ADHD: Myths and Facts – Know The Difference - ADHD Awareness Month

16 Oct

Have you ever been in that conversation where someone says ‘but ADHD isn’t a real thing, it’s just an excuse for bad behaviour’…What do you say?

How do we dispel myths like this and spread the facts in a way that confronts challenges with real science, good humour and familiarity? Because the person spreading the fiction will, in fact, know someone close to them with ADHD, or may even be living with the disorder themselves.

ADHD is as real as…

Worldwide the estimated prevalence of ADHD is between 8-12%. That’s in the same ballpark of significance worldwide as: depression and osteoarthritis. The same rough percentage as global obesity or even the likelihood of being left handed.

So, you could reply ‘Is being left handed a real thing?’

I think all the left handed kids that went to school in the 1940’s and 50’s, that had their left hands tied to their chairs (and worse), would let you know how real being left handed is. All of these things are real, just like ADHD is real.

How do we see that ADHD is real?

Globally developments in science and technology allow us to more closely investigate how our brains behave. We can now look deeply into how the brains of people encountering certain challenges and see clearly that they have brains that behave in ways that can be different from a ‘normal’ functioning brain.

Take anxiety for example, in the brain of someone suffering with anxiety every day we may see the parts of the brain responsible for fear, self-talk, negative thinking and emotion switched on all the time, the person can be unable to dial the intensity down.

In the brains of individuals experiencing ADHD, we may see one (or a combination) of two common pictures. We may see areas at the front of the brain responsible for impulse-control, attention and thinking working either far too slowly or way too fast to be functioning properly. We may also see the areas of the brain responsible for thinking and emotion not communicating well with one another.

Just try and get a brain that is working like this to ‘sit down and calm down’, when it does not even have the ability to hear you, let alone follow your well-intended instructions. It is not the individual’s fault, they might be really trying, their brain just cannot do it. The frustration for both of you is real.

But, it does not have to stay this way.

What is soo wonderful about our brains, is that they are changeable. Our brains are changing every day and have the ability (indeed they will naturally just transform a little) each day in response to what we feed them.

How do we feed a brain?

We feed it with what we do, feel and think (as well as what we eat and drink).

Today we can be soo specific about what we feed a brain that we can change the way very precise and important parts of our brain function.

How wow is that?!?

Technologies including neuroimaging, neurofeedback and biofeedback allow us to see clearly and accurately what parts of the brain could benefit from a targeted change and then provide the resources that help you to create that change.

The most important element in embracing this capacity for brain change is to find a clinic and professionals who really know their stuff. When a brain can respond quickly and powerfully to new learning and targeted brain change, you want to be sure you are changing your brain in all the right ways.