Is A.D.H.D./A.D.D. A Gift or A Curse?
On the negative side, when someone is diagnosed with A.D.H.D., it is because “things have been going significantly wrong” so that referring to it as a gift “might [be] meet with skepticism.”
On the positive side: “[T]here are lots of skills, abilities and characteristics that routinely come with ADHD, and which most people find appealing….”
Source: The Gifts of ADD
“I am among those who wouldn’t trade my ADD for anything. I do think that the positives outweigh the negatives–at least for me.”
Source: ADD: The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
“…as both a[n] ADHD professional and a person with ADHD myself I am really getting tired of hearing about how great ADHD is because for most of us it’s not. For most of us who have struggled because of ADHD saying ADHD is great is down right insulting!”
Source: Is ADHD Great??
“Many forms of cancer are curable and many people live long, productive lives even after their fight with cancer. There are several forms of A.D.D.1 and many of these people live long, unproductive lives. And A.D.D. is not curable. Given the choice, which gift would you choose.”
Source: Me
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Perhaps A.D.D. is a gift when you are ten years old and your imagination soars. Perhaps A.D.D. is a gift when you are twenty years old and you need to write three papers for three different college classes and so you muster your hyperfocus and finish them on time. Perhaps A.D.D. is a gift when you are in your chosen profession and find that sitting in your quiet, private office is absolutely maddening. Perhaps A.D.D. is a gift when you are expected to sit at your desk for fifty hours each week and your body is screaming at you to get up and move, or get up and talk to another human being, or get up and do some other activity that is NOT the one you are currently doing. Perhaps A.D.D. is a gift when you are expected to defer gratification (though instant gratification is one of the hallmarks of the A.D.D. personality) and you fail miserably at doing so. Perhaps A.D.D. is a gift when it seems the entire world has passed you by and you are STILL trying to figure out, for the fourth time in your life, what you want to be when you grow up.
I believe A.D.D. is a gift because to see it for what it truly is – the incurable curse – is too depressing. I will give back this gift in a heart beat. I will trade this gift for a bit less intelligence. I will trade this gift for a bit more sleep. I will trade this gift for a bit more stability in my life.
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I posted the following poem in September 2007 under the title “Not A.D.D.”
I don’t want to be me.
I am sick and tired of being me,
because being me means being A.D.D.
I don’t want everything I do to be an issue.
I am sick and tired of dealing with issues.
I am sick and tired of being A.D.D.
I don’t want to pre-reflect and post-reflect and self-reflect.
I just want to be.
I don’t want to be A.D.D.
I’ll be an idiot who thinks the world is great.
I’ll be a smiling fool who knows nothing of fate.
I’ll be anything as along as I am not A.D.D.
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I don’t know if I consider it a gift but it certainly is not a disability. I hate the way people whine about them being disabled because of ADD. I am no more disable because of ADD than I would be if I had lost four fingers on one hand or I lost a foot in the war. No D stands for disability and a person with ADD is NOT BROKEN. I do have advantages as an adult because of my ADD but I would also have an if I were smart enough to be in mensa. I am just differant thats all.
I have begun to ponder the question of why would some people think it is a gift and others a curse. I think it is a function of how it affected your life and when you learned you had this gift/curse. If your experience is more like mine where you discover when you are almost fifty years old that all of the problems you have had in your life can be traced to this “gift,” then you may conclude that this is a gift you would rather not have. (This is, to a degree, the point brought up by Tara McGillicuddy. ) However, if your life is more like that of Jennifer Koretsky who, it seems, discovered fairly early in life (in her 20’s, I believe) that she has A.D.D., well…that’s a completely different story. She did not, and will not, go through the next 25 years (or more) of her life with her eyes closed. (Jennifer’s post on the subject is here. It was this post that got me started on revisiting the gift/curse issue.)
So what affect it has had on your life, what “life skills” you were given by your upbringing and, finally, when you discovered you had this “gift” will greatly influence whether you do, indeed, see it as some sort of gift that makes you different and not disabled, or whether you see it as a handicap of sorts that you wish you could eliminate from your life. So, there really is no right or wrong answer to the question posed by the post’s title.
And thank you for posting a comment.
It’s both a gift and a curse if you have ADD/ADHD what ever you are good at you are REALLY good at and things your bad at range from some waht bad to really there are negitive and positve sides to it.
ADD is a gift if you know how to control it like I do , if you are not strong enough to control it , than it is a curse , its your choice , not the ADD’s
Jeremy,
How do you manage to do that?
Control the A.D.D., that is. If you know something about this, there is a whole boatload of people who would like to know about it. It would be of real interest to us all if you could say more.
Jeremy,
Please…don’t hold out on us. If you’ve got some great techniques for controlling A.D.D., let us know what it is. If it requires a lot of explanation I can put it up as a regular post.
There are lots of different ways of controlling your ADD, Exercising in the morning to get the energy out of you for the day is one thing you can do to immediately start seeing a change in your attitude. It works for me. I run a tread mill every morning for 45 minuets.
People with ADD are wired differently in the mind. We think differently than 90% of the rest of the population. People are not born in my opinion with ADD. In my experience with ADD… Wait … See I show the bad ADD traits such procrastination, sleepiness when I am not dealing with my mind properly. ADD is the result of one trying to use his brain like everyone else does, Hence resulting in ADD. Kind of like the normal way of thinking is a square and our way of thing is a circle. You cant stick the square in the circle. You cant use the same thinking methods that everyone else uses. The result is ADD. If I use my brain the way it was genetically programed to be used than most of those bad traits of ADD do not affect me in my everyday life. As a matter of fact it puts me way ahead of others.
For instance, in my life I don’t get involved in anything that I don’t have passion for. If you do something or have a conversation about something that you do not have 101% ambition and passion for , to the point you would die for it, than you will get distracted, you will disrupt people in debating or conversations, you will dream off, you will feel like your going through hell. This is the problem with our schools and ADD children. Most 12 year olds can care less about what some Asian leader did 1200 years ago(global social studies I raised hell in that class). But if that same kid is interested in math and science than I bet you any money he would sit still, not disrupt anyone if the class was studying the social studies of Newton, Da Vinci, Or Gallieo.
Let me say something, Long before the book ” The Da Vinci Method” came out , I always believed my condition was a gift this was my intuition, I used my condition as a weapon in school, business, and my social life. When I read the Da Vinci Method , I was so excited and motivated by my condition when reading that book because it had confirmed a lot of the intuitions I was having when starting university at the age of 16. See when I was 16(1999) and was in University thats really when I started to try to control my mind. I had back in 1999 intuitions about things such as the current global political situation, the job situation in our country, telecommunications trends, and current flow of internet social networking technologies that is gripping our society. A lot of my friends called me a day dreamer, a ” Pie in the sky” type of talker, today ten years later , a lot of them are now are giving me investment money in the social governance projects I am working on, buying stock in my company and see my intuitions in the media that I talked about ten years ago. My gut feeling is not 100% right , but when I put the right mix of mood , energy , distraction, and will behind trying to figure something out , I would say yes I my gut feeling is right 90% of the time the first time , that number is much higher the 2nd or third time. I can come up with the most creative algorithms and answers to complex problems in seconds with out even thinking about them in depth. Ready, Fire, Aim is a good example , if you are showing signs of ADD , and try Ready Aim Fire! than watch the distractibility unfold and the dreaming off start and your life go through hell. Your Brain is not programed for that way of thinking.
Like research is starting to lean towards that people that have the Da Vinci gene have different brain waves. Stronger Beta, and Theta waves in our heads they say we have. The book and research also tell you that using music can help align these waves in your brain. I am not a 100% believer in this as of yet cause I don’t think there is enough scientific evidence that shows this. BUT my intuition says this is 100% correct and by experience , listing to certain types of music enhance my creative skills(listing to Mozart while studying or writing computer code). Or simply listening to Beethoven before I head out in morning , this I can attest to.
So exercise , listen to good brain wave music, only do the things you would die for, and only listen to your gut Instinct thinking things through to much will raise hell in your brain. These are things for maybe the past three years I have really been able to focus on doing on a daily basis that have helped me regularly control my ADD maybe 20% of the time. You may say Wow only 20% of the time, thats not much , but that is 20% of the time every single day thats about 3 or 4 hours out of the day. Enough for me to follow my dreams and make 100k a year. There are other things I do that control my ADD as high as 40 or 50 percent, but I am not a master of this yet so I will not explain them here. But if I am ever able to do this 7 or 8 hours out of the day WORLD WATCH OUT!!!!!!
Remember ADD is the result of not knowing how to use the gift you have.
I like to think of having the Da Vinci gene as kinda like being a Jedi. It is a special gift and power of the mind that we do not completely understand yet. Yet since proves even today that yes it is a power that alot of famous and influential people posses and use.
This gift is something our society has but really does not understand what it is. It is a power, a power of knowledge, and instant problem solving, creativity, discovery and having your intuition tell you the future. Look at the people who have publicly come forward and said they have their ADD under control, guys like Richard Branson, Michael Jordan , Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. Look at the list on the Da Vinici site. I have never met someone with ADD that says they have it under control and not be extremely successful in what they do.
I am in so way shape or form associated with these people http://areyouadavinci.com/ but for those who feel helpless and disorded really need to do thier research and read this book. Wake up and smell the fucking coffee and learn who you are. if you want to chat with mr Doctor you can add cyberfab007 on your skype or email me.
Jeremy Fabiano
You know this article is a perfect example of what I just said, I have the 101% passion,will, and ambition for helping people, though I have never tried to help people with my gift cause I always thought I was not experienced enough to do so. But when writing that post, I was not distracted, disruptive, and it is the first time I have ever written such a post. I did not think about what I was writing , I just did it ( did it at about 120 words per minuet typing) It took all of 15 minuets.
Do you people understand now?
Jeremy,
Thank you for responding as quickly as you did. I thought you were going to offer something that was earth shattering. Instead, you’ve reiterated what is already known. It is already known that exercise helps the A.D.D. mind and it is known that music – the so-called Mozart Effect – has a beneficial effect on many…not just A.D.D.ers. Yet what has surprised me is that someone who is as intelligent as you are – not everyone starts college at 16 – has fallen for the most obvious of fallacies. You have confused correlation with causation. You are not alone in this. The knuckleheads at Unwrapping the B.S. also claim some sort of causal link between A.D.D. and genius. Ad hominem attacks aside, a scientific study requires more than five or ten geniuses who have A.D.D. This does not constitute proof. In fact you are ignoring the millions of A.D.D.ers who are NOT geniuses, who are NOT uber-capitalists. If A.D.D. were THE cause, then anyone with A.D.D. SHOULD, by your logic (and the knucklehead’s logic too) be a genius. If anything, you have been a success IN SPITE of your A.D.D. You’ve learned to contain/control your A.D.D. so that your intelligence can come through.
Jeremy,
I finally got around to reading your posts on this subject.I have to agree with the 2nd sentence of Jeff’s response(and his entire response),regarding reiterating what is already known.
I have only started my own investigation about ADD,and the symptoms that relate to my own mental state of mind. I believe what you are doing to be successful in life is great for you,according to you. And wish you the best.
Personally, I find a great deal of comfort in listening to a variety of music played by gifted guitarist (Jerry Garcia,Dicky Betts,Junior Brown,to name a few). But that’s the point of my response.
People w/ADD and people without ADD have they’re own way of dealing with life. Right or wrong,I think it is a matter of personal opinion. That’s a gift I will always have..that’s a freedom I will die for.
Your question “Do you people understand now.” I can only understand you are fast typer,and admire that. I use 1 finger(or 2 if I’m feeling really coordinated).
Scott.
Jeremy,
I’m still trying to understand. You stated, you have a dream of making 100K a year. I just made 1000K in a few seconds. Try holding the K button down on your keyboard.
I did’nt have to even smell F’ing coffee to do this. Or purchase a book. It’s just one of my amazing gifts.
Do you understand now? My way of dealing with ADD?
Scott.
Scott,
Here’s your A.D.D. Brilliance coming through!!
“I didn’t have to even smell F’ing coffee to do this. Or purchase a book. It’s just one of my amazing gifts.”
Frackin’ Great!!
Thank You Jeff,
I counting right now,,,,I see Da Vinci typed 5 times. I think I will see if I can trade my book “You Can Be A Genius By Using Sarcasm” For that Da Vinci book.
Scott.
OMG THANK YOU for talking about this. I HATE it when people say that ADD is a gift. Like you said, there are different types of ADD. Just because you happen to have an easier form of ADD to deal with doesn’t mean you can make the statement that ADD is a gift. I mean, sure there are ways of dealing with it. Exercising will definitely make it better. I’ve even heard of people who take a certain drug or supplement and, along with exercise, are doing really well! However, to call it a gift??? That’s just stupid. Personally, if it weren’t for my faith in God, ADD would have destroyed my life. And it HAS made my life pretty darn miserable. I hate it… I really do. Yeah I deal with it, I take multivitamins, I try to exercise as much as I can but I also get sick a lot so that’s hard for me. Basically ADD just makes whatever situation you’re dealing with in life a whole lot worse. The benefits definitely DO NOT outweigh the drawbacks, at least in my case.
Also I love the sense of humor
Christina,
I’m always glad to hear that something I’ve written has struck a chord with a reader so, thank you for letting me know. I’m in COMPLETE agreement with you that the benefits DO NOT outweigh the drawbacks. Further, there is no scientific evidence of there being any benefits whatsoever. Anything that could be labeled a “benefit” is really just an attempt -on the part of an ADDer- to put a positive spin on something that is not positive at all. Bottom line, though, is that we have to live with our ADD so we might as well paint a smile on that ogre instead of seeing it as the ogre it really is. However, some days…it’s just an ogre.
Christina,
I have been thinking about this gift thing, and I have been very critical of ppl who try to sell me on the idea that ADD is a gift. I understand how you feel when someone says:”ADD is a gift!”
At first(be diagnosed with ADD)I thought it was just a thing that happened later in life to me(47 or 48 yrs old,can’t remember, lol). Did’nt realy even know what ADD is,I just knew I was having problems, and needed to see a Dr. and know why my mind was screwing up. Then started the meds for it. When the meds started working(the same day I started taking them),I felt as if I was “gifted”, because I realized how great I was at doing stuff, that most ppl can’t do. And always had been, but never knew it. Then comes the bad news…I looked back on my life, and saw a boy that that was never satified or knew why he was un-happy being who was.
That could’nt be gift, no matter what anybody says,writes,or tries to sell me. But I’m not going to stop living, and I have to try as hard as I can to control what will never stop being a curse. One of the hardest thing for me to do is be patient with ppl that say having ADD or any mental illness,disease,etc.. may be a good thing, if we look at it as a good thing.But I’m learning(and trying) to not judge a person that wants to decieve themselves only. But I have ADD and it it is not good…..I will boldly say:”To not have ADD or any mental problems..IS A GIFT!”
Jeff,
Oh yeah Bro. You most certainly “struck a chord” with this subject! Your name is well known for telling the truth! Some ppl it seams are a little defensive about it though……But that’s great! It shows that you are being heard! Some ppl are trying to make a living out of not telling the truth about ADD, so I saved the parts of the turkey I cooked, that I don’t like, and will let em eat it, when they are starving.
Gotta tell ya, Scott. Telling the truth has gotten me in trouble many times in my life. No one really likes to hear it.
I know what ya mean Jeff. I wonder if being honest is a gift? It can sometimes be a bad decision to be too honest, I think, for me. If someone I care about asks me my opinion about..lets say for instance, a freind asks me:”Dose this job I did building new cabinets in my kitchen look good?”
If I tell him how I realy(honestly) think about his craftmanship, it could make him think that I think I am a better and more skilled than he is. And that would be the honest truth (lol). But It would be better for him and me if I would say:”Yeah man, looks great!”
But when it comes to a question of serious matters about his(or his familys) health and well being, then I must be honest at the risk of losing a friend.
Part 1
ADHD is paradoxically both a gift and a curse and in fact, is often regarded as being "the curse of genius" since 98% of all geniuses have ADHD.
When an ADHD person needs to learn something that interests him, he or she learns it almost instantly with little apparent effort.
The downside is that when having to learn something boring, the ADHD person has difficulty slowing his/her mind down and maintaining that slowness long enough to sustain focus on a boring subject. An ADHD person also constantly notices little things that others whose minds are moving at normal slower speed, never notice.
An ADHD person will notice designs in wood grain, patterns of ceiling tiles, the sound of high heels clacking in the hall, the argument on the phone in the next room, and a myriad other things, ALL AT ONCE.
"98% of all geniuses have ADHD." This is astounding news! I suspected this was about right. But I've never been able to find an authoritative source to back up this claim. I assume YOU did…right? Can you share the link? I assume the link will be to a scientific study based on lots of data. Am I correct?
Yeah, I'm going to have to agree with Jeff, and ask you to cite your sources. Even on my side that doesn't sound like… anything I've ever heard about ADHD. Actually, people with ADHD are statistically standard with others (That was my third concession in part 1), and ADHDers are no more likely the be fat or skinny. I have ADHD and it has taken a lot of work for me to get into the shape I am (I lost 42 pounds). And working out is a little hard because a half hour is a long time on a treadmill for a guy who has an attention span of about 4 minutes.
Thank you for your support, but please, cite your sources. An English professor once told me "You have no Idea how little authority your voice holds. Until you have a degree, you site your sources." I know it's a little brutal, but it's the honest truth, and that's what you get when you have professors in your family.
- Paradigm of Thought
Part 2
ADHD people often have an easier time staying physically fit & maintaining an ideal weight range, because of all the extra exercise & calories burnt in fidgeting, etc.
ADHD also gives the blessing of youthfulness well into old age. The ADHD adult will be the one participating in childrens & teenagers activities & having as much fun as the kids are having.
An excellent example of the paradox of ADHD is Einstein, who was one of the greatest geniuses of all time, and who, even as an old man, playfully stuck his tongue out when being photographed just as a mischievious kid would do .
(Had to split it since error message kept saying it was too long, but of course never says what the maximum allowed length even IS. And I see other comments were longer than mine…so…damifino!)
MORE GREAT NEWS!! This is WONDERFUL! ADHD people can easily stay physically fit (even though they may load up on carbs to slow down their brain and which contributes to weight gain). And they engage in so many youthful activities. Even better, sticking out your tongue PROVES you have ADHD. As I write this, I'm sticking out my tongue and I am finding that I have a better grasp of inertial frames of reference and their possible relationship to Lorenz Transformations though, I gotta be real honest, I'm not sure if sticking out my tongue is helping me to to understand how any of this relates to quarks, charm, or the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle.
Anyway, I've learned so much today. Thanks for sharing this information. Now, please excuse me while I go and play with those little children over there.
Albert was so silly. Remember when he got stuck on the monkey bars hanging upside down? Those short kids were jumping up and holding on to his hair. His scalp was so strong that even shrort heavy out of shape non ADD boys could not pull hard enough to pull his hair out. The bright side of that story is >An unfortegable Hair Style!! That Isaac Newton would have been amazed by!!