{"id":16911,"date":"2019-12-30T14:11:41","date_gmt":"2019-12-30T13:11:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.addkenmerken.net\/?p=16911"},"modified":"2020-10-22T19:35:26","modified_gmt":"2020-10-22T17:35:26","slug":"add-adhd-distress-cry-of-a-trapped-soul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.addkenmerken.net\/en\/add-adhd-noodkreet-van-een-gevangen-ziel\/","title":{"rendered":"ADD \/ ADHD: Distress Call of a Trapped Soul"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-large\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">871<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">shared<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-large mash-center mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.addkenmerken.net%2Fen%2Fadd-adhd-noodkreet-van-een-gevangen-ziel%2F%3Futm_source%3Dsharebuttons%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook%26utm_campaign%3Dmashshare\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Share<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-large mash-center mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.addkenmerken.net\/en\/?p=16911&amp;via=krachtvanADHD\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Tweet<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-large mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><figure><\/figure>\n<h2>My take on ADD \/ ADHD<\/h2>\n<p><b>I myself have been diagnosed with ADD. Initially, I was happy with the diagnosis. After all, I was convinced there was something wrong with me and could only be helped in a targeted way with a label. But the search for appropriate help only led to more frustration and an increase in symptoms. Until I started looking at it from a completely different point of view. This is how I look at it now.<\/b><\/p>\n<h3>Science's approach to ADD \/ ADHD<\/h3>\n<p>Is it genetic? Is it an abnormality in the brain? Is it mainly triggered by environmental factors\/education? A combination of all that...? And what is the appropriate treatment? Medication (and which ones?), behavioural therapy, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.addkenmerken.net\/en\/lto3\/\">supplements<\/a>, homeopathy, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.addkenmerken.net\/en\/how-neurofeedback-can-improve-your-concentration\/\">neurofeedback<\/a>, meditation...? Everyone has an opinion on it. Each has a different experience. Experts everywhere try to convince us: 'Come to me. I have the solution! Look I have statistics\/numbers that prove it...\"<\/p>\n<p>However, by always looking at it through a scientific lens, we never get to the heart of the matter. At best, our symptoms are suppressed and we learn to cope with our so-called 'disorder'. The problem is that science views us as mere physical creatures. Sort of like a computer encased in flesh. And if a person experiences problems in his\/her functioning, there is something wrong with the hardware. Then there are connections that are wrong, substances that are missing and so on. What we often seem to forget is that we ARE not our body, but that there is something much more essential in that body: a soul, energy, vibrations.... That is our essence. But it is not tangible and therefore elusive to science (and anything that is not tangible is nonsense in the eyes of many).<\/p>\n<h3>From free soul to trapped human being<\/h3>\n<p>When we came into the world, we did not see ourselves as physical entities, separated from our surroundings. We were not delineated. Our body was not a barrier within which we felt trapped. We were pure and unconditioned.  With no awareness of a separated I.<\/p>\n<p>But soon we felt we needed to adjust our behaviour to a certain socially desirable pattern. And the older we got, the more rules\/responsibilities\/social expectations. Our free spirit thus became more and more circumscribed. The energy that used to be mostly positive, and free to flow in and out, became charged and largely internalised . Where before we saw life as a voyage of discovery, we learned that everything had already been discovered and our path had already largely been mapped out.<\/p>\n<p>\"The world is not a playground! We'll tell you what's important! Reading, maths, solving problems, science! That's what's important! Are you a creative conceptual thinker (which is why all so-called AD(H)Ds are)? Tough luck! We think linearly here! Above all, don't take risks, opt for safety and security. Change is bad!\" And so you sit there behind the classroom window dreaming away. A body full of energy, a head full of ideas. But you have to sit still and remain silent. The teacher thinks you're disinterested, lazy... But you're just bored. The energy accumulates and settles. A head full of fears, a body full of restlessness. \"What is it with that child! He can't sit still, often dreams away, can't concentrate!\"<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, you are thrown into a vat of knowledge. Above all, you are not allowed to explore too much yourself (suppose you come to insights that differ from the prevailing view: you would become an outsider, a 'weirdo'). Don't think, just digest and reproduce. Your head overflows, the knowledge evaporates. You don't understand a thing but other kids seem to understand. So you pretend to understand it all too. Even though you often think to yourself, \"this is not right, it doesn't feel right...\" you play the game. Otherwise, they're just going to think you're an odd duck. And you manage it too, albeit with great difficulty.<\/p>\n<p>You learn to repress your dreams because they distract you from 'reality'. Everything is so abstract. To others, it all seems logical. How does it make sense anyway? Am I stupid? Am I different? I read, and read and read. But nothing sticks. I do feel this is very unnatural for me, but my parents and teachers tell me it's the way it should be. So it must be. I have to keep up, or I'll be left behind.<\/p>\n<h3>Quest for the cause...<\/h3>\n<p>Some of us manage to play the game. At least for a while. Because your essence cannot keep pushing you away. We cling to rules and structure because that is the only grip we seem to have. We need the manual because otherwise we get lost (we think). The idea that we might lose that grip makes us anxious. We keep feeling a kind of restlessness, because somewhere we do know that this is not our way. But we want to be accepted, certainly not to be different. Meanwhile, we believe ourselves that we need lots of money a respectable job, a nice house, pretty smart kids, etc. We no longer see the beauty of the world around us. That energy we had in abundance as children has taken root in our bodies.<\/p>\n<p>We get all kinds of psychological and physical complaints. Where do these come from anyway? You think : \"I have everything I should have to be happy. Yet I feel increasingly anxious, restless, tense, I can't sleep, can't concentrate... What is wrong with me? It must be a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.addkenmerken.net\/en\/add-hsp-to-burnout\/\">burnout<\/a> his. Letting me ff home...\" But the thoughts remain. The anxiety intensifies. \"I feel like everything is tottering. That everything could collapse at any moment, that the ground under my feet is going to disappear...\"<\/p>\n<p>\"What is wrong with me!!! Can someone give me a diagnosis! Can someone please give me medication so it stops!? I'll just enter my symptoms in the search engine: restlessness, difficulty concentrating, sleep problem, forgetfulness, impatient... what does it say: AD(H)D! That's it! It's a complete match! Doctor I found it! I have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.addkenmerken.net\/en\/characteristics-of-adhd\/\">ADHD<\/a>! Quickly give me an official paper so I can take medication! Just ask me questions, I know what to answer.\"<\/p>\n<h3>The redeeming label?<\/h3>\n<p>\"I finally have a label! Now I can justify my peculiar behaviour. It's not me, it's my 'disorder'. Thank you society for making sense of it all. Thank you science for inventing labels (disorders) so that we can be helped! So that all the rest can get on with the serious game nice and undisturbed.\"<\/p>\n<p>You may decide to keep taking this game seriously. But because you are in a kind of hypnotic state, you think there is no other way. And you are constantly fighting with yourself. The mind against the feeling. And that internal conflict causes many psychosomatic complaints we experience. That way, however, you will never really get rid of your complaints. There is an alternative: recognise that it's all 'just' a game. Play it along, but don't take it seriously. Follow the rules if you really need to, but above all, follow your own path. Free your soul from the straitjacket!  The energy will loosen up and start flowing back. Life will feel much lighter.<\/p>\n<h3>Rediscovering the essence: The true redemption<\/h3>\n<p>Stop, press the pause button. See the absurdity of the game we are all playing. Reflect on who you really are, and what you really want. Let go of everything you cling desperately to. Because it only makes you restless because you are afraid of losing it.<\/p>\n<p>That is what I am doing now. And really, I experience a peace that I have never experienced before. A sense of freedom! I no longer try to swim against the current of my intuition but float in it. Somehow, I knew for a long time that forcing myself to play the game was making me unhappy and sick. But I thought there was no other way. That I would crash if I let go. But you don't die, on the contrary. It's like being reborn and seeing the world through the eyes of a baby: full of wonder.<\/p>\n<p>My final point: if you want to lump the range of symptoms you experience under one heading for convenience, OK. But don't call it a disorder. That is a fallacy of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.addkenmerken.net\/en\/adhd-add-and-society\/\">society<\/a> which prefers the individual to adapt rather than admit failure. The complaints we experience are due to the fact that we are free, creative, energetic souls who do not easily allow themselves to be pushed in a certain limiting direction. A conceptual thinker obliged to think linearly. Our minds tell us that we have to (to function 'normally'). And so we suppress our nature, and bottle up our energy. Try what it does to you when you look at the world this way. What happens when you let go of what your mind has made you believe all along and learn to trust your intuition.<\/p>\n<p>Want to comment on this article? Scroll down for a moment...<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My take on ADD \/ ADHD I have been diagnosed with ADD myself. Initially, I was happy with the diagnosis. After all, I was convinced...<\/p>","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":18405,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[545,1131,1506,1132,1139,1162],"tags":[1615,1617,167,126,1616,25,7,1619,38,1618,1620,205,144],"class_list":["post-16911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiratie","category-add","category-add-adhd","category-adhd-artikelen","category-gastblog-artikelen","category-volwassenen-met-add-adhd","tag-diagnose-add","tag-dromen","tag-frustraties","tag-intuitie","tag-inzichten","tag-klachten","tag-label","tag-loslaten","tag-maatschappij","tag-spel","tag-vrijheid","tag-wetenschap","tag-ziel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.addkenmerken.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.addkenmerken.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.addkenmerken.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.addkenmerken.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.addkenmerken.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.addkenmerken.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.addkenmerken.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.addkenmerken.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.addkenmerken.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.addkenmerken.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}