Is ADHD Real?
There are some people who are working on discrediting the existence of ADHD, claiminig it to be just a “label”. They said the mental health industry created it for profit.
I know the drug companies create chemical drugs for profits, and those drugs are not good for our bodies. I myself am a strong believer in natural solutions, and faith based healing.
Mental illnesses are, for the most parts, real. This is unfortunate, yet true. If our bodies can experience diseases, then what makes some people think that our brains can’t? Our moods, focus, and thoughts depend on a bunch of chemical processes and electrical wiring of the brain, so if the body is sick and the sickness influences the delicate structure of our brain, then naturally it causes mental disorder in one way or another.
Some mental illnesses are hidden. It is hard to see it from the surface, but it affects the sufferer each and every day. ADHD is such a subtle condition that can destroy the life of the sufferer if it is not properly diagnosed and treated.
For many years I had been suffering from ADHD, without being diagnosed. Many people who knew me would find me weird, yet they couldn’t pinpoint what it was that made me weird. I was off in so many ways, and yet from a distant I seemed like a normal person. I myself had mistaken a lot of the symptoms as personal weaknesses of my own making, such as lack of disciplines, poor choices, bad judgement, lack of willpower… For many years, they made me feel guilty, regretful, and inadequate.
This was prior to my recent discovery and diagnosis with ADHD.
Spiritually, I felt like I was not fit for ministry, since I couldn’t come up with effective solutions to my own struggles, so I thought “if I can’t do it myself, how can I teach other?”. Although I had been going to churches for many years, I still didn’t get the lasting solutions.
This becomes one of the reasons why I oppose human-drive churches (i.e. the majority of today’s churches) so rigorously; it is because they are misleading the people, pretending to have answers for our struggles in life, but really all they do are quoting scriptures here and there, throwing jargon here and there, and then insert their own opinions in between, to teach whatever they want to believe.
For years I had tried everything I had heard and read from the mainstream Christians leaders, but what they taught didn’t work.
Authorities figures in my life such as teachers and parents were putting me through guilt trip after guilt trip. I had heard the most destructive words from the people closest to me, not from strangers, for a very long time.
For years I had been seeking ways to improve, but I always failed. Each school semester I made a resolution to stay focused, but always faltered half-way through. I vowed to work diligently each day for the Lord, and not waste any time, but week and week, and day after day, I couldn’t stop wasting time. I often checked the clock, but still couldn’t live a perfect day with the level of focus and self-discipline I envisioned.
One minute I was trying to do something productive, and the next conscious moment I realized I had already been distracted by random thoughts and activities for hours. Even when I was fully aware of the moments of distraction, I still couldn’t control myself. It was very hard for me to not procrastinate—often times a few minutes of break became hours.
“Just don’t do it”, people said, or “play hard work hard”. But with this condition you don’t know when you are going to play, and when you are going to work. The focus could come suddenly, and drop easily.
Simply put, with this condition, your external environment has a very big influences over you, whereas normal people can exercise their inner strength to adapt and focus in most environments, the ADHD sufferers, for the most parts, could not help but get stimulated and distracted by the outside environment all the time.
This means that we will less likely to follow a step by step plan to achieve a certain goal over a longer period of time. We can be spontaneous and get a job well done if we can do it in one sitting, while our interest peak, but if we have to tackle a big project with many steps and components, we are much more likely to falter. We will procrastinate, or leave it incomplete, or both. If God wants us to build the ark, instead of Noah, then the human race would have long been extincted.
Secondary and Third Conditions
Unfortunately, ADHD usually comes with second, third, or more conditions, such as depression, anxiety, ODD, OCD, or other set of combos, along with a couple of learning disabilities that may or may not be presence. Each person is different, but most have a combo of conditions coexisting together.
This makes it really hard for the sufferers to cope. People tend to judge and say very mean words to the sufferers when they observe the symptoms, if don’t know it is a biological problem. Many people tend to jump into conclusions and call it a personality problem, and they defend their view stubbornly, without any proof and research. Most choose to be ignorant, instead of to help.
While the root causes of the conditions might be biological, it gradually becomes psychological as well, after the sufferers has been suffering the symptoms over a long period of times—frustration, low self-esteem, more anxiety, more depression, bitterness, anger, and other negative emotions can become persistent issues, if the sufferers have to deal with people who persecute them often, instead of having a support system of loving people who understand the issues and encourage them properly.
I myself had to go through a lot of persecutions. I have suffered so many means words, and agressive behavors from others for this. For example, I tend to speak my mind almost instantly, and my mind is always bombarded with millions of thoughts. Sometimes people might think I say something between the lines, and take it the wrong ways. Also, I can take a while to realize that somebody is talking to me, or might drift in and out of group conversations. The conditions have big impact on many aspects of my social life, and career. I often made mistakes that I don’t mean to make. People might think I am not motivated, and give me a lecture on why I should straighten up, or simply exclude me from any opportunity to promotions, or take away responsibilities.
The truth is, I am a prisoner within these symptoms. I can see what is going on, or to put it more accurately—what is going down, all the times, but I can’t help it. I have ambitions and desires, but I can’t apply myself properly to attain them. I have skills and knowledge, but my inner motivator won’t let me implement them.
My depression started when I was 20, and it became worst as the years passes. I have tried many spiritual discipline to get healing, but the symptoms such as depressive thoughts, suicidal urges, and stresses won’t go away. Rather, they started to affect my spirituality in negative ways. They produced false guilt, confusion, doubts, angers, and other negative thoughts and emotions in me. Then I feel guilty for having those feelings. It was a vicious cycle.
After Diagnose: Hope and Mourn
After I was diagnosed with ADHD, it explains so many of my struggles. Prior to the diagnosis, life is full mysteries and confusions. My life couldn’t go anywhere. It felt like I was stuck in a mud pit—I couldn’t get out no matter how hard I moved. I thought this was normal for everyone, since everyone complained about self-discipline, burn out, stress, focus problem, etc. Now I know that they actually have a much easier problem comparing with me. It is easy for people to exaggerate their problems and over credit their self-efforts for their successes.
I had always been trapped inside the conditions, that I didn’t know what normal feel like. It was a mental prison I had been living in for all my life.
The diagnosis gave me hope. It relieved me of some of the guilt and regret. At the same time, I mourned for so many things that I have lost. I was diagnosed so late. What if I knew it sooner? The would-have and could-have, my familiar tormentors, were once again present to inflict more pains on me.
And of course, Satan would turn it against God, accusing God for not caring enough for me, “Surely if he cared about me, he would have told me what I had been fighting against so futilely”.
If you want to know more about what the ADHD sufferers mourn for, see my story “What a Life of Suffering for ADHD Sufferers” , or go to this forum thread that has the sufferers to discuss what their feeling with this condition.
Generation of Conflicts
I wonder how many generational problems, such as addiction or abuse, were started with a medical issue such as ADHD. It could be a big blow to a family when a member suffer a condition like this, and if the family doesn’t handle it well, it could lead to abuses, and the abuses will most likely pass on to the next generation, thus creating more health issues, more conditions, more abuses, and eventually when there are enough things that go wrong, the end results might be imprisonment, heavy addictions, prostitutions, and etc.
I suspect that abuses can cause ADHD. In fact, brain scans show that abuses such as neglect impede brain growth in a child. Also, fears can alter the growing brain, and cause learning difficulty permanently.
Love Heals
At the end, only love can bring healing. “Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.” (1 Corinthians 13:7) A loving parents will persist in finding out the root causes to the conditions, and prayerfully in finding cures. They won’t blame it on the child. They will see through the shell of symptoms and look at the true personality within that shell, who is struggling to do well.
Based on my researches, I found out that most ADHD cases were probably caused by vaccination, heavy metal poisoning, gluten allergy, vitamin deficiencies, glut flora imbalance, fungus overgrowth (Candidias), inflammation, or any combo of these ingredients. My theory is that abuses and neglect also can cause ADHD, as study shows that kids in foster care system often have ADHD like behavior. Given the fact that stressful or neglective environment can alter a child’s brain, I put the two and two together and conclude that abuses can cause ADHD for real.
It illustrates the spiritual principle of the power of words. Our thoughts and words have spiritual power. They can create or destroy. They can shape our fates, and our children’s fate.
Not that all children with ADHD have abusive parents though. While I believe abuses can cause ADHD, I don’t mean all ADHDs are caused by abuses. Some ADHD children are abusive to their siblings and parents.
For health information that I believe would help ADHD, see:
How to Improve Your Handwriting Simply by Changing What You Eat
