Henry Confesses He Struggled with ADHD When He Was Younger on “Real Men”

[theemii.livejournal.com]

Super Junior-M member Henry recently opened up about having to struggle with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) at a young age.

On the November 16 broadcast of MBC’s variety program “Real Men,” Henry revealed his past history with the disorder. Since first appearing on the show, he has been called out for his chaotic and overly playful personality and behavior on multiple occasions.

Recently, Henry was seen continuously chattering and playing around even during meal times at a unit he had just entered. When a few of the senior officers reprimanded his behavior, the Super Junior-M member ended up sharing, “I had ADHD until middle school,” giving a bit of insight into the reason for his erratic and unpredictable nature.

After listening to Henry’s story, it is said that the senior officers were very understanding of his confession.

Meanwhile, “Real Men” airs every week on Sundays at 6:20 p.m. (KST).

Source: Soompi

Comments

[existingisfunny.livejournal.com]

I didn't know ADHD could go away...

My younger brother was diagnosed with it when he was five and he's sixteen now. He still has to take pills.

Is admitting you have/had? ADHD considered a big thing in Korea? I wonder if people try to hide it like other illnesses.

[imangos.livejournal.com]

It seems like it b/c a lot of the medications used to treat it are illegal in Korea I think.

[chomsky.livejournal.com]

idk about other people's experiences, and I don't know how accurate the diagnosis was, but my little brother was diagnosed with ADHD at around 6 years old (so this was in 1995-ish, during the era when every little kid was getting diagnosed with it). He struggled a lot and was put on medication as a kid, but toward the end of high school seemed to "grow out" of it and went from being held back, kicked out of high schools, taking five years to graduate, etc. to becoming a pretty successful chemist now at 26. That being said, I'm no psychiatrist but it's totally possible that he was misdiagnosed and was just entirely bored in school, etc. because he was too smart for the shit being taught. I think that kind of story is pretty typical for kids his/my age though.

[imangos.livejournal.com]

I'm not an expert but I'm not so sure ADHD/ADD can go away. It's a neurological disorder where your brain is flying like a mofo at 100 mph while everyone else is cruising at a safer 40. Or at least that's how my doctor explained it to me. I've had it since I was little and I'm adult now and nope...still have it.

Seems more likely he was just a hyperactive little guy but who knows?

[post-dada.livejournal.com]

Most doctors accept that it doesn't go away but old medical books used to say that so there is a lot of misinformation.

For Henry it could be a variety of things:

He could have been misdiagnosed
He could have learned to compensate for it which made it appear as if it was gone (what i would assume, though I know very little about Henry)
He might not have even really compensated (given what the article says about his boisterousness) but he stopped giving the behaviour that label and thus others stopped labelling it as such

[fluidcomplexity.livejournal.com]

Definitely not an expert, but I think that the prognosis depends on the individual? But yeah, the neurology isn't exactly reversible, and I'm wondering if he simply meant that he learned coping mechanisms for it...? (I should edit my previous statement: symptoms persist into adulthood some of the time.)

Also, from what I understand ADHD is diagnosed on a whole set of different symptoms, where you have to have x number on the list to be diagnosed with it. Then again, how to go about both diagnosis and treatment are still pretty hotly debated in the academic literature as far as I know.

[imangos.livejournal.com]

Yeah, now that you mention it, if he does have it, it does seem more likely that he learned coping mechanisms so for him it's seems like it's "gone". I can only speak for myself, but I use a lot of behavioral therapy/techniques and for the most part they work so well I can function without anyone knowing; of course spend enough time with me and you'll start to see the "cracks".

I think its harder for medical professionals to diagnose boys because of the difficulty in determining whether a boy is "just being a boy" and acting out or if he really can't help it b/c his brain is like GOGOGO! It's very interesting that he was so bold to come out and say "ADHD".

[fluidcomplexity.livejournal.com]

I wonder if his boldness in labeling it was partly because of the comparative freedom North America has to understanding mental illness? I mean, I'm definitely not saying it's the gold standard but people are generally more aware, and especially in the last few years I've seen a lot of awareness campaigns of different kinds (speaking as a Canadian). On the other hand, I've also seen people toss these illnesses around as labels for excusing them for some kind of behaviour; I doubt that's the case here, but it's the downside to lots of mass exposure.

I wonder if Henry deals with it in part by pouring it out into his music?

[stoppedclock321.livejournal.com]

Yeah, as far as I know it's all like a 'sliding scale' almost; there's no immediate yes or no, it's whether or not you meet a certain threshold of indicators.

[whitefish.livejournal.com]

I also have it as an adult and so I've done a little bit of reading on it. It seems like there are some people who will develop out of the diagnosis, but it's not a majority.

"Clinically, we have seen that some individuals do show enough improvement after puberty that they no longer need medication. But the American Academy of Family Physicians reports that two-thirds of children with ADHD continue to grapple with the condition throughout adulthood." (attitudemag.com (http://www.additudemag.com/adhd/article/2515.html))

Another source (http://www.healthline.com/health-news/mental-adhd-causes-problems-into-adulthood-030413#1) basically says that a study showed that 29% of the children still had ADHD symptoms in adulthood and 81% of these adults had at least one other psychiatric disorder. However, these children were mostly middle-class with access to education and healthcare.

From how I see it, it seems yes, there are people who "grow out" of the symptoms and do not have issues with their day to day lives. So technically they no longer are diagnosed with having ADHD. But it's unlikely and people shouldn't look at it as something that just disappears as you "mature."

[shintotchi.livejournal.com]

Mmm that's not how it works Korea. You either have it or you don't. My face is kinda the same as when Hyungjerk's character said he used to have autism, in Boys Over Flowers.

[yakuniku-8.livejournal.com]

He was in Canada until 1st year of University and he said "I had ADHD until middle school". So it's not linked to Korea.

[shintotchi.livejournal.com]

I know he's Canadian, but it seems acceptable to say this sort of thing in Korea. If he said that too an American tabloid/ show host, they would've either corrected or mocked him for saying he only had it until middleschool IMO. This is the third time I've seen this sort of claim in South Korea. Boys Over Flowers, with Park Bom, and now Henry. I feel like there were other dramas here and there, where they said a character had something, but it went away after childhood, but I can't remember specifics.

[obeytheempress.livejournal.com]

I'm American and I've heard a lot of adults say they "used to" have ADHD or that thew grew out of it. It is a fairly common belief.

[shintotchi.livejournal.com]

I guess it just depends on where you grow up, because I can't say I've heard that before. I've had people falsely claim they or their child have ADHD, but I've never heard them sa they had it as a child only. Either way, whatever country it is, I hold the media responsible to at least correct the information they're putting out there. :/

[bomsnose.livejournal.com]

The place where I grew up had no big drug business yet when I was a kid... Gosh all the stuff they would've forced down my throat. Must be hard these days to carry all these labels.

edit: So yeah, feeling sorry for Henry a bit as well, hope he only had behavioural therapy.

[thariamon.livejournal.com]

ADHD can't go away but I think Henry referred to the fact that he has it under control now, that can happen. When I first watched interviews of him I thought he had something down the lines and honestly is nothing he has to worry that much about, though it's both a blessing and a curse to have it, it helps that he can express himself freely through music. I think it's good that he mentioned it because, like the situation above, he can appear to be rude sometimes when he's actually not. On the other hand, Korea has a lot of issues with mental disorders, I was both happy and amazed that the officers understood, so grateful for that. I'm a Physician btw.

[vforvera.livejournal.com]

Awww, he's so hyperactive, I adore him on Real Man. He's genuinely a joy to watch on variety shows and a ridiculously talented young man on music shows.

[imienazwisko.livejournal.com]

ot but he and sungjae on real men are an amazing combo

i was diagnosed with dyslexia as a kid. i struggled a lot with reading and writing, i still kinda do. law back then required me to get check ups every three years and when i was 12, i was told i no longer have dyslexia just because i can read and i know proper spellings. i was left with "only" dysorthographia just because i wrote one character from polish alphabet in a sligthly oldfashioned way.
so basically what i was saying is that things like adhd or dyslexia don't go away. you can learn to love with them so they aren't that obvious plus you can easily get misdiagnosed... i personally had bad luck with specialists and tbh you could easily cheat on these tests. i went to a school for kids with difficulties like adhd or physical disabilities, i had my fair share of things i don't want to remember.

[waves-of-light.livejournal.com]

I'm still kind of convinced that I have adhd, but I'm also clinically depressed, and the two kinda go together, so idk.

It's possible that he was misdiagnosed, but he sure is jumpy lol.

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

Out of the cluster of diseases that psychiatrists are now saying are genetic cousins (ADHD/autism/bipolar/depression/schizophrenia), I think ADHD is the 'safest' one to have, really. But all of these things are spectrum disorders anyway.

Speaking for myself, I actually am more settled now that I'm older... all kinds of things that were impossible for me as a kid, like waiting in line with no book to read or finishing a set of push ups without getting up to do something else, I can now do.

[lobotronic.livejournal.com]

okay, but "until middle school"? It doesn't just randomly disappear...

[oniongulru.livejournal.com]

as other commenters said, he probably meant he has it under control now/learned to cope.

[shabirah.livejournal.com]

it seemed that through music, he has found the way to cope with it(assuming that he really do have ADHD) cuz isn't learning musical instrument would require discipline, patience and self-restrained. but at the same time, he was able to express himself through it.

[aleash1989.livejournal.com]

It is said that many people with ADHA tend to get hyperfocused on one thing, and I guess in general you could say music might have been his one thing.

[achan123.livejournal.com]

holy shit...
i just realised i may have this
O__O

like everyone i know suggest that i meditate and calm my brain because its always running on full energy and it gets so exhausting most of the times....
hmmmm

[aleash1989.livejournal.com]

The way Henry said he had ADAD until middle school makes it seem like he's using as an excuse for his current behavior. However, as others have pointed out, he more then likely meant that he has learned ways to cope with it since then.

I was diaganosted with ADHD in eigth grade. Looking back on it now, I had clear symptoms long before then like not sitting still, gettign up multiple times when doing tasks. I went back into therapy and seeing a psychiatrist this year, and we re-evaluated past diagnoses. My doctors told me that as we get older and our brains mature many people find ways of coping with ADHD to the point where they don't notice they're coping with the symptoms anymore or they simply outgrow it all together. I'm 25 now and hven't thought about my ADHD in YEARS because there were not any big symtoms that jumped out anymore, and you wouldn't know I still have it if we were just irl aquantinces. I have found that I still have symptoms in my thought patterns, procrastination, focus, and the way I spend years hyperfocused on one thing (now it's South Korea lol).

I see with Henry that there are few times that it's now apparent that he has ADHD like his appeances on Crime Scene and some of the ways he acts without thinking, though part of that has to do with cultural differences.