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[This is a three-part series on ADD, written by "Nina B.", a pseudonym of a member of the ADD Forum on CompuServe.]
by "Nina B."
copyright, 1993, The Professional Resource Group
[Note: Below is the opening piece of a three-part series. The intentional hook of this opening gambit is to avoid mentioning attention deficit by name; hence future installments will provide more complete citations to sources refer- enced. Your comments and feedback are encouraged and welcome! Reply to "Nina B." at CIS 71332,1356.]
Have you known any folks who seem to have only two speeds: Fast Forward or Full Stop? People whose minds might chase after any stray sound in a crowded room, yet, at the flip of a switch, might become so intensely engaged the world is shut out for hours?
Scientists have found the brains of such individuals often look different if PET scans are compared; areas of arousal and activity appear in localized spots rather than being distributed in wider, more even patterns.
As a result of their neurobiology, millions of people know what it feels like to live, as one author describes it, as "Hunters" in a "Farmer's" world.
Hunters, in this sense, are people who are possessed of wandering minds and leaping brains. As depicted in the title of an upcoming book by two physicians, they are quite literally "Driven to Distraction." Their cross- currents of mental activity make it incredibly hard to focus on just one thing at a time, unless that one thing also happens to be tremendously captivating. Boredom for them is not just uncomfortable; it can be agonizing.
So might a Hunter child appear as a whirling dervish who can never sit still, or as a "Pig Pen" character oblivious to chaos and clutter, or as a reluctant student who must be chained to the desk to listen in class or finish homework, but yet can spend hours glued to a video. Or might the young Hunter appear as someone who has a difficult time focusing on other people and overlooks social cues, or perhaps as a very bright child plagued by undone assignments and tests full of careless errors.
Thus, as an adult, a Hunter might be someone who bounces between times of keen productivity and times when nothing gets finished, perhaps hopping from job to job, or even career to career. And so might a grown Hunter appear restless, even impulsive, lured by the challenge of mental, physical, or emotional risk, constantly pulled towards things different and new.
But so can you find Hunter adults as dynamic entrepreneurs and industry leaders; or inventors, scientists, detectives, and master fix-it wizards; or as charismatic salespeople and highly creative artists.
Paradoxically, the same forces that might land a reckless Hunter in jail, may, for another, result in such feats of nimble mental agility and breakthrough thinking you might also see Hunters win Nobel Prizes. Along this continuum, you might find reckless law-breakers and troubled addicts and then encounter countless others who are respected, if not renowned, for their genius and vision. Yet even the most talented among them may spend their lives feeling torn and self-doubting, wondering why they so often feel misunderstood.
Might you be a Hunter or the parent of a Hunter child? It depends on a web of complex factors.
Everyone experiences boredom, impatience, restlessness, inattention or impulsivity at times, but for Hunters they are persistent, unsettling lifelong issues. I've yet to meet a Hunter adult who didn't report feeling different from an early age, who didn't experience these differences as genuine obstacles, if not serious handicaps, in terms of producing the behavior the world expected, whether in school or at work or in personal relations.
Hunters know what it feels like to do constant battle with irresistable urges, whether the urge is to move around when you're supposed to be still, or to duck today's deadline, to ignore the unbalanced checkbook, to lose yourself in a creation, or to take just one more taste of something forbidden. Almost every Hunter has heard time and again, "if only you cared, you could change" but knows inside, with every gut instinct, that caring enough isn't the issue.
You can care deeply and still be unable to compel yourself to comply. In that aspect, what Hunters wrestle with is not unlike what it takes to resist the pull of an addiction.
Until two years ago I did not know there might be a name for my own assortment of wayward impulses: piles of clutter, crazy eleventh hour rushes, an almost pathological aversion to things rote and mundane. I had no trouble sitting still as a child, and I always did quite well in school, so the Hunter part of me just seemed to be a collection of bad habits and character quirks. I hadn't a clue some of my deepest personal struggles might have their roots in a biological condition -- until I found myself raising two Hunter children.
But I have learned that for many a restless soul, these drives and urges stem from neurochemistry, a gentically conditioned brain dynamic that is finally sufficiently well comprehended to be diagnosed and treated by specialists who understand the process. Now many Hunters are finding the self-awareness, support, and emotional peace they need, and building the effective, balanced lives they desire.
To learn more about this intriguing and paradoxical condition (including what it is called) check in here again with me next week.
by "Nina B."
copyright, 1993, The Professional Resource Group
[Note: This is my second in a 3-part newspaper series on ADD now appearing in the San Francisco area. The first chapter (listed above) gave a sense of what it feels like to live life as a "Hunter". This piece gives an informal self- rating checklist and an introduction to what ADD is about. The closing will summarize options for diagnosis, treatment and support.]
Last week we had a glimpse inside the minds of people who experience life as "Hunters in a Farmer's World," according to a paradigm proposed by author Thom Hartmann. Possessed of wandering minds and leaping brains, Hunters are drawn to stimulation and often frustrated by routine.
If that sounds at all familiar, read the items below thinking about yourself or someone you know. Whenever you are able to answer "often" or "very often," mark the question, then tally your total marks.
How frequently do you tend to do the following:
If you said "often" or "very often" at least a dozen times, you're already well-acquainted with several drives that can propel the mind of a Hunter.
The more of these sorts of things that are experienced as persistent, lifelong tendencies, and the more intensely they are felt, the higher the odds an individual may share something else many a restless soul has in common: a neurobiological condition known as ADD, or Attention Deficit Disorder.
ADD has received a lot of coverage this year, including a profile on ABC's "20/20" and spots in Newsweek and Time. To those involved in its support and treatment, the added exposure is a mixed blessing, running a risk of making it seem a faddish "disease of the week."
But increased attention has also provided a chance to dispel some persistent myth and misinformation. Studies of families, twins, individuals over time, and electronic maps of brain activity have now established several precepts beyond much contention.
ADD is not just a childhood phenomenon. It often persists throughout life, though it may be well-masked by an adult's more mature coping skills. Up to 5 million adults may be affected, estimates CH.A.D.D., a national support group for ADD adults and parents.
Nor is ADD limited only to those who exhibit "can't-sit-still" hyperactivity. It is well-documented in vast numbers of non-hyperactive adults and children, and diagnosing guidelines in clinician's manuals have been revised accordingly.
Evidence is also compelling ADD is more than a collection of stubborn habits or a personality style. More often than not, it shows up in families, suggesting a genetic connection. Electronic scans also show topography in the ADD brain looks very different with respect to "hot spots" of arousal and activity. Now researchers are pursuing clues involving things such as glucose metabolism and neurotransmitters.
Meanwhile, some with a more philosophical bent are wondering about the anthropological roots of this "Hunter" and asking if it is really a "deficit."
Hartmann's book, "ADD: A Different Perception," (Underwood-Miller, 1993) suggests that today's ADD-Hunter is an expression of the Hunter-Gatherer in the current gene pool, while the Farmer-type is descended from those more adept at cultivation. Since the orderly ways of a Farmer have been especially well suited to an assembly-line industrial era, the Hunter orientation appears "disordered" by comparison, he speculates.
(In the same vein, a Hunter-type friend of mine said, only half in jest, that Farmers may have their own disability: ASD, or "Attention Surplus Disorder.")
So what should a modern day Hunter do? Ask a specialist to evaluate possible ADD? Take medication? Enter therapy? Join a support group?
The answers, as you will see next week, run the gamut from "All" to "None."
by "Nina B."
copyright, 1993, The Professional Resource Group
Let's say you heard a few bells ring while reading what I've been writing about the wandering minds and leaping brains of people author Thom Hartmann calls "Hunters" in a "Farmer's " world. And let's say, after my last column, you wondered if you or someone you care about might also have ADD, or attention deficit disorder. What do you do next?
The best single answer I've heard for that question:
"It all depends on what you want to change."
Misplaced objects, half-finished chores, or eleventh hour rushes might only be aggravations you learn to laugh off or reprogram. But if youUre a Hunter for whom focus and follow through have been persistent lifelong obstacles to success in school, at work, or in relationships, your agenda is different. Understanding the often irresistible forces that pull your attention from one thing to the next could mean turning around a career or a marriage, a come- back trail that may include diagnosis, support groups, psychotherapy, or medication.
As many as 3.5 million children may have ADD, with or without hyperactivity. Although it is a leading cause of failure in school, half of them may never be diagnosed. Up to 70% of these youngsters become ADD adults, the most distressed of whom may lead anxious lives marred by depression, recklessness or substance abuse. For them, diagnosis and treatment could be life-saving.
What might it look like if treated? Read on:
"I've gone 40 years not knowing I had it since I compensated for my symptoms. I can see why people wonder if ADD is real. There's no deformity, no physical symptoms to measure. But now I can sit through dinner without getting edgy. I cut the grass, no excuses, no procrastination. I go to lunch with clients and hold my focus on the conversation. My wife, my coworkers, and I are all amazed. And for my son, the results were no less dramatic. Now he can sit down and work for long stretches."
That father was reporting what happened when he and his child took Ritalin, a drug with beneficial effects for many with ADD (including my own children). But Ritalin isn't the only option, nor is medication always desired. As with any health decision, informed choice requires that you:
Lastly, don't undersestimate the power of understanding, forgiveness and hope. People who experience longterm frustration or chronic failure can't help but have cracks in their self esteem. Individual and family psychotherapy can help heal those wounds.
And when you get discouraged, remember that for every troubled Hunter who fails to succeed, you can find an inspiring Hunter figure like Thomas Edison.
As explored in Thom Hartmann's book, "ADD:A Different Perception" (Underwood- Miller, 1993), we might still be living in caves if it weren't for the Hunters among us: People whose appetite for risk and adventure led to uncharted lands, whose imagination and vision pushed the boundaries of knowledge, whose fast thinking and rapid shifting won battles and surmounted challenges that may have defeated the less nimble.
History has shown time and again that given the right tools and environment, a Hunter can thrive.
Nina B. is the pen name of a California freelance writer who explores "private feelings in public" for her weekly column in two metro suburban newspapers. This 3- part series is copyright 1993, Clear Impressions, all rights reserved, and may be electronically distributed as long as it is distributed in its entirety and unchanged. For information, please contact Nina at CompuServe 71332,1356, or phone the Professional Resource Group at 510 837-8365.
This article has been downloaded from the ADD Forum on CompuServe, and may be distributed freely as long as the contents of the file are unchanged. Because the CompuServe ADD Forum is new, we are frequently asked how to join CompuServe and get on the forum. Call 1-800-524-3388 and ask for rep #464. Outside the US/Canada call +1-614-457-0802.
Last Modified: Thursday, October 02, 1997 9:34:45 PM
Steven J. Foust, peregrin@enteract.com