Tag: ADHD

Elliott likened his feeling of distraction to an internal dialogue, telling himself to study but pulled by the distraction. He said he has an internal voice who is cross and upset for giving in to distractions when he should be focussing, why can’t you study? Why are you still doing this? If he is into a subject, he will be really focused on it, but if he isn’t, if he doesn’t like something, he cannot get it done whatsoever. He says his parents know that if they ask him to do something, it has to be done in that moment, or it doesn’t get done. Mostly the distraction involves tedious tasks he doesn’t want to complete. In schoolwork he needs to devote more time to the subjects he likes less as much of that time is getting started, getting into the work.

I asked how it makes him feel when distracted and struggling to get into something. He replied my mind tries to put it away. My mind tries to cover it up with other things I could be doing. And I get kind of overwhelmed with stuff I prefer to be doing at that time. I’m a lot more attracted to those ideas than what I’m doing. I asked if he feels trapped by the thing he wants to do. I kind of feel like those new ideas that are coming up, those alternative ideas are trapping me and the only way I can get those ideas out of my head is by completing them. If I wanted to study for an exam that I didn’t really like, I find myself tidying my room instead, or going out to walk the dog for a long walk. He feels trapped by the idea of a task. I asked if it is the distracting activity or finishing the task that makes him feel free. He replied he thinks it is the distracting activity, because I will find myself still unsatisfied after I complete the task, but if I can get all in my mind cleared, then I complete the task, that’s when I get that feeling of completion. Whilst studying for an exam, he learned to juggle. He said he didn’t feel like studying for the exam; I had to learn the juggling before I could start. It was a fixation so he could study as well as a distraction. I think I was distracted by the idea that I have to do this before I can study. I mean once I got it I was able to focus on studying a bit more, but it took a few days, which looking back wasn’t the smartest idea.

Weeks after beginning primary school, Elliott was climbing over the walls and escaping. He was taught outside the classroom on his own, going in the class for art and playtime only as he couldn’t follow instructions or sit still; he would shout out the answer to every question put to the children; he always got it right, but it gave no one else a voice in the classroom. Sometimes he was asked to cover his mouth with his hand but if the other child got the answer wrong, he would shout out that’s wrong, often upsetting the other child. 

This post is part of a series following Elliott, a young patient with ADHD. Use the links below to go to the previous or next post, or click here to go back to the blog page.

As a young child in nursery he needed one to one care in the outdoor area because his behaviour was so dangerous to himself. If the sitter was distracted, he would be over a wall or up a tree; when he was just three years old, he climbed all the way to the top of a tree when someone took their eyes off him. The staff didn’t know how he made it to the top because there were no branches. He might have climbed up on something. He fell out, cut his eye open and smashed the side of his face. Only a week after beginning primary school, he fractured his skull and broke his nose; he would climb on top of everything high with no sense that he might fall and hurt himself. Afterwards he felt very upset and sorry. He likes the thrill from climbing high but has no sense of danger.

When Elliott was five he took swimming lessons at the commonwealth pool. He spent long bouts of time sitting on a bench as he didn’t listen to their instructions. His mother thinks he might not have been able to hear their instructions. Over time she noticed that when he is in busy places, he cannot make sense of what is said even when speaking right to him. At the pool she thinks he couldn’t make out the instructions due to the acoustics and the noises around him. One afternoon he walked away from the bench to climb the ten metres diving board; someone saw him and then whistles were blowing. He said they kept saying get down so he leapt off, then was banned from the pool and Edinburgh leisure for a year. He then joined gymnastics class but was asked to leave as he climbed bars up the side of the wall. He climbed to the top, leapt off the bars and was swinging from the ceiling. There was nothing below and no way of him getting back on the bars at the side. He was up there for a long time. They managed to get a big net; he fell into it and then tried to do it again. They brought him outside by his arm to his mother saying he is never to come back in front of all the parents; she was so distressed. That was the story of his life, always on top of something. She says she used to have to walk him as she would walk a dog due to his excess energy. If she took her eyes off him for a second, he would get on top of bus shelters, but she never knew how he got up. His mother knew that he was unusual from when he was an infant as he was never still.

In utero Elliott was extremely active, flailing his limbs. Once his mother thought her rib was broken from kicking or flailing his limbs. Even her water broke three weeks early due to one of his kicks. In infancy she used to carry him in a sling as in a push chair he was always bucking. In the sling his arms and legs were constantly moving, flailing with excitement. He was so excited he would jump up and down in the sling. He just always had to be moving or jiggling. He had to be suspended upside down to be still. Even when he was lying down, his arms and legs would keep going; left on a baby mat he would jump his body across the mat and room even before he could crawl or walk, always flailing his arms. As an older infant he wouldn’t be still, taking books or pulling shoes off shelves, climbing onto window sills, climbing into the dishwasher, opening every cupboard.

Since being born he didn’t sleep in long bursts. He was awake every hour in the night until he was about six years old. He was a very restless sleeper. For a long time with her, then in his own room, he would fall asleep but kept waking every hour as if it were morning.

The portraits were drawn from a boy whose name was altered. He has given permission to tell his thoughts and sentiments in the hope that it will shed light on the special qualities and hindrances of ADHD.

Elliott was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder at the age of seven. He was given conventional stimulant medication to manage challenges with concentration, hyperactivity and impulsivity. The medication was effective for his learning but had long term emotional, mental and physical side effects. In seeking treatment, he and his mother hoped for a homeopathic alternative to help manage his symptoms.

The case-taking involved the boy and his mother. His mother preferred that I speak with him on his own for the initial consultation. He was seventeen at the time. I focussed mostly on the ADHD in relation to his sense of self. Then followed conversations with his mother involving his childhood, history and aspects of his attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.