Scattered: How Attention Deficit Disorder Originates and What You Can Do About It

by Gabor Maté

Toward the end of the first nine months of life, the infant begins an enthusiastic exploration of her universe. No longer having to rely on adults for mobility, she tirelessly examines every nook and cranny of her surroundings, every object. She tests, tastes, plays and discovers, learning the purpose and use of many things. During this phase of prolonged excitement, neural pathways are established that enable the cortex to inhibit the sympathetic nervous system—if the necessary circumstances are present. During stress, these circuits do not develop properly, and hyperactivity persists. The stage, meant to last only a few months, becomes a state that the child remains stuck in. There is another component to hyperactivity: throughout life, it continues to be a human response during times of high anxiety. If you were told that in the next week, at some unpredictable moment, some unnamed disaster would strike you or one close to you, and that you were helpless to do anything to prevent it, your response would quite probably resemble the habitual mental and physical behaviors of the hyperactive child or adult with ADD. You would have difficulty focusing your thoughts, and your mind might feel like a squirrel on a treadmill: racing but not going anywhere. Sitting still would be a chore. A clichéd image of helpless anxiety in an adult is the father pacing nervously outside the delivery room where his wife is giving birth. I believe hyperactivity in ADD is fed by a current of per...