The Gift/Curse Debate: A Nuanced Perspective (Part 2)

NOTE TO THE READER: Andrew, a recent visitor to this blog, has written a number of well thought out (and lengthy) comments that, I felt, deserve to stand alone as their own post. In discussion with Andrew, who has agreed to allow me to do this, the hope is to spur additional debate on these topics.

This post is actually one of Andrew’s comments to Part 1 of this post.

NOTE TO NEW VISITORS: If you are a new visitor to this blog, you may want to read these posts that ask if A.D.D. is a gift or a curse.

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I thought I would [...] try to more clearly define the two sides to this debate of whether ADD is a gift or curse. The issue is an emotional one and effects people quite deeply, myself included. I do see the debate more as a philosophical argument, rather than a scientific one, right now. Do we consider only the problematic parts of our character are from our ADD. Do we assume all our positive traits to be just our natural character? If we have unique talents or skills should we consider these part of our normal (non-ADD) character and intelligence or are they unique ADD characteristics? The two philosophical camps seem to be:

1. The “disorder” view – held by most in the medical establishment and many ADDers is that people with ADD have a disorder that causes many problems from under-performance in education and work, broken relationships to co-morbidities such as addiction, depression and anxiety. Doctors and ADDers here wish to externalise their ADD as a “disease” that they suffer from, an illness to be cured.  ADD medications offer a partial, if temporary cure. The view is perhaps the simpler and less controversial view, it makes it easier to argue for help, aid and medical support for people with ADD.

2. The “disorder/gift” view – held by a number of authors, many ADD coaches and ADDers is that ADD is a neurological difference, not a disorder. The difference does bring with it the problems defined by the “disorder view” that may need medication and/or support but the ADD difference can also bring “special” traits, perhaps even advantages over neuro-typical minds. These traits include ability to hyper-focus, intuition, creative thinking (out-of-the-box, big picture, inventive), energy, humour, greater empathy and high-intelligence.

I have moved between the two philosophical camps since my diagnosis 18 months ago. But I do not see how anyone can be certain that either view is “correct”. There has been virtually no research as to whether there are advantages to ADD, the medical establishment is just not that interested in this area. For many doctors arguing the “disorder” model is understandably a much easier way to gain funding and support for patients than a more complicated “neurological difference than can cause problems” model would be! There is not much more that anecdotal evidence to support the “gift” view either. But even the statistics and evidence of the disorder of ADD are problematic. Without a specific genetic test, brain scan or blood test for ADD, no one has really pinned down what ADD is yet and who really has it, whether ADD is one disorder/difference or many. I am not debating the existence of a set of characteristics found in a proportion of the population that we call ADHD (incidentally I hate the H in ADHD as I how can I have a hyper-activity disorder when I am quite usually lethargic and not remotely Inattentive!) but we do use a fairly simplistic subjective list of symptoms and characteristics that, for medical convenience, excludes people who have ADD characteristics but don’t have serious problems? Research indicates that 40% of people with ADD have had problems with depression, is that because the DSM criteria specifically rules out well functioning people with ADD? ADD shows some widely differing traits under/hyper-focused, hyper-active/slothful and some ADDers respond to dopamine, some nor-epinephrine and some to neither – I think diagnosis still remains more an art than a science.

I favour the “gift view”, as I mentioned previously, in my lifetime I have experienced my differences from other people, with not only negative but positive traits. My girlfriend, also ADD, has a very different ADD from mine. Some of her challenges are different but some are the same. Some of her “gifts” are different but some are the same. I don’t tend to see our challenges or gifts to be as pronounced in non-ADD people. Some of our strengths seem to logically follow from having less executive control and perhaps more dominant right brains, though perhaps they are just our normal underlying characters? But if our neurology if different, would it not make sense that it would bring both bad and good attributes? It is not that our brains are smaller or don’t function, it is just that they are connected and wired slightly differently.

I am about to start coaching ADD adults. I want to help them Understand what ADD is, to Accept the challenges it brings but also to Embrace their positive traits too. I do not want to deny or avoid the negative traits but to use experience, support, work-arounds, medication, supplements, sleep etc to help with them, but I also want to help clients (and me) to focus on what we do well, our strengths whether we call them “ADD gifts” or just part our innate character, I suppose it doesn’t really matter. I do want to encourage them to take the positive view: that ADD is a difference and not a disorder.

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