Focus, attention, and impulse control are also part of a complex neurological circuit located in the prefrontal cortex. I don't have ADD, as far as anyone can tell, but share enough of the challenges related to it that this book helped a lot. Gabor Maté believes that if we alter the environment positively and allow for healthy attachment relationships, we can lessen the symptoms of ADHD. Alex has a master’s degree in comparative literature from Harvard University and a PhD in literary criticism from Oxford University.

Despite their best intentions, these stresses interfere with their ability to sustain attuned relationships with their children. Medicine,” the Austrian philosopher Ivan Illich wrote, “tells us as much about the meaningful performance of healing, suffering, and dying as chemical analysis tells us about the aesthetic value of pottery. I cannot recommend it enough for anyone who has ADHD, thinks they might have ADHD, or is just a hypersensitive individual who struggles with emotional regulation.He says that ADHD reflects biological malfunctions in certain brain areas but many of its features are connected to a person’ physical and emotional experiences of the world.

As one of the author’s patients put it, the only thing that ever slowed her down was the siren of a police car.There is no real consistency, it bounces from one thought to another, from one theory to another and then back to his life story.

Maté’s positive, humanistic tone generates an underlying hum of empowerment and possibility, even as he refuses to downplay or sidestep ADD’s many negative effects.

He graduated with a 4-year college degree, holds down a solid job, has a career path planned, and manages several hefty side-responsibilities. Unfortunately, we have no animals yet, but we enjoy skiing, snowboarding, swimming, and board games together with our kids. Gabor Maté is a retired physician who, after 20 years of family practice and palliative-care experience, worked for over a decade in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side with patients challenged by drug addiction and mental illness.

We honour Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' continuous connection to Country, waters, skies and communities. We can start answering that question by clearing up a common misconception – that there’s a specific gene coding for ADD. I read a lot of very divided opinions about the book, which I don’t understand, and hope not to get caught up in.Her facial expression doesn’t just acknowledge the baby’s sadness – it communicates that she shares that sadness. Alex Lim is a certified book reviewer and editor with over 10 years of experience in the publishing industry. I’m rather disappointed overall that this is shaping the narrative on ADHD for other psychological professionals. The answer to underdevelopment is development, and for development the appropriate conditions must exist. I don't think I'd be the way I am if I didn't live in a culture that is saturated with information, that removes us far from our natural rhythms, that requires me to be vigilant all the time, that values achievement to a degree that's ridiculous, that insists on fast and "good enough" over the spacious reflection and full consideration that engenders much better than good enough.