I have to go off track for a moment. let's start a seperate thread on ADHD/Giftedness/ Doing Drugs in High School because this is interesting stuff!
When he was a teenager he started doing drugs which is common with kids who are given meds for hyperactivity.
Hi Soupie -
I appreciate you point soupie, but hold on with the logic there!
'Doing drugs' is common amound teenagers in general. ((If you count alcohol as a drug, which I do, then common is an understatement, yes?))
I believe that there are numbers that show that doing drugs is more common in people who have ADHD, many of which are medicated for it. So there most likely is an association - but what is the cause? Being given medication as a child? having ADHD in the first place?
FWIW, my guess is that kids with more severe symptoms are more likely to be medicated, so if there a causal connection between having ADHD and 'doing drugs' as a teen, then maybe it's because the more severe situations are the ones most likely to be medicated, yes? Or maybe there is a parental factor, with parents who are willing to persue alternative treatment being more involved, or less athority-following, either of which MIGHT be protective of kids 'doing drugs.'
Now let's add the gifted layer...many gifted kids yearn to belong to the crowd. Many gifted kids aren't good at 'shutting down their brains' so they can just relax. Pot, in particular, 30 years ago in more particular, has the effect of helping kids relax, AND of giving kids a way to fit in with a group. Not the least part of which is that if I'm stoned, I don't mind so much that my friends don't provide much mental stimulation. Here's another part of it: the last time I was sick, I had the insight that just washing the dishes was a challenge, and if I didn't have other challenges in my life, maybe I would enjoy making myself sick or impared so that regualar activities were more engaging. So maybe our 'Stoned Underachievers' have finally found a way to self-differentiate. Just not a productive way!
((I am not supporting drug use by anyone of any age here - just facing facts.))
I know at least one gifted adult who finally found a way to handle all the challenges of being unidentified and unaccomidated gifted in high school by 'getting high' daily, and still got and 800 on his Math SAT. As a college student, it was not at all unusually to see some of the brightest (and least productive) kids 'doing drugs' on a daily basis, and again, I felt very left out by not being interested in Alcohol use.
So maybe gifties with ADHD don't use because they have ADHD, or becuase they were medicated, but simply because they couldn't find a way to put their minds to work in a workable peer group? How many gifties get labled with ADHD when they are only 'more gifted than the programs provided by their school?' So I don't really have any answers, but I really think that when addressing the question, to medicate or not to medicate, that no one should be scared off by the 'the child might do drugs later' argument.
Thanks,
Grinity
