Scattered Minds: The Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder

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Scattered is GREAT. It's one of the best books on ADD I've read yet, and I'm so glad I'm reading it. What I'm appreciating is that he doesn't pander, and he doesn't wrap it up as simply a brain function issue, which is what I've felt to be true. I'm personally convinced that my experience isn't just biology. I don't think I'd be the way I am if I didn't live in a culture that is saturated with information, that removes us far from our natural rhythms, that requires me to be vigilant all the time, that values achievement to a degree that's ridiculous, that insists on fast and "good enough" over the spacious reflection and full consideration that engenders much better than good enough... I could go on. Those things are challenges for everyone, but they are excruciating for someone who has the misfortune of a certain set of developmental sensitivities and brain function challenges. Maté has evidence that supports this instinct of mine, so it's been fascinating to see the facts behind it. If environment and attachment relationships play a significant role in the development of ADD/ADHD, then they should be key in the healing/treating of ADD/ADHD. Dr. Gabor Maté believes that if we alter the environment positively and allow for healthy attachment relationships, we can lessen the symptoms of ADHD.

Explains that in ADD, circuits in the brain whose job is emotional self-regulation and attention control fail to develop in infancy—and why A friend of mine who is a parent asked me about this book, and this is what I told her. About me: I am not a parent, and I have ADD.

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This book is amazing and really changed my thinking about ADD/ADHD. Maté describes in detail how ADHD is not genetic, but how a genetically sensitive brain protects itself with ADD behaviors. I've become a bit of an evangelist about this book, since I see things so differently now. Things to learn in this book: Unconditional Positive Regard, Counterwill, Wooing the Child, Unfinished Business. Although Maté doesn’t explicitly go this far, I believe his work has consequential implications for politics, economics, and social justice. When it comes to harm reduction and symptom control, much of Maté’s advice boils down to something like: “First, parents need to be loving, respectful, mutually supportive, and emotionally mature with each other and other adults. Second, they’ve got to spend time with their kids and devote a lot of conscious attention to them, striving always to model compassionate curiosity and patience.” Adults with ADD, of course, also benefit from these behaviors.

The third and final trait of ADD is hyperactivity. Unlike the previous two traits, hyperactivity isn’t ubiquitous. Yes, many people with ADD can’t sit still – they fidget, drum their fingers, chew their nails, tap their feet, or can’t stop talking. But often, it’s entirely absent. Many girls with ADD, for instance, frequently go undiagnosed because their behavior isn’t a source of disturbance in classrooms: they sit still and appear to be listening to what their teachers are saying. The problem only comes to light much later when baffled parents start wondering why their well-behaved daughters are doing so poorly in school. Unless their parents (or primarycaregiverss) ask the child to spend time together when the child is not whining and pleading for time with the parent, children chalk up time spent together as something they received because they finally begged and pleaded enough. So, our collective workaholism––whether chosen or coerced––could be one of the main drivers of the ADD epidemic. Combine that with the meteoric rise of social media and its attendant mental health risks; the capitalistic incentives of pharmaceutical companies that produce drugs like Ritalin, Adderall, and Dexedrine; and the profit margins of insurance companies that act as gatekeepers to “legitimate” treatment; and you’ve got a real mess on your hands. All of this is purely speculative, so take it with a grain of salt, but it was interesting and fun for me to knit these threads together and I thought it might be helpful to share this part of my learning and exploration process. I am not giving medical advice. I am not a doctor. I am am merely sharing what we have experienced in hopes that it will give you a short cut.The book also covers the specific behaviours we would see in children, the markers of low self-esteem that arise (and how to handle those), the issue of ‘counterwill’ and how to support teens who are showing that, the impact of implicit memory (and why the attachment issue is so important), how to self-parent yourself if you have ADHD and addictions (which have been found to be higher in those with ADHD). However the book is positioned as a source of truth and insight into ADHD generally and he uses his role as a medical professional to provide authority to what he’s written. There is a genetic component to this development, but it isn’t genetically predetermined. Genes are blueprints. They’re plans for how the proteins which regulate the structure and function of cells get synthesized. But plans contain potential. How that potential is expressed is a question of circumstance. Take the neurological circuitry involved in sight. The plans for this circuitry are encoded in genetic material. But the development of eyesight depends on environmental factors. If an infant who is genetically capable of developing perfectly good eyesight spends his first five years in a dark room, he’ll be blind for life. Without the input of lightwaves, this visual circuitry atrophies and dies, leaving his genetic potential unexpressed.