The Perplexing Mystery of ADHD

Regardless of the age of a person with ADHD, attempting to understand and manage ADHD, can sometimes seem like a really big mystery. I know for me, for many years, I wondered why certain things that worked for other people didn't seem to work for me. I also would feel perplexed about how I could do some things really well in certain situations. We can end up feeling really stuck in the confusion of this ongoing mystery, especially if we don't learn about what ADHD actually is and how it impacts us.

Fortunately, we are now living at a time where there is so much more understanding about our human brain, biology and diversity. A few decades ago, there was much less understanding about the brain, and so having differences was often viewed as a problem that needed to be fixed.  Back then, with not having useful science and research about ADHD, ADHD was seen as a behaviour disorder.  Unfortunately, these old misguided views have stuck around in our society, and many people still do not have a good understanding of what ADHD is. As a result of this, there is a lot of negative stigma about ADHD, due to this lack of understanding, and many people with ADHD are very negatively affected by this enduring stigma.

In my work as an OT and ADHD coach, it is my sincere intention to help others learn about what ADHD is, and do what I can to help to reduce the ADHD mystery, as well as the stigma.  There now have been a significant amount of excellent brain studies and research about ADHD, which have provided evidence that ADHD is a brain-based biological condition, involving unique brain differences.  This evidence explains that it is not that a person with ADHD has a defective brain (or a behaviour disorder), but instead has a brain with structural and functional differences. There definitely are some challenges connected to having these brain differences, especially with living in our world which has not been well designed for people with ADHD.  It is also important to note that there also are some great strengths connected to these ADHD brain differences, which lead to many people with ADHD doing wonderful things to make our world a better place.

Upcoming Free Webinar about ADHD Brain Differences:
If you would like to learn more about the unique brain differences involved with ADHD, please stay tuned for more blog posts on this subject. I also am offering an upcoming free live webinar about 'De-mystifying the ADHD Brain' on Thurs March 11 6:30-8 pm MST. Please see the 'Events' page of my website (kristaotcoach.com) or the following link, for more information and to register:
​https://www.eventbrite.com/e/de-mystifying-the-adhd-brain-webinar-tickets-143538538633

Please let me know what you find to be confusing or mysterious about ADHD in the comments section below!