ADHD: A Disorder, a Spiritual Problem, or a Natural Brain Type?

ADHD seems to be a big thing lately. Word on the social media circuit has been mixed, but since there seems to be something of an upsurge in diagnoses, inevitably some people are branding diagnoses as a ‘trend’. Realistically, it makes sense that if the subject has filtered into collective awareness, people will pay attention and be alerted to the possibility of having it. I personally became intrigued after a friend - someone diagnosed well before the upsurge - suggested that I might have ADHD. It had never occurred to me before. I immediately went off and learned a massive amount about it (hyper-focus-style), and it wasn’t long before I recognised myself in the definitions.

Around that time, I had a lot of issues with some of the better known symptoms, such as forgetfulness and ‘brain glitches’, particularly since I had had to take antibiotics a few times and that had damaged my gut microbiota. Gut microbiota influences the production of neurotransmitters, so this is how antibiotics wreak the havoc they are famous for. At one point, the symptoms became so intense that I couldn’t deny them, and looking back over my life, a lot of things started to make a lot more sense. ADHD explained a lot. The same was happening for quite a few people I know and am close to, which got me thinking: are we all just jumping on a label, what is this label anyway, and why would we want to claim it?

Why were so many of my friends thinking they have it, or being diagnosed with it? Is it because it is trendy, or because we have the same brain types? The DSM, which is basically the psychiatric bible, classifies it as a disorder - of course. I suspect that many of the ‘disorder’ labels in existence are just an excuse for medication or control measures. However, after much (obsessive) contemplation, I could not deny that there appear to be different ‘types’ of people, and we now have the labels ‘neurotypical’ and ‘neurodivergent’ to effectively categorise each other.

Given the numbers in my personal circle alone, I was less inclined to think of this as some kind of anomaly, let alone a disorder. The only thing that made sense to me was that we are starting to realise that not all humans are made the same way, so to speak.

Questions, questions, and a few more questions

According to one open-minded psychiatrist I read, the ‘ADHD brain’ is the hunter-gatherer brain type, which served well in the old ways of living. It is sharp, inclined toward curiosity and has to be able to jump from thing to thing very quickly. It makes sense that with that make up, we would most likely be attracted to friends who are similar. Naturally, they share similar interests and lifestyles. Society is largely made up of (and caters for) the ‘farmer’ brain type, which we are told to call ‘neurotypical’.

Those with so-called ‘ADHD’ have a way of connecting with life that distinguishes them from overtly academic types. They are often more attracted to the arts and constant, fluid creativity, rather than status quo patterns and conditioned practicality. In my experience, they are also more inclined to explore estoerica and metaphysics, and the deeper thinkers often come to ‘spiritual’ conclusions about the nature of existence.

So, I have questions:

Is so-called ADHD a spiritual state, or a brain chemistry issue, or both?

And more importantly; As the people apparently most inclined toward freethinking and not ‘doing as they are told’, is simply having a different type of brain - the natural filter and processor of life - being used against them?

Do they naturally reject the status quo and are thus given a ‘disorder’ to wrestle with and medicate, when really it is counterintuitive for them to try fitting into a societal structure that just doesn’t work for them? Is that a societal problem or a psychiatric disorder?

Call me suspicious, but…

We are told by the confidently authoritative ‘experts’ that ADHD is a genetic disorder and that the brain structure is different, as is undeniably demonstrated in brains scans. I can see that the structural factor and consequent brain chemistry may well be accurate, but does that make it a disorder, or a just a difference?

A short, a darting attention span would be natural for hunter-gatherer brains - it makes sense. Maybe those brains are not naturally equipped to process the dysfunctions of modern daily life effectively, and the result is ‘symptoms’. The main (and admittedly suspicious) questions for me, as someone who almost certainly has this brain type, is this:

Is this new awareness of ADHD part of a wider agenda, and if so, where is it leading?

Why was it suddenly in all the papers?

Why is the medical industry bending over backwards to speed up diagnostics to cope with this ‘unprecedented demand’, when even life-threatening illnesses are often not treated with the urgency they deserve?

I can see how the demand is genuine, but without some kind of marketing campaign behind it, I very much doubt the concept would have grown Olympic standard legs practically overnight. I am not naive enough to think that everything is about greed and money, but I would not mind betting this has a lot to do with medication - and if so, that’s another motivation entirely.

Ironically, those with ADHD are probably more likely to think about this in detail, but if they’re desperate for a label, or symptom relief, they may well overlook it. I think we should seriously weigh up whether this is a real issue or a different brain type - one that is less likely to conform and therefore needs to be controlled better. It fits well with the back-and-forth, blow-by-blow stamping out of small businesses and creative arts that began in 2019.

We should perhaps be careful how we perceive this ‘disorder’, when it is apparently common enough to be classified as a ‘difference’. I am not one for medicating myself unduly because of the myriad side effects, so I have to ask another question:

Could the medication shut us down spiritually in order to make us more ‘productive’ and ‘driven’ to ‘succeed’, and even ‘conform’?

Those are four buzzwords for a modern hive mind, I would say - again, probably not a coincidence. Be a good cog now, won’t you.

Modern life is a recipe for symptoms

ADHD is quite obviously becoming permanently anchored into public awareness with each passing day - perhaps because there are many more studies on it, and there is prolific discussion on mainstream publications and YouTube. Combine that with the fact that this farmer-type society is getting more challenging for us, with more and more pressure to ‘make ends meet’ in unnatural ways, endless attention-span-destroying short-form content, and electromagnetic impact on our energy and emotions… and you have a recipe for ‘symptoms’.

What exemplified this most for me was when I casually asked my ‘neurotypical’ partner that famous female-to-male question one day when he was staring into space: “What are you thinking about?”

I know, I know. Anyway, his answer surprised me. “Nothing”, he said. “I’m just relaxing!”

This was so completely alien to me that I didn’t quite believe it, but he couldn’t lie even to ward off an emotional meltdown. This meant one thing: some people actually have space between thoughts.

What? How had it never occurred to me before that other people might have gaps filled with nothing but silence? So, he and I are very different in a lot of ways, but I feel that this could be because when you work on yourself enough to crave balance over attachment trauma-based repetition compulsion, you are more attracted to a partner who brings equilibrium. I’m sure that some of my exes had the ADHD brain too, with hindsight, and it didn’t end well.. oh no.

The traits are real, but is the label accurate?

To be clear, I am not inferring that ADHD isn’t ‘real’, per se, but I am questioning whether the type of person who cannot easily fit in to ‘normal’ societal structures is being labelled as defective when they were never going to gel with something that does not sustain their spirit. Most hunter-brain people will testify that they noticed feeling different from school age onwards. Are they all just hyperactive, non-focussed and “away with the fairies”, or are they innately resistant to pointless training and indoctrination? I would have to say it is the latter, in my case and the case of my friends, at least.

These are important questions to ask before we accept the labels of psychiatric disorders, which could be highly convenient and also extremely dangerous in ways that are not yet clear. We should apply a lot of discernment when being offered such labels. I could - and for ease of reference, often do - casually say that I have ADHD because I exhibit the majority of the long list of symptoms I have learned of… but without awareness, perhaps this creates a resonance with a ‘disorder’ when my processing apparatus is either my natural brain structure or my innate spiritual leaning, or both.

Some symptoms seem to be a problem when trying to function ‘normally’: I have definitely had issues with working memory and ‘executive dysfunction’, impulsivity, procrastination, focus on uninteresting things, emotional regulation, and so on… but on the flip side of that coin, I am also hyper-vigilant, extremely focused in areas of interest, dedicated, high-energy, rarely bored, extremely creative and resourceful. I have strengths that some of my ‘neurotypical’ friends are baffled by.

I would not change it, and since we all have a balance of strengths and weaknesses, is it really a smart move to group together our weaknesses under the banner of a disorder and conveniently ignore the balancing aspects?

Square pegs, round holes

Anyone who knows me will testify that I am no hippy, but I am very much inclined to look beyond the body and this 3D world for answers. I am also inclined to believe that most, if not all, of our issues are spiritual in origin. I feel that this world we exist in is informed by unseen dimensions, and I have the personal experience to corroborate. Agree or don’t, but I would argue that I am more sane than many. Perhaps unsurprisingly then, I am suggesting that rather than simply examining the chemistry and biology, we expand the lens to include the spirit.

My working theory is that ‘ADHD symptoms’ are mainly the inevitable reaction to trying to fit into unnatural environments and patterns using a brain type not designed to function in them. As I said before, I am sure that high-functioning (intelligent) people with ADHD are most likely to consider this, which is good. But those types of people also tend to be very keen on figuring out why we are the way we are, and why we struggle. We are naturally introspective. Are we therefore jumping on the first validation that comes along, without question?

Here is an example: our short-term memory problems could easily be a coping strategy for trauma, as trauma therapists know. Is trauma even inevitable for a sensitive soul that has different drivers to the majority from birth? My symptom list has been long, in the past, and I know the struggle is real for many, but I never had a label or obvious reason for why life seemed to be stuck on the ‘hard’ setting so often. Still, now that I have figured that out, I have taken measures to balance it out and mostly operate from my strengths, rather than my weaknesses.

Take the smooth with the rough

I am happy to say that medication has played no part in that whatsoever, and never will. I have used several supplements when my brain chemistry has felt off, and I am right as rain before long. Besides, it can be quite entertaining when I find my car keys clutched between my teeth after having rooted around in my handbag for a minute or two (true story). Those little moments of scattiness are an endless source of amusement in my 40-something peer group, and I am fine with that.

The bottom line is that I am not sure how inclined we should be to accept this negative-sounding label, just because having a reason for our struggles makes us feel better. I know that some struggle a lot more than others and feel that they can’t cope without medication, and I can’t argue with that. Though I am still inclined to suggest that the problem is more what we are being asked to cope with, and that the symptoms we wrestle with may barely exist in a world without such a vast spectrum of stressors. If they are not careful, sensitive spiritual beings may find that their need for validation and explanation could work against them.

I for one am not ready to accept this as a purely medical issue, and I have personally seen that changing the way I live, in accordance with my natural rhythms and inclinations, is a more viable solution.