ADD Frustration

The other day, on ADD Moms, I wrote about the frustration that sometimes comes with the territory when you have ADD.

At the time, I had spent a few pleasant hours re-designing my site (like this one) only to have it all disappear due to a minor glitch. I spent four additional days working on restoring things - four days to replace a few hour’s work.

The problem was that I suddenly couldn’t remember how to do the things I had done a day or two before. I became more and more confused the more I worked with it, and increasingly frustrated.

This is a very common thing with ADHD, and not one that is often understood, especially by parents and teachers.

You think if you know something, you know it. But that’s not always the case.

A better way to understand it might be to think in terms of wiring and storage. ADD brains are “wired” differently than non ADD brains - they work differently.

Non ADD brains work in a linear fashion. Orderly and logical - sort of a Mr. Spock kind of brain. Non ADD brains take information and store it in a logical, reasonable way. They almost always find it easy to retrieve the information because they have stored it in a logicial, predictable place. They can have trouble, though, if someone asks them to think creatively - “outside the box”.

Creativity is part of the ADD brain, because ADD brains work in a non-linear fashion. That’s what makes us so great at seeing connections between things that others miss. Because we don’t work in an orderly, linear manner, and our brains work very fast, information can get stored in a different kind of way.

We store according to connections, ideas, associations, but sometimes that can make it very hard to find the information again. In addition, environmental factors like diet, sleep, and even what’s going on around us can make things more difficult because our symptoms are more evident.

There isn’t a lot you can do when you have ADD frustration. I find the best thing is to take a break if I can and do something else. Also, if I can see that outside influences are aggravating my symptoms, I change what I can and see if it helps.

I hope this has helped you understand a little more about how the ADD brain works, and also helped you understand your child and his frustrations at times.

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The Importance of Creativity

I recently mentioned on ADD Moms that my husband has taken up the guitar. He’s become obsessed with it actually, but it’s a healthy obsession. I think that everybody, AD/HD or not, needs some sort of creative outlet.

For me, it’s making what I laughingly call art. Right now, I’m into Artist Trading Cards, or ATCs. They’re sort of like baseball trading cards, except that they’re handmade and artistic. I don’t know how good I am at making them, but that doesn’t matter. I enjoy the process and that’s what does matter. It relaxes me and gets me out of my always thinking brain for a while.

I think that most people with AD/HD have highly developed right brains - the creative, non-linear side that doesn’t do well in school. Letting this side have some play time is good for both halves of the brain. It lets the left side get some well deserved rest and lets the right side work out some energy. It’s also great for helping ADD brains do what they do best - make amazing connections that no one else can see.

If your ADD child doesn’t have a creative outlet, I urge you to help them find one. It doesn’t have to be art or music, just some sort of creative expression that they enjoy. It could be cooking, or building with legos, even writing rap lyrics or learning card tricks. I bet they already know what it is, if they give it some thought. It’s that thing they do when they’ve got some free time, the thing they get lost in where time has no meaning.

Make sure that they have the opportunity to visit that place on a regular basis. It will be worth it.

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