
Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder or ADHD is a disorder that’s not often understood in Taiwan and many people don’t know they have it. Children who have ADHD may often be mischievous in class, easily distracted and unable to complete their homework in time. According to statistics, 8% of Taiwanese children have ADHD, and more than half of them continue to experience symptoms into adulthood.
Lin Tzu-hsun
Living with ADHD
It’s hard to control hyperactive children and stop them from doing things, so we simply turned the wall into a canvas and let him express himself to his heart’s content.
Lin Tzu-hsun faced his 8-year-old son’s ADHD diagnosis with equanimity. He is currently an engineer and was himself diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 33.
Lin Tzu-hsun
Living with ADHD
I would bite myself, biting myself hard until I drew blood, just to wake myself up. I changed jobs ten times in eight years. The longest I stayed at any one job was a year and a half.
After being diagnosed, Lin rethought his life and pulled himself together to find a new job that suits him.
Another patient who was diagnosed with ADHD later in life is Hsu Wei-chun, who works at a kindergarten. She dreamed of becoming a teacher when she was a student, but she was very frustrated because she could never understand what was being taught.
Hsu Wei-chun
Living with ADHD
I desperately want to cram all the knowledge into my head because I really wanted to be a teacher. I feel like I’ve missed out on so many years of schooling and related opportunities. If I had discovered my ADHD earlier, would I have needed to suffer like this?
With timely medical attention and regular medication, Hsu later successfully embarked on a career in education. In Taiwan, 8% of school-aged children have ADHD, and more than half of them continue to experience symptoms into adulthood even after treatment.
Gau Shur-fen
NTU Hospital
Now that people are more familiar with ADHD, they are better able to detect the symptoms. The games and apps they play on their phones perfectly cater to these inattentive individuals; because new information appears with just a single tap, their difficulty in learning to wait becomes even more pronounced.
ADHD has become a widespread hidden condition nationwide. Although it cannot be cured, studies show that the improvement rate is as high as 80% with treatment. Lin and Hsu, who are successful adults, have worked hard to live with their symptoms.
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台灣有8%的學齡兒童患有ADHD注意力不足過動症,也就是俗稱的過動症。而在成人當中,台大醫院高淑芬副院長估算,有約5%的人口,正受同樣症狀困擾。換算下來,全台灣至少有上百萬人正被ADHD注意力不足過動症的症狀影響生活。但因為症狀從外表看不出來,ADHD很少被社會大眾注意到。
[[過動症患者 林子勛]]
"過動的小孩子,你很難去控制他不去做任何事情,所以我們乾脆就把牆壁變成畫布,讓他盡情的發揮"
林先生坦然面對8歲兒子的過動症,目前擔任工程師的他,33歲時自己也被診斷出過動症。
[[過動症患者 林子勛]]
"甚至會去咬自己,把自己用力的咬,咬出傷口來,好讓自己醒過來,八年換了十份工作,最多做一年半"
確診後,林先生重新思考人生,打起精神找一份適合自己的新工作。
同樣是長大後才確診過動症的患者,還有這位在幼兒園上班的徐主任,學生時期夢想當老師,但老是聽不懂課堂內容,讓她很受挫。
[[過動症患者 徐瑋均]]
"我巴不得把所有的知識都塞在自己頭腦裡,因為我真的好想要當一個老師,我覺得我少了好多年唸書的時間,跟唸書的機會,我要是早一點發現(過動症) ,我會不會就不用這麼辛苦"
及時就醫定期服藥,徐主任後來順利走上教育這條路。台灣有8%的學齡兒童有過動症ADHD,當中超過一半的患者,即便經過治療,症狀仍會持續到成年以後。
[[台大醫院精神醫學部醫師 高淑芬]]
"現在大家對ADHD,注意力不足過動症比較了解,那比較會偵測到(症狀) ,他們玩的遊戲,手機之類,都是很符合這些不專心的人,因為它隨時一碰,它就有新的資訊來,然後他(學習)等待的困難更明顯"
ADHD儼然成為隱形國民病,雖然無法根治,但研究顯示,治療改善率高達80%,像是成年後的林先生和徐主任,都用心與症狀努力共存。
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