psychological profile of swimmers

I have a somewhat related question about the psychological make up of swimmers. Did anyone read about the dozens of Mt Everst climbers who walked up and down past the British mountaineer who was in distress and was left to die? I wonder if any swimmer, introvert or extrovert or a combination of the two, would ever watch another person in distress in the water and not attempt to assist in one way or another. I can't imagine taking any delight in a sport that puts ones personal goals above the safety of another. For the record, I like sprints and see myself as an extrovert.

the only time I'm not bored is when I'm either swimming or running. I am both an introvert and an extrovert. It depends on what I'm doing.

I have had a ton of experience with ADHD kids ... I would say that many are over medicated and it is becoming diagnosed way too often ... some kids just have more energy ... some kids have potential do well in school but cannot focus long enough to reach that potential, they struggle socially, and have some other issues ... I would recomend to SOME medication WITH behavior modification therapy and education for both the parents and the child about the nature of the disease and how to effectively deal with it ... I was the kid that was not medicated because I never struggled enough academically ... I wish my parents had medicated me because I think I would have been an outstanding student as opposed to an average one ... for me the best thing is working out ... it gets rid of a lot of extra energy and helps to calm me down ... I'm the 1/3 that did not outgrown ADHD, I did learn to cope with it but I think I would have had an easier time with life had I been medicated ... I worked with a kid that was brilliant ... off the charts intelligence but had severe ADHD he was not able to stay on task and do his work, he didn't get along with the other kids and was even having issues going in his pants ... medication was a miracle for him and now he is thriving ... it's amazing ...

Originally posted by dorothyrde ADHD 101 Geek, Beer is a sedative, you need caffeine and lots and lots of it!! I drink a lot of coffee, but not as much as gull80, who has a dependency issue with the stuff. Beer is not a sedative, it's a depressant. Most commonly ADHD drugs are stimulants, according to a few websites I reviewed. For the psychiatrist on this forum, Allan Stark, I read where amphetamines are also prescribed for ADHD and all it's nuanced variations. How different are amphetamines from meth amphetamines ?

I am so introverted that I am not going to say anything about this topic.:o :D :D :D

My bad, you are right about beer. So we could have a depressed hyper active Geek?! The meds my nephew have tried for ADHD were a stimulant form or an anti depressant. The one that works best for him is aderral(sp?). The first type they tried made him so violent my sis was afraid for him and herself. The anti depressant worked OK for awhile, but he asked to be re-evaluated because he could feel it was not helping. He is in High School, and is co-operating with the process of finding the right meds. He is also inattentive and did not get diagnosed until 15. the quiet onces are missed!, but his joy at finally working to his potential when he got on the right meds was good to see.

Is it possible to be quiet and reach your potential without medication? What about someone who is quiet and lazy, should we medicate them? What about someone who goes far beyond what they think they can do without medication, is that possible? Potential is such a subjective word, who decides if you are hitting it?

Methamphetamines are legal medications but they are rarely used because they are so addicting.(Cocaine is a legal medication and marijuana is not,I find that interesting.) Dextroamphetimine,the active ingredient in Adderal,is potetially addicting and this needs to be monitored carefully. However ,studies show that adequately treated kids with ADHD are much less likely to become drug addicts than untreated kids with ADHD. Also "lazy" is an insult disguised as an explanation. It has no information value. Why didn't he do it? Because he's lazy. How do we know he's lazy? Because he didn't do it. It's a convenient cop out/insult but it is circular logic with no information value. If you want to help someone you can't just say they are lazy,you have to find out what is going on.

Thank you for that information. This is a fascinating topic but unrelated to swimming so I'll let it be. I was only using lazy in the parental form of the word, not a diagnosis. I realize the term lazy is very un PC these days, along with many other words so I guess I shouldn't use it so loosely. Back to swimming, are all these legal stimulant drugs kids are on these days mostly banned by swimming governing bodies? If so, does that put the attention disabled at a disadvantage because they might not be able to focus on their training, schoolwork, etc? If not, does that put the non attention disabled swimmers at a competitive disadvantage?

Geek, I have wondered that myself since many parents of kids with ADHD hyperactivity gravitate to swimming because it is a sport where their child is constantly moving. Constantly moving means less time to get in trouble, so there are quite a few ADHD medicated kids in swimming. Personally in viewing their swimming, I don't see an advantage. Skill and talent still win out. And the lazy thing, when you work with a child for years and years, and years and you see them working hard, and they are still barely passing, or not passing, and you start to dwelve into why, and the extreme turn around with meds, going from failing to straight A's. in 9 weeks, well, it sorta makes you a believer in the ADHD inattentive diagnosis. My son is lazy, he is not ADHD anything. But he is lazy. He could be straight A's, but because he does not work real hard, he gets A's and B's, and sometimes a C, which when he gets, he puts more effort in and brings it up. My daughter works very hard, on average2-3 hours a night on her hard subjects of Math and Science, knows the material, goes in and flunks the tests and does the homework, and goes in and forgets to hand it in. And she tries very hard to remember to hand it in and she gets very discouraged when she cannot remember, and very discouraged when she prepares for a test, feels good taking it...and flunks. Just saying, there is something to this ADHD thing, don't discount it.