A Splintered Mind

Ever wonder what it feels like for a person with AD/HD to pay attention when they are bored? If you can keep your focus to the end of today's blog you might just find out. If I was worried about being bored when I began this week, it turns out I had nothing to fear. My girls have kept me so busy that I haven't had time to breathe, nevermind find time to be bored. Keeping busy, of course, is one way to fend off boredom for any individual. With the AD/HD mind, however, we need to plan in advance if we want to prevent ourselves from getting in trouble. Sometimes, keeping busy is not an option. When dealing with boredom and the AD/HD mind it is important to realize that the AD/HD mind doesn't actually spend much time being bored at all. Picture the AD/HD mind with a special teflon coating that repels boredom with efficiency. This process is nearly instantaneous. Hallowell and Ratey defined this attention issue for AD/HD people as a general intolerance for boredom. ...

Is it possible to halt a dopamine deprived brain from bouncing out of its skull the moment boredom sets in? I believe it is and I'll be covering six ways I've found that work for me all this week. Contrary to popular belief, as evidenced by some of my more vitriolic commenters , I have AD/HD , and until recent years it made my life a living hell. That's not to say that I suddenly found a cure. No, instead I grew tired of being beat up by consequences and decided to make some changes in my life. Ever heard of consequences? You know, show up late to work and get fired. Forget to lock up the store after you leave and get fired. Paste a newspaper article upside down and get fired... Those kind of consequences? (I still maintain that I didn't paste that newspaper article upside down, but instead was framed...and poorly. So I didn't lose my job there, but quit it because the work environment was far too hostile. I would get bored and wander into other departments ...

Does ADD poster child Paris Hilton get a pass for bad behavior because of ADD? Judging from some of the articles I've read she does, but did you ever get a pass for ADD? Neither did I. I have a life beyond the gossip rags, so I missed this little gem last week where TMZ got the "scoop" of the decade. According to unnamed sources, Paris Hilton suffers from extreme Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and claustrophobia. These sources also fingered Adderall as Paris' particular poison of choice, and claimed 'twas pity that spared the beast when the ole Sheriff learned of Paris' panic attacks from lack of medication. All across the tubes site after site regurgitated the above sentences without skepticism. Not a single site, not even Foxnews , could corroborate this information separately. Yet all sites seemed relieved to finally have a medical reason to blame Paris' behavior on. "See? She's not really a pampered brat," we are led to believ...

Can't focus during exams because of all the pencil tapping? Can't get to the family reunion, nevermind smile for pictures, because of Depression? Does your spouse have to cut your food for you because of your tic disorder? You think YOU have problems? Take a walk in the shoes of the employees of the City of Seattle. Their inalienable right to microwave popcorn during breaktime is being jeopardized city-wide. You have to read it to believe it. Sometimes we can become fatigued from the fight to overcome our disabilities. Sometimes we can feel as if we've put in too much effort and energy just to be mediocre. During times like this I find it vital to keep my sense of humor. I look for anything that can lift my spirits and stave off depression and negativity - even silly articles on banning microwaved popcorn. It is a coping strategy that anybody could utilize, but is very important for those susceptible to Depression to implement in their lives. So don't let your de...

You may not benefit from it, but you've sure seen it. You most likely can't look at any desk at your doctor's office without seeing Big Pharma branded swag. From the pen the doctor uses to write out your prescription to the clip board he writes upon, advertising bombards the doctor in an effort to sway his decisions. Some might say that there is no harm in this. All of this swag is free and the doctor is not forced to prescribe any medication, even if the pen he is using is loudly branded. However, knowing that Big Pharma pays doctors (as detailed in books like this ) to promote their wares, I have grown very uncomfortable with all the swag in my doctor's and psychiatrist's office. How can I be certain they are not harmfully influenced? Wired magazine is concerned about this as well and has a short article on the types of freebies psychiatrists could expect to walk away with at the American Psychiatric Association's annual conference in San Diego last mon...

Last Saturday we visited old friends for dinner and entertainment. Aside from eating and visiting, the evening was spent performing as well. My friend has a parlor Grand Piano and he played on it for us beautifully. My wife, Robyn, thrilled to play music on it, as well. We had just given our little spinet away that morning because Robyn couldn't play at night without disturbing the neighbors. So Robyn played the Grand with delight. And loudly. My 15 year old played her guitar and sang, then I accompanied my 12 and 8 year olds on the pennywhistle while they performed some Irish Step Dancing. What an idyllic evening. Unfortunately, I was neurologically off as detailed here . Consequently, I was not really at my top skill when I stood there with pennywhistle in hand. I was particularly concerned that I wouldn't be able to keep rhythm for the girls. One peculiar symptom of my disabilities is that I tend to drop notes when I play. I have always been good at dancing but strangely un...

Ah, Summer. I know it's arrived not by the naturally warming weather, or the fact that my swamp cooler is now on more often then not. I recognize Summer's presence by the slam my blog stats take. You may have noticed that I don't blog about the Apple iPhone or all the reasons why President Bush has or has not ruined this country (Global Warming is all his fault, ya know! That rising polar bear population is his personal responsibility. That's why the Inuit Eskimos marched on Washington - the polar bears want to move in with them instead of clinging to melting icebergs ) . I cover disabilities, which, understandably, is not as popular a topic as politics. I have to grow my reader base in slow ramps over the year with big drops over the Summer. Each Fall I grow a little more, and I grow accustomed to the new feeling in the comments section. Subscriptions are way up with only a tiny hit after Memorial Day weekend. I think that's wonderful. I thank all of you for s...