A Different Understanding of Attention Deficit Disorder
Yesterday I received an email from a man with whom I’d met to talk about career coaching. He’s a married middle-aged guy with three kids and has made a good living in his chosen field, but recently he’s been restless and his work doesn’t hold his interest like it did. His email came a week after we’d met, and in it he explained that he and his wife had decided that he needed to put his money toward getting treated for Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) before he worked with me. I fully respect his decision, but I wonder if a prescription for Adderall is going to address the roots of his situation.
When I began my career I worked with teenage kids who were having all kinds of behavior problems, and many of whom were diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). In my work I saw how medications helped some but not others. I also learned that ADHD is a very complicated condition with lots of contributing elements.
The Centers for Disease Control defines ADHD as having “trouble paying attention, controlling impulsive behaviors, acting without thinking about implications of those actions, or being overly active.” That’s an intentionally broad definition because researchers don’t really understand the underlying causes of ADHD. There’s good evidence that some factors of premature birth and low birth weight (such as prenatal exposure to drugs, alcohol and tobacco) are often related to later ADHD in children, but nothing has been proved to “cause” ADHD. (My mother would have been irritated to learn that too much sugar or television watching have been ruled out as causes of my inattentiveness, but there’s still the chance that one day I’ll run with scissors, trip and impale myself, and she’ll be proved right.)
Without firm evidence as to the causes of ADHD, we are left to deal with its symptoms, which the CDC further describes as “daydreaming a lot, forgetting or losing things, squirming or fidgeting, talking too much, making careless mistakes, taking unnecessary risks, having a hard time resisting temptation, having trouble taking turns, and having difficulty getting along with others”. If you’re like me, that list describes the behavior of many of my friends, family members, and often myself. In fact, those things are normal attributes in many of the people with whom I interact every day.
Fewer people than you’d guess are naturally wired to sit still, stay focused, and work quietly through their day. Statistically, at least 25 percent of the population have minds that are naturally attracted to the world of ideas, concepts, and new experiences. The brains of these individuals have voracious appetites for new information, a low tolerance for routine, and are constantly looking for new ways to do mundane activities. (A client once confessed that her need for new experiences was so strong that she went to a different grocery store every trip and that if she was forced to go to the same store twice then she would go down the aisles a different way just for the variety.)
Their fertile imaginations make these people exceptional creative thinkers, coming up with new approaches for solving problems and enhancing the lives of others. They’re the innovators, musicians, artists, explorers, scientists, and entrepreneurs that move a society forward. They’re also the athletes who push the boundaries of surfing, rock-climbing, base-jumping and other high-risk activities that make many of us pucker and cringe. And they’re the souls who move society toward equity and fairness by promoting social change in innovative ways. People who have trouble being still are the very people who bring color and variety to an otherwise boring gray world.
It's only when they’re confined to strictly imposed schedules, mundane routines, and boring environments that these folks become restless and begin displaying behaviors we associate with ADHD. The danger lies in assuming that people, especially our children, who have short attention spans and difficulty being still have something medically wrong with them. Very often these conditions are, in truth, indications of uncommon brilliance and capability.
Understanding the God-given hardwiring of your personality can give you the keys to living a life that fits you. While taking a medication for ADHD can help with focus and productivity, taking it without exploring the underlying reasons for your attention deficit ignores factors with powerful implications about the work you were designed for, the life that fits you, and the things that will give your life meaning.