does exist.

> I don't have data on how high the risk is, but it does exist.

While addiction can occur in anybody, the data seems to support the opposite conclusion^1 in regards to ADHD people and addictions to prescribed stimulants. Though a simple search on the topic can yield you many other sources citing the same observations.

In fact, people with ADHD are far more prone to developing addictions if ADHD is not treated properly. In an elementary way of thinking, the ADHD brain craves dopamine. So, in a sad way, the options for many ADHD people are:

1. to acquire their dopamine through the care and monitoring of licensed and trained medical professionals => improving their life.

2. to acquire their dopamine through whatever means works for them, typically the ways of boosting dopamine are quite dangerous, unproductive, inefficient, etc.

The average person is either ignorant or refuses to admit that ADHD psychostimulant medications are by far one of the most well researched and well understood medications ever utilized in medicine. This might sound a bit alarming for those unaware, but it's actually hard to find a medication that has this large of an benefical effect with so few side-effects in the large majority of individuals who use them properly.

Speaking of dangers, almost no one ever mentions the dangers of a person with ADHD going untreated. If you want to learn more, I would recommend you read points 78 - 136^2.

[1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25158998/

[2] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014976342...

Dependence on medicine to treat a chronic condition? If you "depend" upon something to seriously improve your quality of life, then that's hardly so bad.

> After his mother's death in 1971 he started taking antidepressants and amphetamines, despite the concern of his friends, one of whom (Ron Graham) bet him $500 that he could not stop taking them for a month. Erdős won the bet, but complained that it impacted his performance: "You've showed me I'm not an addict. But I didn't get any work done. I'd get up in the morning and stare at a blank piece of paper. I'd have no ideas, just like an ordinary person. You've set mathematics back a month." After he won the bet, he promptly resumed his use of Ritalin and Benzedrine.