Scattered Minds: The Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder

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There are genes associated with ADD just as there are genes associated with depression or alcoholism. He has been a family physician for over twenty years, a palliative care specialist and a psychotherapist; he is also staff physician at a facility for street people in Vancouver’s downtown eastside. We have only to inquire what conditions sustain unfettered human development and what conditions hinder it. Because a baby’s brain is not fully developed at birth, the first few years are critical as the child attaches to their parents and copes with whatever home environment they were born into. In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts is a best-selling book that won the 2010 Hubert Evans Award for Best BC Non-Fiction Book.

I worked part-time from home and was always present and parented in what was very much attachment style and they ‘still’ have ADHD. Himself a survivor of the trauma of the holocaust, he draws from his ADD, the ADD of his children and that of his patients. The parent taking responsibility for the relationship; demonstrating daily that they want the child’s company.He speaks of the parents of the children with ADHD/ADD, as "anxious and stressed" who create the environment that is harried and stressful, without routine or safety, and as such, ADD is formed in the infant's brain. This opening passage shows how Maté’s deep well of compassion for others draws water from the aquifer of his personal narrative. ADD adults don’t have low self-esteem because they are poor achievers, but it is due to their low self-esteem that they judge themselves and their achievements harshly. So I knew this was a bit marmitey in the neurodivergent community, but I thought it would be a good insight into ADHD, and with Gabor Mate claiming the title himself, I figured it couldn't be that bad a read?

This confessional style doesn’t always hit the mark in nonfiction, but in this case I think he pulled it off beautifully. So, our collective workaholism––whether chosen or coerced––could be one of the main drivers of the ADD epidemic. says it all: "The world is much more ready to accept someone who is different and comfortable with it than someone desperately seeking to conform by denying himself. It made me cry many times, and has lead to many positive changes in my sense of self and my ability to organise my life and relationships (with friends and family). He appeals to nature somewhat by asserting that “Nature has its own positive agenda, which is at work in all of us”––a claim that sounds more religious than scientific and for which he doesn’t provide satisfactory evidence (220).I tried a couple of the tactics with my 5-year-old (things like instead of being nagged to join in their play actually ask if you can join in, or treating a temper tantrum as a fear response) and could instantly see a welcome change in behaviour.

Separate an infant monkey from its mother for six days, for example, and its dopamine levels will plummet. We also need to consider the familial and social context in which parenting and childhood development take place. Young or old, people with ADD are constantly being chastised for failing to do things they forgot about the moment they agreed to do them.He states parents are not connected with extended family, move frequently, often misuse alcohol and drugs, there is usually some form of violence in the family and the children grow up without ability to form memories. On the westernmost shores of Canada, on Vancouver Island, one sees scruffy and twisted little conifers, stunted relatives of the magnificent fir trees that dominate the landscape just a short distance inland. Shaping of bushy eyebrows came into fashion, as eyebrows are an expression of emotion such as anger. He says that ADHD reflects biological malfunctions in certain brain areas but many of its features are connected to a person’ physical and emotional experiences of the world. By the age of three, an infant’s body is less than 20 percent of its adult size, but her brain is 80 percent of its adult size.