I too wish he would say something, for the greater good. But from our many experiences shared among readers of this web site, I would not wish the sort of stigma that comes with having and controlling a mental illness.

"...He also had trouble focusing in school..."

LOL. Perhaps his teachers were crap. And maybe if school had some objective other than providing drones for commerce and industry, the overall effect would be more impressive.

Matt

“In first grade, he’d hoist his desk onto his shoulders and wear it, running around the classroom as the other kids laughed,” she says. “Teachers insisted he was bright, but just couldn’t sit still. I was constantly getting calls from the principal’s office. I felt like the worst mother in the world.”
At home, Ty was a handful. Yvonne says he was always jumping off the roof and running into the street without checking for cars.
-----------

albertjames

New Mexico Drug Treatment

We have this...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7563901.stm

Antidepressants linked to unsafe driving. 30 Million on the roads huh? Gee I feel safe.

And we have this...

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iggZ1aEXm3lTMnUbwda1P2M10A1QD92LP5Q01

A mental patient died after workers at a North Carolina hospital left him in a chair for 22 hours without feeding him or helping him use the bathroom, said federal officials who have threatened to cut off the facility's funding.

The state sent a team Tuesday to help Cherry Hospital in Goldsboro draft new procedures to ensure patients receive proper care.

An investigator's report released Monday found that 50-year-old Steven Sabock died in April after he at one point choked on medication and had been left sitting in a chair for close to a day at the facility about 50 miles southeast of Raleigh. Surveillance video showed hospital staff watching television and playing cards just a few feet away.

>> No doubt too sedated to even swallow safely.

Snake pits.

I wonder if Phelps has ADHD because of eating too many Frosted Flakes instead of Wheaties.
He will be appearing on Frosted Flakes boxes

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/2008olympics/2008/08/19/2008-08-19_breakfast_of_a_champion_frosted_flakes_p.html

Still, I am happy that I saw both Spitz and Phelps in my lifetime.

Here's another story from ADDitude magazine in April 2007 so it's not really news: http://www.additudemag.com/adhd/article/1998-2.html

Phelps went off medication when he was 12.

According to research, one out of three people who had ADHD as children outgrow it or see their symptoms attenuated as they become adults.

There are so many celebrities that have brought conditions like depression and bipolar disorder to the fore by speaking out about them,I can't help but think that if Phelps became a spokesperson for ADHD it would really do the same for that condition and prompt the attention it so rightfully deserves.

Wendy Aron, author of Hide & Seek: How I Laughed at Depression, Conquered My Fears and Found Happiness.
http://www.wendyaron.com

In one article (http://wjz.com/seenon/michael.phelps.adhd.2.777123.html) it says that Michael was managing his ADHD without medication by the time he was 11. I hope it's true. There are so many athletes on psychostimulants to help their performance. It must be tempting to wonder if it would give you just that little edge but I kind of believe he hasn't been on them at least regularly because of their cardiac effects. I wouldn't think that would go well with the kind of aerobic strain required for what he does. I prefer to think it's his size 14 double jointed feet, his height, and his training ethic. I'm sure he's genuinely talented and I think it's great that swimming helped him overcome some supposedly disabling behaviors.

See this goes along with my personal theory about ADHD and that is that kids and adults with ADHD HAVE NOTHING WRONG WITH THEM and that they are simply cut out for certain types of more interactive PHYSICAL work. That if schools and society would stop medicating (most) kids with ADHD (a lifestyle choice IMO to medicate) to try and get to to conform and be like other kids, and instead set up DIFFERENT sorts of learning environments for these kids and ACCEPTED that they need to spend more time doing things that they are naturaly inclined to being able to stay interested in and a more physical learning environment... well you would really see these people with ADHD shine!

Everyone I have known with ADHD had been pretty good with visual spacial type tasks and things that require physical participation. I think these people simply have a certain type of TEMPERMENT and way of interacting with the world and NOT a disease. Maybe some kids really are so bad off they need meds to be able to do anything (and that is more like antisocial personality disorder or something else more serious if they NEED meds to function at all)... but most of the kids we put on ADHD meds probably could grow up and be just as successful without those meds. (I mean really did ADHD not exist befor meds? and if it did exist, then why haven't we seen HUGE progress in our society as these many people with ADHD are so greatly helped by the meds?) I think stimulants for ADHD are quite unneccassary except for in the worst cases... and like I said, for *most* people I think it is a lifestyle choice more than a neccassary action to get on these meds... you want your child to conform and behave in an easier to manage way, or as an adult you want to be able to do things that you are not naturaly inclined to do so you take a stimulant that makes you able to stay focused on those things despite your NATURAL tendancy to be drawn towards other things.

As an adult you choose to take ADHD meds because you want to be able to do things that society has taught you you should want to do, but in a less energy efficient world, back in the day when we had to plow and tend to the fields ourselves with our own human energy instead of desiel fuel, and had to hunt for our food and make our own tools by hand and not in factories... well wouldn't people with ADHD have been a VERY important and integral part of a functional society. So it makes sense there are people in the world who are "hyperactive", "always need to be moving" etc etc... except now, since most jobs that people are taught they SHOULD want to do are so labor un-intensive, these people with a very natural temperment are now labeled as diseased, afflicted with ADHD. Interesting theory huh?

BipolarBunny,

You're skewing reality: We need ADHD medication because society is set up in such a way that kids need traditional school in order to go anywhere in life. For many kids, without such drugs, they'll end up flunking, they'll end up getting kicked out or school, or, worst of all, their self-esteem will be permanently damaged. Kids with ADHD have difficulty learning, and they must have meds. That's just how it goes. Sorry if you don't like it.

Sure would be great to see a national hero speak out for ADHD. I think regular, aerobic exercise is a very helpful tool for ADHD. I'd like to see Phelps advocate for this and share any other tips and thoughts on the disorder.

GWEN said:
"BipolarBunny,

You're skewing reality: We need ADHD medication ***because society is set up in such a way that kids need traditional school in order to go anywhere in life.*** For many kids, without such drugs, they'll end up flunking, they'll end up getting kicked out or school, or, worst of all, their self-esteem will be permanently damaged. Kids with ADHD have difficulty learning, and they must have meds. That's just how it goes. Sorry if you don't like it."

No, no, I am not saying it's the worst thing in the world to put a kid on ADHD meds or for and adult to choose to use them. WHAT I AM SAYING IS THAT PEOPLE CHOOSE TO DO THIS IN ORDER TO CONFORM TO THE SOCIETY WE LIVE... so it IS a lifestyle choice, you choose to participate in "the rat race", which is fine because if you don't you can't get to far in our society. BUT I still believe ADHD is not a mental illness in the truer sense of the word for MOST of the people taking ADHD meds.
People rarely kill themselves over ADHD, people with ADHD seem to be able to maintain important relationships and act as decent human beings once they've grown to adulthood with or WITHOUT medications. At that point it is a lifestyle choice you are making and that choice is "I want to get ahead in this society and I have to do it the way everyone else does." It's a choice to conform, which is fine, and if your ADHD is really keeping you down so that you are poor because you can not work a higher paying job due to your "disorder"(naturaly highly energetic temperment), then it is probably the right choice to make.
I was NOT condeming people who choose to use ADHD meds in any way, so don't take it that way. And really if you look at the part of your post I put between ** marks, you'll notice that you have made my EXACT point as to WHY ADHD is considered a disorder and an illness in our society.
ADHD DOESN'T EXIST in cultures where they are still doing thier own farming and tool making and tending to the animals all with raw man power because in that sort of culture and lifestyle those "hyperactive" people probably are the ones who entertain thier village or tribe with thier high energy and are great at doing hard work because of thier high energy...I would go so far as to say that people who have this TEMPERMENT are highly valued in other less industrialized cultures. THAT is why I do not think it qualifies as an actual bonafied disease in many of the milder cases that it is diagnosed. It is artificial, it is SOCIETY choosing to tell these people that they need to change instead of being willing to accept (or at least try out the option) that these people may do better in life without drugs but WITH a specialized type/method of schooling and education. Now I know society aint gonna change for no-one, so I understand the need for meds to be able to conform and succeed in a very UNATURAL living situation as that of the modern developed world... but that still doesn't make it a valid illness.

AlbertJames posted:

“In first grade, he’d hoist his desk onto his shoulders and wear it, running around the classroom as the other kids laughed,” she says. “Teachers insisted he was bright, but just couldn’t sit still. I was constantly getting calls from the principal’s office. I felt like the worst mother in the world.”
At home, Ty was a handful. Yvonne says he was always jumping off the roof and running into the street without checking for cars."

And THIS is the type of ADHD that probably really does need to be treated for the childs own safety and I am all for people taking meds if they can't be helped in any other way to keep from doing things that will end up hurting them.

Hope that cleared up any missunderstandings.

Ah! The ADHD diagnosis now makes sense in light of the August 17 New York Times article that quotes his 3rd grade teacher remarking on his inability to pay attention.

I'm interested in the question of whether Phelps or his team mates use any form of "mental practice" -- now that Phelps is in his "young adult" years -- I"m curious to know what he does with his attention, his mind -- how he prepares for a meet.

Any clues?

Dr. G.
The George Greenstein Institute for the Advancement of Somatic Arts and Science

Bipolar Bunny: With a screen name of "Bi-Polar Bunny", I am reluctant to respond to a manic rant. However, unfortunately, your lack of education, but willingness to express an unfounded opinion is and has been the public view for years.

It is the typical "so, you were seriously abused as a child, get over it, live in the moment" B.S., Ask a Vet with PTSD how easy that is? Ask that kid running at 110 mph to "settle down", and watch him comply. Your uneducated shortsightedness has been the nightmare of many with the disorder.

It also seems to be a decidedly American phenomenon ... cheap talk, with NO direct experience. The old adage about "walking a mile in someone's shoes" comes to mind, except no one has done the mile. Freaking armchair psychologists. Mr. Phelps beat odds so insane, he is to be applauded, and anyone with ADHD should admire him, and consider using him as an example of what can be done when "Tasmanian Devil" inside is focused".

The un-medicated and un-treated (not 100% behind meds, but 100% behind behavior modification): check the Prisons, you will find many. NOT all are anti-social (for that matter not all are guilty), you throw around that label freely, that would be a -personality disorder- proper and Axis II. ADHD is not a personality disorder. Please resist the temptation to spew non-sense, as though you are some kind of expert. It only serves to confuse, the already severely confused here. I will not be back, so save the responses.
I apologize for any spelling or grammatical errors this was "penned" with furry!