What if Einstein had taken Ritalin?

[Catchawave]

Wall Street Journal
February 3, 2005

What If Einstein Had Taken Ritalin?
ADHD's Impact on Creativity
By JEFF ZASLOW

In American schools these days, countless class clowns are sitting down
and shutting up. In chemistry labs, students who used to mix chemicals
haphazardly, out of an insatiable curiosity, now focus on their
textbooks. In English classes, kids who once stared out the windows,
concocting crazy life stories about passersby, now face the blackboard.

Ritalin and other drugs for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder
have helped many children improve their focus and behavior -- to the
great relief of parents and teachers. But ADHD support groups offer
long lists of out-of-the-box thinkers who had classic ADHD traits such
as impulsivity, a penchant for day-dreaming, and disorganized lives.
Among those who are believed to have had the disorder: Thomas Edison,
Albert Einstein, Salvador Dali, Winston Churchill.

The question is whether the Ritalin Revolution will sap tomorrow's work
force of some of its potential genius. What will be the repercussions
in corporations, comedy clubs, and research labs?

Some researchers now wonder if would-be Einsteins and Edisons will
choose different career paths because their creativity and drive are
dulled by ADHD drugs. They also worry that the stigma of being labeled
with ADHD could lead some kids to lose confidence, and dream smaller
dreams.

more: http://www.add-forum.com/forum/What_If_Einstein_Had_Taken_Ritalin_308618.html

[Mythsaje]

1. "And we'll

make mindless little drones of them yet, my pretty."

Don't think, just produce and consume. You're not paid to think.

You got a problem with that, mister?

[mondo joe]

2. What if Einstein's mother had an abortion?

Perhaps people should deny themselves medication or treatment in order to preserve the possibility of genius?

Here's another question: What if Sylvia Plath had access to anti depressants?

[julialnyc]

5. Also

What if Jeffrey Dahmer, Son of Sam, ect.... had access to medication?

You can make the argument both ways. It simply isn't a simple answer.

[mondo joe]

9. Oh, good one. While many drugs are overused, I don't expect parents

or individuals to say "oh yes, this is extremely difficult but we're going to endure it on the chance we get some genius out of it".

[NVMojo]

15. and like ummm, what if Jeffrey Dahmer's mother had an abortion?

[Massacure]

3. More often than not a great civilization falls from the inside.

R.I.P. America.

[jim3775]

4. Okay, lets look at Jeff Zaslow's credentials

"And author Jeff Zaslow isn't merely acquainted with the art of advice. He is the nationally-known advice giver who beat out 12,000 applicants for Ann Landers' job at the Chicago Sun-Times and now is also the featured columnist of "Straight Talk" in USA Weekend (circulation 40 million, and growing!). After years of giving advice to millions of readers, Zaslow has developed the knack for eliciting direct, personal advice from stars in his exclusive, in-depth interviews."


The new Ann Landers huh?

Source

[murray hill farm]

6. and ADHD drugs are dangerous...

there are links to Tourettes syndrome..and other neurological disorders...and if not...then often the child needs other drugs to counteract the dulling of the ritalin...and then others to counteract the counteracting drug...it also sets up the child to behave in the hyper mode since it is not only expected, but gains attention..and provides an excuse for the behavior..we are all influenced by the looking glass self..and children, of course are the most vulnerable....but it is easy...easier for the teachers in their overcrowded classrooms, easy for the parents, since now the child is dulled and quiet..if not..then more drugs til we get it right. it is a parenting problem most of the time...but is is a lot of work to set behavioral bounderies and expectations and then, for the most part..once the new label is attached to the child..it is even more difficult to do that difficult parenting job..because..new behavioral expectations are already in place.

[Redstone]

18. And do you...have ADD yourself...and have you...

had to live...with ADD...with no treatment...and experienced for yourself...the difference...after you started....taking the medicine?

I have.

Redstone

[Matariki]

22. i did, as a child and young adult

and i'm f*ing glad i wasn't medicated. i was a day dreamer, extremely hyperactive, artistic, high iq and so forth. and i'm really glad i wasn't medicated.

[murray hill farm]

23. i am not saying no one should take it...

but what i am saying is that once u take it..then..yes..u will need it..the body adapts quickly to having meds as part of its biological makeup...and then..it needs it to just maintain..and that cycle starts of medicating to maintain..and then medicating more to counteract the side effects..very quickly this happens..and then..at that point..no behavioral or learned adaptation can occur..since the meds take care of it. when my boys were young..very young..it was suggested by a doctor that we start on ritalin..since they were blond and they were boys..and this..according to doc were the most likely to need ritalin..sort of nip it in the bud phylosophy. i did not do it, of course...and boys yes will be boys..and they were wild little guys, but they are adults now..and they are fine...but i have been a teacher..when mykids were little...and then spent all of their growing up years working as a counsleor for the dept of educ..i saw this way too much...this medication to control behavior..it had been so long accepted as how to deal with kids in the schools...and i saw the devistation it cause these young lives...and all of their lives..it never ends once a young body is put on medication regime. later in life, i had a private practice as a psychologist...and i saw so much of the later and grown up years of people who had parents that allowed this to start...it is physical as well as emotional life style..and the biology has developed in these people with ritalin..and then other medications as a part of the biological makeup of how the body developed. AS an adult, docs are only too happy to prescribe some xanax for anxiety..and yep..the person feels so much better right away..but the cause of the anxiety and the real chance to deal with what is the reason for the extreme anxiety, is gone..the meds have handled it...the body adapts quickly..and meds are then needed..when ihad my private practice, i would not see a patient that took antianxiety drugs..because as long as they had the meds...they would not deal with looking for the cause..no need to ..had drugs. i would talk to all of the docs in my comunity..and beg then not to do this..not to prescribe xanax or other such drugs on an ongoing basis..some listened..but most did not...so if one did..the patient just went to another..and doc shopped until they found an agreeable provider. docs hate to deal with such things...they need themselves to heal..to fix what is wrong..and their whole "medical" orientation is medicine..and so that is what they do..give meds. yeah...i have seen it and i have worked with it and i have lived with it.

[FreakinDJ]

7. Black Hole where his mind used to be

We are still playing catch up to what this guy knew

[cprise]

8. What if Einstein grew up with TV and sugary food?

And caffeinated corn-syrup-drinks dispensed in school hallways?

I wonder if any of this stuff isn't a waste of time and resources, along with the Ritalin kids apparently need to combat these influences.

[mondo joe]

10. What if GW Bush had taken ritalin?

Would he have learned to loved education? Would he have become more curious? Would he be a different man today?

[bettyellen]

11. and what if he became a scientologist, and believed......

in science fiction instead of science fact....

[mondo joe]

13. Depends on what he looks like is my guess.

He might not have so many worshippers if he still looked like Einstein is my guess.

[bettyellen]

16. well L-Ron is pretty fugly, and it didn't stop him....

i think you just need to be able to repeat the same lie over and over again. you know, psy-ops, like the shrub does.

[Redstone]

12. If Einstein had taken ritalin, he'd have gotten more work done

if he had ADD.

Ritalin does NOT "dull creativity and drive." That's pure and utter bullshit. Since when does an increase in the ability to concentrate "dull creativity and drive?"

That statement is a logical fallacy as well as being utter, pandering crap.

I'm sorry (no, I'm not), but who the fuck is that guy to make statements like "In American schools these days, countless class clowns are sitting down and shutting up. In chemistry labs, students who used to mix chemicals haphazardly, out of an insatiable curiosity, now focus on their textbooks. In English classes, kids who once stared out the windows, concocting crazy life stories about passersby, now face the blackboard." that are absolutely not true?

That is NOT how Ritalin and other ADD medications work. It doesn't turn us into robots.

Does he have ADD? If not, he needs to shut the fuck up.

Redstone

[cprise]

19. Very original.

I'm sorry (no, I'm not), but who the fuck is that guy

Now take your Ritalin. :evilgrin:

[SmokingJacket]

25. I had an amazing ADHD student when I was a teacher...

He was in a class with an extremely rigid, sit-down-shut-up kind of teacher. He ended up throwing chairs at her, even with his Ritalin. He got taken out of that class and put in mine because the principal knew I had a soft spot for oddball kids.

On days he didn't take his medicine, he talked out of turn constantly -- always with something interesting to say, but the other kids couldn't get a word in edgewise. When he took it, he could focus his remarks and let other kids into his conversations. Also, he was a wonderful artist. My favorite memories of Evan are when he used to draw pictures, his cheeks pink with effort and concentration. The Ritalin didn't sap his creativity -- it focused it.

That said: Evan had a genuine, fixable problem. I don't think every kid with behavior problems needs drugs.

[NMMNG]

14. What if Lucille Ball had taken Vioxx?

She may have died even sooner of a heart condition, or she may have had a stroke!

[mondo joe]

17. What if Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain and Hendrix were clean and sober?

Are we stifling genius by discouraging people from being drunk and drugged?

[alarcojon]

24. I like the rhetorical point.

What if Dostoevsky had been on Zoloft and wasn't so obsessed with dying. Would he have written The Brothers Karamazov or even The Grand Inquisitor?

[blitzen]

20. Einstein probably had Asperger's (Autism), not ADHD

At least that's what is commonly said in the Aspie community (which includes my 8 year-old son).

[Maddy McCall]

21. What ifs are ridiculous questions to ask. If a frog had wings...

he wouldn't scrape his ass everytime he jumped.