By Lisa Aro, author of the blog, "Living a Distracted Life"
It's rumored that Japanese General Isoroku Yamamoto said the following about the attack on Pearl Harbor:
"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."
Although there is no evidence he actually said this, the message resonates with me. There are few things that awaken my own sleeping giant more than people who belittle our family's experience with ADHD by telling me that it's not real. Even worse, that it is real but that the six members of my household diagnosed with it couldn't possibly all have ADHD. That happened recently. Their reasoning: Because my family members can control their ADHD, then they don't really have it.
It's All a Matter of Definition
To some degree I had to agree. If you define control as having power over something - in this case, ADHD symptoms - then they definitely wouldn't qualify. Characteristics such as impulsiveness, inattentiveness, a hyper mind that refuses to settle, and over-stimulation from everyday tasks are intrinsic to ADHD and have a pervasive effect.
But some confuse control with managing ADHD. By definition, an ADHDer can't control the way their brain works. It can't be turned off and on. ADHD is a neurobiological condition; it's in the wiring and chemicals of the brain and that can't be changed. The skills and coping mechanisms that we work on as a family do not control ADHD - they only help manage it.
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To finish reading the full article, visit the "Living a Distracted Life" blog on the Everyday Health website: http://bit.ly/1u16cHj.
