Dr. Gabor Mate on diagnosing and coping with ADD

Dr. Gabor Mate's new book is called "Scattered Minds", which deals with Attention Deficit Disorder. He himself was diagnosed with ADD at the age of 51 and his children also suffer from it. He explains the symptoms, why we see more if it and how to deal with it. (Originally aired June 1999)

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[hendrix77777]

Also, medicating someone with an anxiety disorder with a stimulant (e.g. Ritalin), would have a very negative effect as it would intensify the feeling of an anxiety attack. But to someone with ADD it regulates the noise their head then calm the anxiety. Honestly, these are not debated in scientific community anymore, they are fact. I understand people’s outrage in drugging children but to deny the disorder is a personal insult to me. This medication made me able to focus on the things I love.

[hendrix77777]

I agree, I think many parents and teachers are looking to control children’s behavior. Making a proper diagnosis is critical and should not be left to the pediatrician. Every young boy shows tell tail signs of ADD and diagnoses can only be done by a professional in my opinion.

[zabelicious]

@hendrix77777 It seems to me that people mistakenly take a lack of interest or motivation, a lack of discipline and a certain boredom regarding a number of activities (e.g school) as being a condition that needs to be corrected (i.e.disorder) when in reality, many ADD diagnosed people can focus on activities that they enjoy (e.g video games) What do you make of that? The pressure to fit in society is the condition to be corrected and creates the unecessary anxiety. The brain knows this is wrong

[TheAlphons0]

Which comes first? The chicken or the egg? These questions are not very useful in general. The so called observable symptoms of ADD are clearly the result of some form of anxiety, which can be due to a failure to develop some critical brain areas as a result of that anxiety. In order to focus one's attention, one must understand and be willing to do so, otherwise why even bother? I don't find these labels very useful although they seem to be widely accepted. Thanks for your insight :)

[hendrix77777]

@zabelicious That being said I agree that an anxiety disorder does inhibit focus and attention but this does not prove that ADD does not exist. A common problem in diagnosing ADD is making sure anxiety is a result of the disorder and not a cause of the symptoms.

[hendrix77777]

@zabelicious You realize this was filmed in the 90's right? Since this aired there has been significant empirical evidence on the lack of neuropsychological chemicals in people with the disorder. I had an amazing childhood and would not have any "external" reason for having ADD. Anxiety disorders have been proved to be side-effects of ADD. The inability to accept this condition as a disorder is ridiculous at this point.

[zabelicious]

ADD does not really exist in my opinion. It seems to be just another symptom of the very common anxiety disorder where the interference on the thinking process has become obvious. The higher functions of the brain are impaired and consequently, it is difficult to focus and pay attention. Just about everyone has enough "traumatic" events in their background to promote this state, well at least at some stressful points of their life, which is bound to happen.

[exoplaneta001]

perhaps the solution is change ALL SCHOOLS TO MONTESSORI SYSTEM, where each student learns at their own pace, and their intrinsic mayor abilities are recognized and developed to their unique fullest potential, there is no "sit down and be quite all day because the teacher is talking" ...like our standard schools which I see as a brain represor.

[skatarest77]

@Somuchclass lmao

[Somuchclass]

8:03 = beautiful explanation...just beautiful.