Modern parents through one face one of the most common diagnoses — attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or ADHD. According to Russian researchers, at least 10% of school-age children suffer from ADHD in Russian schools! At the same time, from the older generation one can often hear phrases like “a child should run, it’s a child”, “you just don’t educate him”. But hyperactive children, who are unable to concentrate on any task, grow up in those families where parents pay a lot of attention to the kids, work with them, turn to specialists for help. So what’s the deal? What is the main cause of ADHD and can a child’s behavior be corrected without the help of a psychiatrist?
The problem is deeper than it seems
ADHD is a vivid example of the fact that the problem seems to exist, it is obvious to both parents and teachers, psychologists and psychiatrists know about it, but … Clear criteria for determining when the usual children’s activity, emotionality and curiosity, and sometimes banal bad manners, turn into unfortunately no diagnosis.
In addition, due to the fuzzy mechanism for determining deviations, ADHD remains only a syndrome, without acquiring the status of a disease. Domestic psychology is still inclined to perceive attention deficit disorder as something that should level itself with age, but practice has shown that ADHD can persist even at a more mature age, forming in the eyes of others a scattered, irresponsible, optional and extremely unreliable.
Recent studies on the syndrome have shown that it is not at all about education or its absence, and not about age-related changes. The brains of people with ADHD are wired differently than those of people without the syndrome. Hyperactive people have much weaker developed areas that are responsible for attention and self-control.
Evil or good?
But is hyperactivity as bad as it is commonly believed, based on the opinion of teachers tired of children who cannot be controlled? And is it possible to «break» a child with ADHD to make them more socially comfortable? Alas, violent methods are powerless here. To make such people full-fledged members of society, it is enough to direct their energy in the right direction, finding them an occupation that is compatible with their peculiarity.
What can people with ADHD be good at?
Increased activity is the reverse side of apathetic inactivity. Many would like to have such a reserve of energy and an indefatigable desire to learn new things in order to easily and quickly adapt to any conditions of life, build a career and achieve their goals. People with ADHD tend to excel in the following circumstances:
- They quickly build a business career, are not afraid to take risks and are ahead of their rivals in decision making.
- They can perfectly express themselves in creativity, as they can see the whole picture, they have well-developed imagination and intuition.
- Quick reaction and mobility make them simply indispensable in sports.
Here’s what hyperactive people definitely shouldn’t be doing, so it’s the same routine work. She quickly drives them into despondency, which, in turn, can develop into a real depression.
By the way, among celebrities, actor Jim Carrey was diagnosed with ADHD, as well as several successful businessmen, such as Richard Branson. Some anthropologists even consider ADHD to be a kind of mental atavism, thanks to which our ancestors took risks with ease, developing new lands.