This is a post forwarded from the Adult A.D.D/A.D.H.D. is NOT a Gift post from Jeff’s A.D.D. Mind Blog, directed to a gifted arguer by the name of Scott. If you wish to follow the first part of the argument go here. It is in the comments section near the bottom of the fourth page. Read down through the comments and replies from my first “Paradigm Of Thought” Post. While there, check out Jeff’s Blog.
From Here on in, I will recite the intended post.
Scott,
Thank you very much for responding to my query. First I’d like to clear the air and say I apologize if I hinted toward you being below my intellectual level. I did not mean to make such an assumption, I simply meant that sometimes my answers can come out convoluted at times, as you saw in the above statement “It may have been a lack of communication on my part.”
You had mentioned the abnormalities of the ADHD brain. While I’m not arguing that brain damage can’t effect a person’s ability to succeed, one has to measure what the intensity of the damage is and where the damage is.
According to the American Medical Association, ADHD has the following neurological traits:
- Reduced Size In The Basal Ganglia (Effecting base motor functions, making the person clumsy.)
- Abnormalities in the Reticular Activating System (Giving the person heightened awareness, sensory information, and in many cases insomnia)
-Minor Frontal Lobe Dysfunction (Giving the earmark traits, hyperactivity, inattention)
-And most compellingly a 7-repeat variance on the B4 Dopamine Receptor. (Causing the majority of innattention in ADHD, the addiction prone behavior, as well as a particularly cool trait called “Hyper-Focus.”)
So we have identified the Dysfunctions, so let’s study them .
Reduced Size in the Basal Ganglia will make the person with ADHD more clumsy, but this can be compensated by using the acute attention to detail caused by the Reticular Activating System Abnormality to remain aware of your surroundings. Even in worse case this will hardly effect a persons ability to function properly or succeed professionally.
Abnormalities in the Reticular Activating System does cause the increased awareness of Sensory Information that plays no small part in the distractiblity in the person with ADHD. This also gives an acute awareness of one’s surroundings, and the ability to easily identify subtle cues in behavior, both are keynote traits in success. With out this awareness a person may not be able to detect danger, or close an important deal.
Minor Frontal Lobe Dysfunction is the most disconcerting of them all, it is a key component in the distractibility and the process commonly called a “Cognitive Storm” in which a person may be thinking a “million thoughts at once.” But as I have mentioned before, the distractibility of the individual is more than made up by the ability to switch tasks fluently as well as track several projects at once (which is also caused by this dysfunction). A technique that in the real world is one of the most important traits in order to succeed (There are many times in business in which the person is required to step away from one task and focus on another for the stability of a business). Cognitive Storms can seem stressful, however it is, from personal experience, an effective method to identifying abstract patterns, which allows for structured reasoning and goal setting.
The 7-repeat variance on the B4 Dopamine Receptor is the main causer for distactibility and increased addictive behavior for the person with ADHD. As I have mentioned before there are positive traits to distractibility, and addictive behavior can be managed in several ways, such as therapy, life style changes, and simple discipline. And even if not, the most successful stock brokers, celebrities, businessmen, etc. have addictions. And considering that anything that releases dopamine is addictive, such things like exercise, romance, and yes, success can be addictive as well. All of this points that even addictive behavior is not necessarily (Though in some cases is) advantageous or disadvantageous for success.
I also mentioned a cool ability called “Hyper-Focus.” This is a psychological phenomenon found almost exclusively in people with ADHD. In this state a person with ADHD will temporarily “tunnel” their thoughts into one project, allowing them to double their work output, and completely tune out all ancillary information that will distract them. With a task oriented goal setting system this can be utilized for any and all success.
Adding to all of this the fact that people with ADHD have an average IQ that is 5 points higher than the norm, score notoriously high in linguistics tests, and work well under pressure. I cannot imagine how ADHD can hinder a person’s ability to succeed. However you did make an interesting point: that success is contingent on a person’s goals. If a person with ADHD has the goal of not having ADHD anymore, he most likely will not succeed.
I have a problem with this argument for two reasons.
1) The original argument was that a person will not succeed if they have ADHD. With out the qualifier “in certain areas” I must assume the word “Succeed” refers to general professional or personal success. No specific successes.
2) Using the exact same logic, if person with ADHD has the goal to be easily distracted, then they most definitely are successes already and the argument is null and void.
The fact is that people with ADHD are by biology well equipped for success, and even their disadvantageous traits are quite manageable. The only thing that stops people with ADHD from succeeding is simply the “I can’t” syndrome, in which the person makes excuses to why they cannot perform a task, instead of finding reasons why they can. Success on any level is based solely on attitude. The most notably successful people in history and modern times have neurological disorders in every field, from Teaching and Philosophy (Socrates was believed to be an Advanced Schizophrenic, and illiterate), to Politics (Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson are believed to have had ADD) to Inventing and Mechanics (Thomas Edison is so strongly believed to have ADD that the term “The Edison Syndrome” was coined in the 1980s), To Business (Donald Trump is known to have OCD), and even to the Sciences (Albert Einstein was Autistic, and had what is called Aspergers Syndrome; Stephen Hawking has MS). It seems that all things can be overcome, except for the words “I Can’t.”
February 19, 2010
Posted by Paradigm Of Thought |
Debates and Comments |
15 Comments
A.D.D.: Not So Bad.
This is a post forwarded from the Adult A.D.D/A.D.H.D. is NOT a Gift post from Jeff’s A.D.D. Mind Blog, directed to a gifted arguer by the name of Scott. If you wish to follow the first part of the argument go here. It is in the comments section near the bottom of the fourth page. Read down through the comments and replies from my first “Paradigm Of Thought” Post. While there, check out Jeff’s Blog.
From Here on in, I will recite the intended post.
Scott,
Thank you very much for responding to my query. First I’d like to clear the air and say I apologize if I hinted toward you being below my intellectual level. I did not mean to make such an assumption, I simply meant that sometimes my answers can come out convoluted at times, as you saw in the above statement “It may have been a lack of communication on my part.”
You had mentioned the abnormalities of the ADHD brain. While I’m not arguing that brain damage can’t effect a person’s ability to succeed, one has to measure what the intensity of the damage is and where the damage is.
According to the American Medical Association, ADHD has the following neurological traits:
- Reduced Size In The Basal Ganglia (Effecting base motor functions, making the person clumsy.)
- Abnormalities in the Reticular Activating System (Giving the person heightened awareness, sensory information, and in many cases insomnia)
-Minor Frontal Lobe Dysfunction (Giving the earmark traits, hyperactivity, inattention)
-And most compellingly a 7-repeat variance on the B4 Dopamine Receptor. (Causing the majority of innattention in ADHD, the addiction prone behavior, as well as a particularly cool trait called “Hyper-Focus.”)
So we have identified the Dysfunctions, so let’s study them .
Reduced Size in the Basal Ganglia will make the person with ADHD more clumsy, but this can be compensated by using the acute attention to detail caused by the Reticular Activating System Abnormality to remain aware of your surroundings. Even in worse case this will hardly effect a persons ability to function properly or succeed professionally.
Abnormalities in the Reticular Activating System does cause the increased awareness of Sensory Information that plays no small part in the distractiblity in the person with ADHD. This also gives an acute awareness of one’s surroundings, and the ability to easily identify subtle cues in behavior, both are keynote traits in success. With out this awareness a person may not be able to detect danger, or close an important deal.
Minor Frontal Lobe Dysfunction is the most disconcerting of them all, it is a key component in the distractibility and the process commonly called a “Cognitive Storm” in which a person may be thinking a “million thoughts at once.” But as I have mentioned before, the distractibility of the individual is more than made up by the ability to switch tasks fluently as well as track several projects at once (which is also caused by this dysfunction). A technique that in the real world is one of the most important traits in order to succeed (There are many times in business in which the person is required to step away from one task and focus on another for the stability of a business). Cognitive Storms can seem stressful, however it is, from personal experience, an effective method to identifying abstract patterns, which allows for structured reasoning and goal setting.
The 7-repeat variance on the B4 Dopamine Receptor is the main causer for distactibility and increased addictive behavior for the person with ADHD. As I have mentioned before there are positive traits to distractibility, and addictive behavior can be managed in several ways, such as therapy, life style changes, and simple discipline. And even if not, the most successful stock brokers, celebrities, businessmen, etc. have addictions. And considering that anything that releases dopamine is addictive, such things like exercise, romance, and yes, success can be addictive as well. All of this points that even addictive behavior is not necessarily (Though in some cases is) advantageous or disadvantageous for success.
I also mentioned a cool ability called “Hyper-Focus.” This is a psychological phenomenon found almost exclusively in people with ADHD. In this state a person with ADHD will temporarily “tunnel” their thoughts into one project, allowing them to double their work output, and completely tune out all ancillary information that will distract them. With a task oriented goal setting system this can be utilized for any and all success.
Adding to all of this the fact that people with ADHD have an average IQ that is 5 points higher than the norm, score notoriously high in linguistics tests, and work well under pressure. I cannot imagine how ADHD can hinder a person’s ability to succeed. However you did make an interesting point: that success is contingent on a person’s goals. If a person with ADHD has the goal of not having ADHD anymore, he most likely will not succeed.
I have a problem with this argument for two reasons.
1) The original argument was that a person will not succeed if they have ADHD. With out the qualifier “in certain areas” I must assume the word “Succeed” refers to general professional or personal success. No specific successes.
2) Using the exact same logic, if person with ADHD has the goal to be easily distracted, then they most definitely are successes already and the argument is null and void.
The fact is that people with ADHD are by biology well equipped for success, and even their disadvantageous traits are quite manageable. The only thing that stops people with ADHD from succeeding is simply the “I can’t” syndrome, in which the person makes excuses to why they cannot perform a task, instead of finding reasons why they can. Success on any level is based solely on attitude. The most notably successful people in history and modern times have neurological disorders in every field, from Teaching and Philosophy (Socrates was believed to be an Advanced Schizophrenic, and illiterate), to Politics (Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson are believed to have had ADD) to Inventing and Mechanics (Thomas Edison is so strongly believed to have ADD that the term “The Edison Syndrome” was coined in the 1980s), To Business (Donald Trump is known to have OCD), and even to the Sciences (Albert Einstein was Autistic, and had what is called Aspergers Syndrome; Stephen Hawking has MS). It seems that all things can be overcome, except for the words “I Can’t.”
February 19, 2010 Posted by Paradigm Of Thought | Debates and Comments | 15 Comments