Multiply Janine’s story by a few million, toss in some variations, and soon you’re talking real money–at least $67 billion and maybe up to $116 billion. That’s the estimated U.S. workforce productivity loss due to ADHD, according to a 2004 survey* conducted by two of psychiatry’s most widely cited researchers: psychiatrist Joseph Biederman, professor of psychiatry at Harvard University and head of the adult ADHD program at Massachusetts General Hospital, and psychologist Stephen Faraone, director of medical genetics research and head of child and adolescent psychiatry research at the State University of New York Upstate Medical University.
“ADHD is one of the costliest medical conditions that we have,” Biederman told the American Medical Association in a media briefing for the survey. “The impact on quality of life is extraordinarily profound, from marriage to friendship to ability to make a living.”
from Is It You, Me, or Adult A.D.D.?
* J. Biederman and S. Faraone, “The Effects of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder on Employment and Household Income,” Medscape General Medicine, Psychiatry and Mental Health (posted Jul 18, 2006)
www.medscape.com/viewarticle/536264 [requires registration]
Sigh. “I have just met you, and I love you.” (Dug, from Pixar’s “Up”) Have you been to Gina Pera’s blog? She’s a friend of mine! Contact me via the e-mail in my wordpress account. 🙂 We have much in common!
But I barely even keep up correspondence with my own mother! 😉
And, yes, I’ve been to Gina’s blog. It’s terrific! I’m currently going through ADHD medicine trials to find one that works. The two that haven’t work have sent me into zombie-land. I’m only just this week finally recuperating from that and am on a medication that may be working.