Follow Up on ADHD
Back in August, I blogged about my discovery that I might have ADHD. Last night, I was chatting with a colleague and he mentioned that he pointed a friend to my previous post who proceeded to see his doctor, received a diagnosis, and is now on medication for ADD. I was mortified because I realized that I hadn’t shared my discoveries since writing that post. Let me rectify that situation here.
I still haven’t had an official diagnosis, but after a lot of research on the topic, I do believe that I have ADD. I picked up a number of books discussing adult ADD written by psychiatrists and each of them suggests that rather than “treating” the condition, it would be better to learn how to adjust for the condition. In fact a number refer to ADD as a gift. Let’s start with some background on the condition and discuss what led to my decision not to seek medical treatment for ADD.
What Is ADD?
Officially, ADD is recognized as a condition in children only. It was believed that you “grow out” of the condition. However, a number of psychiatrists have recognize that it persists well into adulthood and beyond. According to what I read, the condition is not one of inattentiveness but rather boredom. The ADD brain can process input very rapidly and as such craves more stimulus. Outwardly, it appears that the person isn’t paying attention, in reality he can probably repeat the conversation word for word, he has just moved on to processing other things.
Students in a structured curriculum with this condition will have difficulty because of the repetitive nature of the drills in school. For example, I had a difficult time finishing homework because it was boring to me, not because I didn’t understand it but because I didn’t feel like doing the same thing 30 times. I would get bad grades in class but do excellent on tests. On a side note, if your child has been diagnosed with ADD (or if you suspect he/she has it), consider alternative education methods, such as the Montessori program, that are more conducive for the ADD student.
The flip side of ADD is what’s coined by many as hyper-focus. Basically, what happens is that if a person with ADD is participating in an activity that truly captures his attention, he will become so focused on the activity that he loses perception of anything around him. Some people describe this phenomenon as “entering the zone”. Mihály Csíkszentmihályi (pronounced Chick-sent-me-hi) described the phenomenon as Flow. This is actually something that has interested me heavily even before I discovered ADD.
Recommended Reading
Here is a list of the books I picked up during my research of my condition.
If you believe you may have ADD, I’d recommend picking them up (at the very least pick up The Gift of Adult ADD) and reading through them. Discuss with your physician and family and make a fully enlightened decision weighing the pros and cons of taking or refraining from pharmaceutical treatment.