ADD

[Vort]

I have ADD -- Additional Digit Disorder. You see, I have five fingers on each hand. You read that right: Five fingers. To be precise, four fingers and a thumb.

 

I don't know why I have this disorder. It certainly runs in my family: Both of my parents and all of my siblings are affected. Foolishly, I married a girl with the same disorder, and now all of our children are affected.

 

The good news is that there is a simple surgery that can cure this malady. Only a thin scar running alongside your hand, and perhaps a too-wide palm, will betray that you suffer from this disorder. It's costly to get the surgery, of course -- especially since our evil insurance system mystifyingly refuses to pay for it.

 

Now, I have heard some weirdos claim that having five fingers on each hand is "perfectly normal", that it's "how many people are supposed to be". They use words like "natural" and "healthy", as if not being able to slip your hand through a bracelet that fits tight around your wrist is somehow normal! Their reasoning is bizarre: "Look how common it is! That's how people ARE! We should adapt our society to that reality, not try to force reality to adapt to society!" Well, golly darn. And if most people had their livers on the OUTSIDE, I guess that would be normal, too, huh?

 

Weirdos.

 

Nope, ADD is bad, for sure. Hello! It's even called a "disorder" -- what more proof do you need? I'm just glad there is some sort of treatment for it. Heaven forbid that the weirdos win out and society be expected to adapt to the bizarre freakishness that is ADD.

[NeuroTypical]

Who remembers the primary song?

 

I have five little fingers on one little hand,

And six on the other, I don't understand!

Now I'm and quite sad and I am very blue,

There's not one dang thing for one finger to do!

[char713]

Who remembers the primary song?

 

I have five little fingers on one little hand,

And six on the other, I don't understand!

Now I'm and quite sad and I am very blue,

There's not one dang thing for one finger to do!

 

I remember the John Bytheway version - I believe this is the second verse:

 

When I am invited to play hide 'n' seek

Sometimes I am "IT" and I feel like a geek

'Cos all of the others like Tommy and Kevin

Will count up to ten but I count to eleven. 

 

My little sister had a sixth finger nub until she was a young teenager. We teased her mercilessly. She hated this song. Poor kid!

[mordorbund]

I have ADD -- Additional Digit Disorder. You see, I have five fingers on each hand. You read that right: Five fingers. To be precise, four fingers and a thumb.

 

I don't know why I have this disorder. It certainly runs in my family: Both of my parents and all of my siblings are affected. Foolishly, I married a girl with the same disorder, and now all of our children are affected.

 

The good news is that there is a simple surgery that can cure this malady. Only a thin scar running alongside your hand, and perhaps a too-wide palm, will betray that you suffer from this disorder. It's costly to get the surgery, of course -- especially since our evil insurance system mystifyingly refuses to pay for it.

 

Now, I have heard some weirdos claim that having five fingers on each hand is "perfectly normal", that it's "how many people are supposed to be". They use words like "natural" and "healthy", as if not being able to slip your hand through a bracelet that fits tight around your wrist is somehow normal! Their reasoning is bizarre: "Look how common it is! That's how people ARE! We should adapt our society to that reality, not try to force reality to adapt to society!" Well, golly darn. And if most people had their livers on the OUTSIDE, I guess that would be normal, too, huh?

 

Weirdos.

 

Nope, ADD is bad, for sure. Hello! It's even called a "disorder" -- what more proof do you need? I'm just glad there is some sort of treatment for it. Heaven forbid that the weirdos win out and society be expected to adapt to the bizarre freakishness that is ADD.

 

Not everyone who has the surgery finds it particularly helpful. That's one of the reasons why you're encouraged to wear gloves for a year first so you can get used to what it feels like to fully be a thumby or pinky (have you chosen which you want to be yet? what do you prefer I call you in the meantime?). Even then, the suicide rate is still higher than normal (I'm so sorry to use that term around you - it must be so tough - you're so brave - I'm trying to be understanding, please be patient with me). Both before and after your surgery, surround yourself with people who support you where you are in life.

 

* I just found out that a co-worker's son is going through life with ADD. I've since stopped shaking hands and only give fist bumps (I'm so compassionate and progressive).

[Traveler]

Well at least this will explain where numbers base 10 came from (putting two hands together).  Hmmmmmmmmmm where did numbers base 60 come from?

[mirkwood]

Not to be confused with AD&D.

[Vort]

Well at least this will explain where numbers base 10 came from (putting two hands together).  Hmmmmmmmmmm where did numbers base 60 come from?

 

No matter what base number you choose, it's always base 10.

[Vort]

Clarification (That I'm Embarrassed I Need To Make ,But That's What You Get When You're Too Broad With Your Sarcasm, So Take Note And Don't Let This Happen To You):

 

When you read my OP, don't think "homosexuality". That will steer you wrong. Instead, think "ADD". You may not agree with me, but at least you'll see where I'm coming from.

[Traveler]

No matter what base number you choose, it's always base 10.

 

Perhaps if you attempt a straight conversion to numbers base 10 - you might be able to get away with some simple addition and subtraction arithmetic problems but more complex problems like dealing with minutes and second (base 60) raised to exponential powers or defined radicals will quickly become somewhat overwhelming. 

[Vort]

Perhaps if you attempt a straight conversion to numbers base 10 - you might be able to get away with some simple addition and subtraction arithmetic problems but more complex problems like dealing with minutes and second (base 60) raised to exponential powers or defined radicals will quickly become somewhat overwhelming. 

 

Methinks you miss my point. How, for example, do you write the number 16 in base 16? How do you write the number 2 in base 2?

 

It's always base 10.

[slamjet]

I have a daughter that has ADD and Aspergers (high functioning).  It is what she say's it is, period, unless I can give her evidence to the contrary.  But dog-gone-it, her photographic memory makes it difficult.  So, I'm not going to argue with Vort - he's right.  Now let's all go out to get some ice cream.

[Str8Shooter]

Not to be confused with AD&D.

Or A&D.

[mordorbund]

[ignoring Vort's clarification]

 

I'm guessing you're over in Europe somewhere. You may feel more comfortable over here in America where it's a common practice to remove a digit from each hand shortly after birth (the child is extremely young and doesn't remember the surgery). Those that defend the practice will sometimes cite medical advantages (frostbite usually affects the extremes first) even though medical journals say such advantage is miniscule; or sometimes will make the unsupported claim that tetradigital hands perform better than pentadigital hands; or, since it's so common over here, there's concern about the self-esteem of the child who, on a warm day when mittens are removed, see tetra friends and feels like an outcast for being different; a similar argument is made when the child's parents are already tetra. I suspect that if we were more honest with ourselves, we would recognize that it is largely cosmetic.

 

Some are so enraged at the practice as to call it barbaric, but (and this may be because I am myself group up tetra and live in a tetra culture) I'm hesitant to take it so far.

[Guest MormonGator]

Not to be confused with AD&D.

 I used to miss dates in high school and college to roll dice with my other geek friends. If you know what I mean, I'll create a character after you. 

Edited July 30, 2015 by MormonGator

[Vort]

Some are so enraged at the practice as to call it barbaric, but (and this may be because I am myself group up tetra and live in a tetra culture) I'm hesitant to take it so far.

 

Yeah, my oldest son is a tetra, but I left my subsequent children's hands intact. Funny thing is, past the age of about two, they really don't take their gloves off around the house. I once asked one if he wishes I had had his fingers surgically removed in infancy, and he looked at me as if I had a third nostril and told me he liked his hands as they were, thankyouverymuch.

[mirkwood]

 I used to miss dates in high school and college to roll dice with my other geek friends. If you know what I mean, I'll create a character after you. 

 

 

I'm still a geek.  I taught my son's to play and occasionally run an adventure for them and some friends.  They are currently in the upper level of G1 The Steading of the Hill Giant Chief.

[Guest MormonGator]

I'm still a geek.  I taught my son's to play and occasionally run an adventure for them and some friends.  They are currently in the upper level of G1 The Steading of the Hill Giant Chief.

 My father taught me as well. 

[Traveler]

Methinks you miss my point. How, for example, do you write the number 16 in base 16? How do you write the number 2 in base 2?

 

It's always base 10.

 

this is like saying Halloween and Christmas are the same day. 

 

Halloween is Oct 31

Christmas is Dec 25

 

and as any descent mathematician knows a oct (octal) 31 = dec (decimal) 25

[mirkwood]

Halloween should be celebrated three times a year.  Halloween, Halloween turkey day and Halloween present day.

[Urstadt]

Don't be surprised if in the next 10-20 years ADHD is no longer considered a disroder. Many of us counselors are already disillusioned by the notion of its existence. For example:

 

The brain organizes itself into 3 categories: System 1 (fast, automatic), System 2 (slow, deliberate; aka: Task Positive Network), and Default Mode Network (mind wandering; aka: DMN). These three systems are constantly interacting. We need all three systems, but the transition between each system creates the potential for fallibility. Thinking about so-called ADHD in this light changes how we conceptualize, define, and diagnose it.

 

Consider a hypothetical: ADHD would not come from the DMN, it would come from the transition between System 2 and the DMN, and vice versa. This is important to understand because if this hypothetical were true, and many ADHD researchers are looking into this, it could mean that ADHD, as we currently understand it, does not exist. one would not take ADHD, throw away the entire diagnostic criteria, and supplant it with neuroscience and neurology. The entire phenomenon would have to be revamped.

 

One plausible reformulation could be that ADHD doesn't exist, but that fallibility in task-oriented thinking and behaviors is to be expected by essence of the transition between systems, and as mistakes are already part of what makes us human. Therefore, fallibility (ie, inattentiveness) would be considered human nature. Meaning, what we call ADHD today will be considered perfectly normal in 20 years.

 

Now, some people have ADHD that is so severe, they can't function. To that, I say two things: A) that represents a very, very, very small percentage of the population: like less than 3% of 7 billion people. B) When it is that severe, psychiatry questions whether it is ADHD, as we currently understand it, or if it's on the milder end of another spectrum such as high-functioning autism, mental retardation, pervasive development disorder (which no longer exists per DSM-V), etc.

 

In short, saying you have ADHD is like saying that dreams are messages from ancestors from the past (see Carl Jung): it can make sense, but we really have no idea if it's true or not.

[Laniston]

Wow.

[The Folk Prophet]

Don't be surprised if in the next 10-20 years ADHD is no longer considered a disroder. Many of us counselors are already disillusioned by the notion of its existence. For example:

 

The brain organizes itself into 3 categories: System 1 (fast, automatic), System 2 (slow, deliberate; aka: Task Positive Network), and Default Mode Network (mind wandering; aka: DMN). These three systems are constantly interacting. We need all three systems, but the transition between each system creates the potential for fallibility. Thinking about so-called ADHD in this light changes how we conceptualize, define, and diagnose it.

 

Consider a hypothetical: ADHD would not come from the DMN, it would come from the transition between System 2 and the DMN, and vice versa. This is important to understand because if this hypothetical were true, and many ADHD researchers are looking into this, it could mean that ADHD, as we currently understand it, does not exist. one would not take ADHD, throw away the entire diagnostic criteria, and supplant it with neuroscience and neurology. The entire phenomenon would have to be revamped.

 

One plausible reformulation could be that ADHD doesn't exist, but that fallibility in task-oriented thinking and behaviors is to be expected by essence of the transition between systems, and as mistakes are already part of what makes us human. Therefore, fallibility (ie, inattentiveness) would be considered human nature. Meaning, what we call ADHD today will be considered perfectly normal in 20 years.

 

Now, some people have ADHD that is so severe, they can't function. To that, I say two things: A) that represents a very, very, very small percentage of the population: like less than 3% of 7 billion people. B) When it is that severe, psychiatry questions whether it is ADHD, as we currently understand it, or if it's on the milder end of another spectrum such as high-functioning autism, mental retardation, pervasive development disorder (which no longer exists per DSM-V), etc.

 

In short, saying you have ADHD is like saying that dreams are messages from ancestors from the past (see Carl Jung): it can make sense, but we really have no idea if it's true or not.

 

But, if you take away my disease then that means I'm not a victim and that I'm accountable.

 

My parent's were right. When I was a kid I was just...bad.

 

[Urstadt]

But, if you take away my disease then that means I'm not a victim and that I'm accountable.

 

That's exactly why I went with a therapy, other than the mainstream popular ones, that can actually speak to the agency and accountability of the individual. If you look at the popular ones, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Trauma Informed Care (TIC), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Rational-Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT), and eclecticism, everything is deterministic. Meaning, the individual is not accountable for their actions: in DBT, their emotions made them do it; in CBT, their thoughts made them do it; in REBT, their beliefs made them do it; in EMDR and TIC, their trauma history made them do it. Those therapies are about finding the "causal relation" or "causal mechanism" that took away their agency and made them do it. It's all a load of crap and I refuse to practice any of those therapies.

 

A really good book about this is http://www.amazon.com/Whats-Behind-Research-Discovering-Assumptions/dp/0803958633/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1438579657&sr=1-1&keywords=what%27s+behind+the+research

 

It's written by two authors who have served on the editorial board for The Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology. The first author has served as a president within the APA and currently teaches at BYU with a private practice. These two know what they're talking about.

Edited August 3, 2015 by Urstadt