If the major drug companies are to be believed ADD/ADHD is something of a life sentence. They would have us believe that once a positive diagnosis is delivered (a process which can often be tainted by sloppy reasoning and conflicts of interest) you will have to ‘make things better’ by continuing to use their products year in and year out. The extent to which medical professionals have bought into this narrative is nothing short of alarming. Tales abound of doctors simply continuing to renew prescriptions without so much as a follow-up examination. It is easy to see why the drug companies are so enthusiastic in pushing this interpretation of ADD/ADHD – It has a massive positive impact on company profits!
My view has always been that even if the potential for developing ADD/ADHD symptoms remain more or less constant the management of underlying and environmental factors can still greatly reduce the incidence of these symptoms. It is therefore wrong to simply label someone as having ADD/ADHD and to then proceed with an unvaried and long-term treatment process.