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Violence and ADHD

© Valerie de Armas

Having just celebrated Independence Day here in the US, I've been reflecting on some of our basic freedoms here. One of those freedoms is the right to bear arms. This disturbs me somewhat given the tragedies that have occurred in our schools this past spring. Looking closer at the tragedy where children were killed at their school in Littleton, Colorado, I found that ADD/ADHD was mentioned as a possible cause of this tragedy. Naturally, this made me dig a little deeper to find out what they were talking about. I've certainly had ADD all of my life and never once thought about getting a machine gun and mowing people down, so what's going on here?

Violence has been and will continue to be associated with ADHD. Studies have shown that children who are not properly diagnosed and treated for ADHD are much more likely to be involved in some kind of violence or other unlawful activity. Studies show anywhere from 30-50% of children who are diagnosed with ADHD by the age of 12 will be arrested by the time they are 18. That is a scary statistic. Much of this is due to children with ADHD developing self-esteem and conduct problems. If not properly educated and treated, there will continue to be children with ADHD who find themselves involved in criminal activity.

But does that mean those with ADHD are killers? I don't think so. I'm sure there are those in prison for murder who have ADHD, but the tragedy that occurred in Littleton doesn't seem to be related to ADHD - except perhaps in the media. However, the facts don't seem to substantiate the media's claims. It seems that the shooting in Littleton, CO, had been planned for over a year. Most crimes by those with ADHD are impulsive - the heat of the moment type of thing - which of course, makes sense given that we ADDers are very impulsive. Also, there were no drugs - not even Ritalin - found in the killers' bodies and neither were being treated for ADHD. I'd say that pretty much rules out ADHD as a "cause of the crime."

This is not to say that a child with ADD/ADHD may not commit one of these crimes. A student in Conyers, GA, recently shot some of his classmates. He had been diagnosed with ADHD and had been prescribed Ritalin. Did the Ritalin make him do it? Did the ADHD make him do it? I don't think so, but of course, that's my opinion. Perhaps he had other problems - depression has been mentioned in his case - or perhaps not.