We've got ADHD wrong!
Nir Eyal says there’s something fishy going on with ADHD.
If you’ve not watched it, here’s the interview (it’ll start from the ADHD section):
As expected, the ADHD community is enraged by his comments.
I’m not.
I agree with (almost) every word that left his mouth.
He mentions:
The discrepancy between diagnosis rates from country to country. 10% in the USA, 1% in Europe.
The lunacy of forcing kids into a box (school) and making them listen to a boring teacher.
Skills before pills.
That pills have consequences (side effects).
We’re training a generation of people that the solution comes in the form of pills.
The fallacy of the dopamine hypothesis.
No brain scan has conclusively found ADHD in the brain.
The ADHD test is VERY easy to trick.
I either agree with, or know to be true, all of the above.
Every study “proving” the dopamine deficiency hypothesis was funded by Big Pharma or lacked statistical significance.
If ADHD is caused by a lack of dopamine in the brain we haven't (yet) proven it. That doesn't mean it's not the cause, but it's looking increasingly less likely.
Anyway, that’s not what I wanted to focus on today.
Instead, there’s one very dangerous outcome from being diagnosed with ADHD that isn’t spoken about enough — identification.
Nir Eyal touches on it in this interview.
Why it matters:
Every school of philosophy, yoga, buddhism, and taoism teach you NEVER to identify with what you are not.
In reality, you are not your body, you are not your mind, you are not your possessions, you are not your name, you are not your nationality, and you certainly are not your ADHD.
You are a person with ADHD.
To be more specific, you are awareness (consciousness) looking at a part of you that has ADHD.
But when you identify with this thing we call ADHD, you will never ever be free from it.
And you will never NOT be hurt when someone questions what you believe to be true.
It could be argued that limited identification is responsible almost everything bad that happens in the world — from football hooliganism to war.
As a result, many people staunchly believe ADHD is something they will live with forever.
I did to.
Then I didn’t.
I realised that if I was ever to master ADHD, I had to believe (even if it wasn’t possible) that it’s something we can overcome.
ADHD is a disorder.
It affects our lives in innumerable ways.
Some people believe it’s a superpower. But how can something classed as a disorder (that makes your life almost impossible to live) also be a superpower?
On this journey of releasing the shackles of ADHD from my life (through intense effort) I could easily claim that ADHD is my superpower.
I don’t buy it.
I think I had ADHD and I built the skills to overcome it.
I also worked on past traumas that were making my mind busy, distracting me from the present reality.
The culmination of these two things have resulted in me feeling that if I was to be tested for ADHD again I wouldn’t be diagnosed with it.
In 2017, ADHD ran my life.
Today, it’s hardly noticeable.
Today, I do less to manage my ADHD than I did 2 years ago. A LOT LESS.
And it all started the day I decided to NOT identify with ADHD.
Which is why, against the bitching and crying from the community about this interview, I found myself in fierce agreement with Nir Eyal.
We have got ADHD all wrong.
And the dead certainty with which many vocal people in the community speak about it is only leading to more and more pain and frustration when counter-arguments arise that don’t match the deep identifications being built.
I’m teaching my ADHD Toolkit in Liverpool and Brighton June.
Get tickets for:
Liverpool, 7th June (get tickets)
Brighton, 14th June (get tickets)
Learn the Toolkit I use to manage ADHD with skills (not pills).
I suffered from undiagnosed ADHD for most of my life. It wasn’t always a debilitating condition for me as I was able to create some strong coping / survival strategies when younger in order to fit in. It did however, make major contributions in my life choices AND therefore the progressive decline in my mental health. I am personally grateful for finally getting an accurate diagnosis in my late 50’s, NOT via social media but from my own persistence to receive an accurate diagnosis from (regulated & approved) psychiatry. I am now medicated for it & medication helps me.
I totally agree with the statement made of “skills before pills” & would welcome the opportunity to learn the skills I need with an un-diagnosis plan! In the UK unfortunately there is not the infrastructure to offer any treatment other than via the pharmaceutical route unless you are lucky enough to afford private personal coaching or talking therapy (NHS expects you to be ‘cured’ after 6 weeks). Can you please inform the NHS of the need for education as well as medication to make recovery possible.
In reference to the US v European diagnosis rate; I believe the % rate of ADHD diagnosis is changing (increasing) now in the UK because for too long, generations of women were not diagnosed simply because it used to be believed that only boys could have ADHD. Our % rate has perhaps always been lower in the UK because the subject has only recently began being addressed.
I would like to believe what has been discussed about Nir’s “indestractible” book assisting me &/or others with this condition, but the principles of the 4 point plan really only applies to neurotypical minds as those with ADD/ADHD (like me) would find it incredibly difficult/impossible to stick with in the long term. A point he seems to have overlooked/side stepped, for some, ADHD medication just makes life more manageable & for example, for me, medication is totally needed in order to obtain the focus needed to even start to want to read his book. I’m not convinced he truly understands the condition.
Also, he stated that ADHD can’t be detected on a brain scan. WRONG! it isn’t widely available yet, but plenty of research shows that it CAN be correctly identified using MRI.