Adult Attention Deficit Disorder might be an Advantage in the 21st Century
Channel: BioBalance Healthcast
Date: 2018-04-21

Read more at www.biobalancehealth.com

Many of us grew up in an era where the diagnosis of ADD and ADHD was not yet established. So many of us, especially boys, who were identified as difficult children with attitude problems or a deliberate resistance to paying attention and following directions in school. 

Because we were constantly in jeopardy of negative consequences at school and home many of us learned to use what we now call compensatory strategies for dealing with our attention issues. We had to learn how not to draw the negative lightening of harsh punishments and we had to learn how to be academically successful in a structured environment which was the exact opposite of the way our brains worked! 

In today's world those of us from that earlier time have found careers that allow us to function the way our brains work, or we have learned to disguise our inner workings while we appear to be following the expectations of the systems in which we live and work. Younger children and adults who came along after the two diagnostic categories of Attention Deficit Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyper Active Disorder have it easier. Schools have learned to recognize the identifying behaviors and teachers have learned to teach to those issues. Families have learned to go to doctors and get medicines that help these kids not have static noise always going off in their heads. The ability to hyper-focus at times and not focus at all at other times can be regulated and controlled to a greater degree than in the past. However, therapists and mothers still try to teach their children compensatory strategies for success even if the child (or adult) is on medicine to help regulate the "brain storms" in their heads.

Time management is an issue for so many of the people who have ADD and ADHD. They get redirected and distracted so easily. You cannot give them global instructions like "get ready for bed", or you cannot tell them to sit still and quiet while they do their math. They must move around and fidget. They tap their pencils or kick their feet or make clicking noises that irritate the hell out of anyone around them. The need to learn to develop a behavior that acts like a suppressor channel for the energy of the brain storm or body storm so that the rest of them can take care of business. Learning to perform on demand is a basic life skill. People with this diagnosis find this difficult to do because of their distractibility.