Bill Saletan does a good job, generally, as he educates all of us on so many different topics. However, I fear this article on ADHD does more harm than good for a public that sorely needs to be informed on this topic.

I take issue with a completely erroneous, not to say misleading, title that says ADHD is a disease. He says the U.S. government says it's a disease, and the psychological/medical/psychiat­ric community says it's a disease. He then links to the CDC to prove his point. Neither the government nor the psychological/medical/psychiat­ric professions state that it is a disease.

Terms and their definitions mean a great deal in these professions and they should to reporters and the public. Saletan's free and easy use of the word is like building a straw man that he can demolish with a few words from a recent study. It gets worse when he closes his article with a glib suggestion that our views on the subject [ADHD as a disease] need rethinking, profoundly.

ADHD for many people is both a blessing and curse, not just in the adaptive evolutionary history of our species, but in the here and now. People with ADHD are more likely to be outgoing, sociable, intelligent, interesting people. Some, like the President of Jet Blue, are extremely successful. However, we find in adulthood that ADHD is more likely to be paired with other disorders like depression and anxiety disorders of varying kinds and varying degrees. For many, the public perception of success and intelligence is wedded to profound insecurity and disappointment.

There are still too many people who see ADHD as an excuse for bad behavior and lack of self-control or just plain bad parenting. Even when some understand that there is a cultural or societal component in diagnosing the disorder, they see this as further justification in attributing ADHD to a personal failing to adjust.

I would like to see Bill Saletan make his own adjustment in reporting on ADHD. Not to do so would, in fact, be a personal failing.