Scattered Minds: The Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder

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A friend who has rampant ADHD texted me once while she was crying, saying that all she wanted was a hug. I wasn't able to do anything, but suggested she ask her parents. "That's not something they do. I'd be embarrassed." she replied. Her parents weren't abusive. They just didn't speak her love language.

PDF / EPUB File Name: Scattered_Minds__The_Origins_and_Healing_o_-_Gabor_Mate.pdf, Scattered_Minds__The_Origins_and_Healing_o_-_Gabor_Mate.epub At my next therapy session, my therapist asked if I had read the book and I said yes, and that it had resonated with me. She asked what resonated, and I said, "Well, if I do have ADD, it would explain my entire life. It would fill in all the blanks and areas that my history with depression and anxiety don't account for, that I always tried to make them fit into to explain something that didn't make sense." Something that didn't make sense because, without the missing piece of ADD, it quite literally couldn't make sense. Then we discussed why, etc, blah blah. At the end of the appointment I promised her I would talk to my physician about a diagnosis. This book enlightens parents, teenagers, teachers, and adults with and without ADHD. Dr. Gabor Maté shares heart-wrenching stories from his childhood and medical practice while painting a vivid picture of his adult life with ADHD. Above all, this book offers tools and hope along with a deeper understanding of the controversial diagnosis of ADHD. The symptoms are real, but they don't have to be permanent, and what is permanent can be helped and harnessed.

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He also gives readers a lot of hope that people with ADD can find peace and live wonderful lives. I've appreciated a slew of evidence-based recommendations for managing and healing my own ADD, and I had a breakthrough as a result of reading them; that's worth the price of admission alone. I haven't yet read the recommendations about children, but my guess is that there's equally helpful information about supporting a child with ADD. 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.

A brother of mine who had terrible ADHD who is much much better after marrying a wonderful woman. He graduated with a 4-year college degree, holds down a solid job, has a career path planned, and manages several hefty side-responsibilities. And, yes, that is the only thing that changed. Gabor Maté is a revered physician who specializes in neurology, psychiatry and psychology – and himself has ADD. With wisdom gained through years of medical practice and research, Scattered Minds is a must-read for parents – and for anyone interested how experiences in infancy shape the biology and psychology of the human brain. While parenting styles can certainly exacerbate or ameliorate certain expressions of ADHD in children to a degree, ADHD does not occur or manifest because of attachment issues. There is (in the U.S., at least) an epidemic of parent blame as well as moralizing about difficulties people experience as a result of ADHD symptoms. Rather than a blaming or moralizing attitude, education about what executive function is and ways to support and scaffold executive function development would be a much more useful and more compassionate approach.Yes! Numerous studies show that Americans are more socially isolated than ever before. People have fewer friends and live further away from their families. They work more, too – in two senses. First off, they work longer hours. In 1935, the average worker had 40 hours of free time a week; by 1990, free time was down to just 17 hours. It’s also more common for both parents to work full-time jobs. Private childcare is expensive, and subsidized childcare is badly underfunded. Parental leave is patchy and, generally, short. As a result, caregivers have less time for their children. They are also more likely to be stressed. Wages are stagnating, and fraying community and family ties mean they have access to smaller and smaller support networks. When we try to explain today’s epidemic of obesity in countries like the United States, we look at changing lifestyles, not genes. So let’s apply that lens to ADD. Recall what we said about infants and their environment. Attunement, the emotional bond between child and caregiver, plays a critical role in cognitive development. The question is, has something changed in the parenting environment in recent decades which might be getting in the way of attunement? 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. 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. We would be wrong to see these hearty little survivors as having some sort of plant disease; they have developed to the maximum that the relatively harsh conditions of climate and soil allow. If we wish to understand why they differ so dramatically from their inland relatives, we need to know under what conditions majestically tall, stout and ramrod-straight fir trees are able to thrive. It is the same with human beings. We do not have to look for diseases to explain why some people are not able to experience the full flowering of their potential. We have only to inquire what conditions sustain unfettered human development and what conditions hinder it. This opening passage shows how Maté’s deep well of compassion for others draws water from the aquifer of his personal narrative. It also displays his talent as a writer (including a flair for great analogies and metaphors), creating an overall reading experience that’s engaging and inspiring.