Overcoming Attention Deficit Disorder - Four Powerful Techniques
Several years ago I discovered, mostly accidentally, that I have Attention Deficit Disorder, or ADD.
Before then, I hadn't known much about ADD itself, and hadn't thought that the term could apply to adults; I just thought it was something that was applied to hyperactive school kids so their parents could drug them into submission.
I randomly stumbled on an online test for ADD, and my score was off the charts, so I started doing some more research.
What I found was a disconcertingly perfect match for my experience.
I happened to mention this to my mom, who told me "oh yeah, I always knew you were a textbook case but you always seemed to do okay so I never pursued it.
" In retrospect I'm glad she didn't after my experience with conventional methods; as a kid I would have been in less of a position to make the judgment call that the medication route was not in my best interest.
But now that I had a name to go with the list of problems that I could never quite put my finger on, it gave me something specific to work on in order to bring more balance and productivity into my life.
After doing some research, my initial gameplan was to go on prescription drugs in the short term, just to get an idea of the mental state I was shooting for, so I could then learn to duplicate it on my own.
Conventional Methods My experience with the neurologist and prescription medication left a bad taste in my mouth.
First I found it a bit unnerving that there is apparently no official screening for ADD; rather the medical approach was "take these pills and see what happens; if they help then there ya go.
" When I told her what I planned on doing, using the medication in the short-term and then training myself to duplicate that state of mind, she insisted that this was impossible and couldn't happen.
Her reasoning was that this was a chemical issue that required a chemical solution, and brain chemistry can't be altered any other way.
I already knew from experience that this was false for a lot of reasons.
But I could clearly see the futility in arguing my point, and so I thanked her for the prescription and left.
Fast forward about another year or so, and after getting the ADD well under control without drugs, I was half tempted to make another appointment with the neurologist just to go in and say "nyah!" But I suppose that would've been rather egoic of me.
And I suppose I'm getting ahead of myself...
My experience with the meds themselves, specifically Adderall, was not good at all.
I went through three cycles of adjusting the dosage and waiting for it to level out.
I didn't find it to be making much of a difference as far as my focus was concerned, and waiting for it to level out meant going without a lot of sleep for several nights each time.
Finally she set my dose too high, and after several days the jitters and sleeplessness weren't going away, and were starting to make it difficult to function normally at work and school.
At this point I was completely dissatisfied with the conventional approach and rather suspicious of the effect this was all having on my body and health, so I decided to give up on the medication and continue trying to find solutions for this on my own.
* I then set to work searching for and experimenting with anything I could possibly find that might make a difference.
The following are all the methods I discovered over roughly the next year, that I found most helpful.
Grounding and Centering Grounding and centering are practices that anyone can learn to do easily.
When I discovered the concept, it provided an almost immediate reduction of my ADD symptoms - the internal "noise" and scattered-ness settled down noticeably and stayed that way for quite a while.
Grounding works on the premise that your system is moving more energy than it can comfortably handle, especially in the crown and brow energy centers of the head.
So you ground some of it out, which relieves your system and probably your brain.
Centering is good to do after grounding, as it rebalances and centers your energy for more focused and efficient use.
There are many different ways to ground, but form and technique aren't necessarily as important as the intent to push excess energy down out of yourself and into the earth.
The following is the easiest method I know of that I use myself.
After grounding, you're going to want to center yourself.
To center, again you take some time to relax and quiet your mind.
Take a long, slow, deep breath.
On the inhale, you feel all your energy pulling from your limbs and body, into a spinning circle of light in your center.
On the exhale, intend and feel that the ball spreads back outward through you again.
Stones and Crystals Later on in my pursuits I asked a very knowledgeable friend if she thought there was anything to the idea that stones have energetic properties that can affect us in various ways.
Her answer was that they absolutely do, and that people should be wearing their birthstones, among others.
I was intrigued, so I looked up some information on what properties mine (amethyst) was supposed to have.
What I found read like a checklist of the issues I was having.
An excerpt from The Crystal Bible: "Amethyst is extremely beneficial to the mind, calming or stimulating as appropriate.
...
Mentally, it helps you feel less scattered, more focused and in control of your faculties.
It enhances the assimilation of new ideas and connects cause with effect.
...
It calms and synthesizes, and aids the transmission of neural signals through the brain.
It is helpful where insomnia is caused by an overactive mind...
enhances memory and improves motivation, making you more able to set realistic goals.
" So I got myself some amethyst and began wearing it all the time.
I didn't actually notice any difference right away, but I'm also a lot more sensitive to energy now than I was when I started investigating stones a few years ago.
Now though, I notice a major difference if I don't have it on.
Before long I'll start feeling very scattered and overloaded, but then when I realize it's missing and put it back on, I can feel the change back to a more calm and focused mental state within seconds.
At this point my significant other, who is also very ADD, chimes in that ametrine (a stone that combines amethyst and citrine) has made the biggest difference for her, and she did notice a major difference immediately when she put it on.
In addition, there are stones that help with grounding; smoky quartz is noted for this, for example.
My favorite is tiger iron, which combines hematite, red jasper and tiger eye.
For these and other reasons I'm now a strong advocate of using stones as a tool in one's development.
At this point I'd like to point out that grounding, centering and crystals are risk-free methods that can easily be tried with young children who are struggling with symptoms of ADD.
Any child can be taught how to "pretend you're a tree, and put your roots into the ground.
" In my experience kids are also very attracted to stones and crystals, and most would probably love to "wear a special one to help them feel good.
" I haven't tried these methods with any young kids myself, but I'm very curious to know how that might work out, so if anyone tries it, let me know.
Self-Hypnosis Hypnosis is simply the practice of relaxing into a state where the subconscious mind is receptive enough to take in suggestions directly.
My experience with self-hypnosis was productive for two reasons - it's great for getting into a light trance relatively easily in order to improve meditation, and it's also good for breaking negative patterns associated with ADD (lack of focus, procrastination, etc) and implanting suggestions into the subconscious that reflect the changes I wanted.
My favorite book on the subject is called Instant Self-Hypnosis - it teaches you to hypnotize yourself simply by reading scripts out loud, and I can vouch for the fact that it works quite well.
I find self-hypnosis to be good for loosening up a lot of the resistance to change that you get when trying to overcome any long term issue, but it should be considered a supplemental tool that has to be backed up by action in order to reinforce those desired patterns.
Meditation Regular meditation has many well documented benefits, and is known to improve concentration and focus.
The effect is cumulative, and if practiced long enough you'll start noticing positive changes in your mental state, and ability to have more control over it, even when not meditating.
While telling someone who has problems with concentration and focus to quiet their mind for extended periods might sound like an exercise in pure masochism, there are ways to work around the condition in order to use meditation as a valuable tool for improvement.
Is it difficult? Does it take patience and willpower? Yes, yes and yes.
But if you've read this far already, I figure chances are you've got the drive and dedication to keep going until you start noticing real improvement.
My approach to this was mostly by trial and error, and took shape as I went along; now I can produce a more systematic approach here based on what worked well.
In order to meditate effectively it's important to first rid your body of as much tension as possible.
I recommend the technique called "progressive relaxation" which is done by tensing each of the body's muscle groups one at a time, holding for five seconds and releasing.
A systematic routine for this can be found with a simple online search, so I won't spend too much time on it here.
This preliminary should not be overlooked though; holding too much tension will soon make the body uncomfortable and increase the tendency to get restless.
The best way to meditate is in a comfortable chair, in loose-fitting clothes, with no shoes.
I don't recommend lying down, or meditating in bed.
When we get in bed we're conditioned to fall asleep, and that's likely what will happen.
To start with, I recommend focusing on your breathing; simply observe the breath going in and out of your body, and try to hold your mind clear of all other thought.
If your mind starts to wander (and it will) once you realize it, simply release the thoughts and gently bring it back to your breathing.
The most important factor for me in becoming proficient in meditation was to take it in small increments.
Trying to go for too long at once, especially for someone who has trouble focusing to begin with, is just a recipe for frustration and burn-out.
Thus, if you can hold your mind clear for fifteen seconds to start, consider it a victory! Allow yourself to feel good about it, and move up to the next increment.
Ideally, you'll want some sort of timer that can be programmed to make a soft noise at predetermined intervals, that you can gradually increase.
The most useful thing I found was the Brainwave Generator software that comes with the book Mastering Astral Projection.
It's designed to put your mind in a meditative state to begin with, but also comes with several presets that you can program to play a soft tone at intervals that start with fifteen seconds and gradually increase to three minutes.
I'm currently trying to find a reliable method of achieving the same result for someone who's not necessarily interested in astral projection, but so far Brainwave Generator is the best I've found.
The presets from Mastering Astral Projection are available on the Brainwave Generator website in the Preset Library.
Final Thoughts At this point it should be said that learning to successfully manage ADD should be considered a process, and there will always be room for improvement.
That said, with the combination of all the methods I've discussed as well as a good amount of stubbornness, I'm very happy to say that I have reached my goal of training my mind to be clear and focused when I need it to be.
I now control my ADD rather than allowing it to control me, and I am confident that anyone with sufficient determination can use these techniques to-- HEY A SQUIRREL! Ahem.
Before then, I hadn't known much about ADD itself, and hadn't thought that the term could apply to adults; I just thought it was something that was applied to hyperactive school kids so their parents could drug them into submission.
I randomly stumbled on an online test for ADD, and my score was off the charts, so I started doing some more research.
What I found was a disconcertingly perfect match for my experience.
I happened to mention this to my mom, who told me "oh yeah, I always knew you were a textbook case but you always seemed to do okay so I never pursued it.
" In retrospect I'm glad she didn't after my experience with conventional methods; as a kid I would have been in less of a position to make the judgment call that the medication route was not in my best interest.
But now that I had a name to go with the list of problems that I could never quite put my finger on, it gave me something specific to work on in order to bring more balance and productivity into my life.
After doing some research, my initial gameplan was to go on prescription drugs in the short term, just to get an idea of the mental state I was shooting for, so I could then learn to duplicate it on my own.
Conventional Methods My experience with the neurologist and prescription medication left a bad taste in my mouth.
First I found it a bit unnerving that there is apparently no official screening for ADD; rather the medical approach was "take these pills and see what happens; if they help then there ya go.
" When I told her what I planned on doing, using the medication in the short-term and then training myself to duplicate that state of mind, she insisted that this was impossible and couldn't happen.
Her reasoning was that this was a chemical issue that required a chemical solution, and brain chemistry can't be altered any other way.
I already knew from experience that this was false for a lot of reasons.
But I could clearly see the futility in arguing my point, and so I thanked her for the prescription and left.
Fast forward about another year or so, and after getting the ADD well under control without drugs, I was half tempted to make another appointment with the neurologist just to go in and say "nyah!" But I suppose that would've been rather egoic of me.
And I suppose I'm getting ahead of myself...
My experience with the meds themselves, specifically Adderall, was not good at all.
I went through three cycles of adjusting the dosage and waiting for it to level out.
I didn't find it to be making much of a difference as far as my focus was concerned, and waiting for it to level out meant going without a lot of sleep for several nights each time.
Finally she set my dose too high, and after several days the jitters and sleeplessness weren't going away, and were starting to make it difficult to function normally at work and school.
At this point I was completely dissatisfied with the conventional approach and rather suspicious of the effect this was all having on my body and health, so I decided to give up on the medication and continue trying to find solutions for this on my own.
* I then set to work searching for and experimenting with anything I could possibly find that might make a difference.
The following are all the methods I discovered over roughly the next year, that I found most helpful.
Grounding and Centering Grounding and centering are practices that anyone can learn to do easily.
When I discovered the concept, it provided an almost immediate reduction of my ADD symptoms - the internal "noise" and scattered-ness settled down noticeably and stayed that way for quite a while.
Grounding works on the premise that your system is moving more energy than it can comfortably handle, especially in the crown and brow energy centers of the head.
So you ground some of it out, which relieves your system and probably your brain.
Centering is good to do after grounding, as it rebalances and centers your energy for more focused and efficient use.
There are many different ways to ground, but form and technique aren't necessarily as important as the intent to push excess energy down out of yourself and into the earth.
The following is the easiest method I know of that I use myself.
- Sit down and get comfortable, bare feet on the floor.
- Close your eyes and if you have a relaxation technique, use it.
Otherwise, focusing on your breathing for ten breaths is fine. - See and/or feel (whatever way you're most comfortable processing information) roots, like tree roots, growing out of your base chakra (located near the base of the spine / genital area), down your legs and out through you feet, deep into the earth.
- Intend for any excess energy to be pushed out through your roots and into the earth.
Again, do this in whatever way you're most comforable - visualizing it, feeling it, even "grabbing" any scattered or overloaded feelings and pushing them out. - It is sometimes recommended to do the same process upward; extending roots up through the crown of your head, into the air, for even more of a sense of balance.
I sometimes do this, sometimes not, but it does seem to increase the overall grounding effect. - Pull these roots back into yourself.
After grounding, you're going to want to center yourself.
To center, again you take some time to relax and quiet your mind.
Take a long, slow, deep breath.
On the inhale, you feel all your energy pulling from your limbs and body, into a spinning circle of light in your center.
On the exhale, intend and feel that the ball spreads back outward through you again.
Stones and Crystals Later on in my pursuits I asked a very knowledgeable friend if she thought there was anything to the idea that stones have energetic properties that can affect us in various ways.
Her answer was that they absolutely do, and that people should be wearing their birthstones, among others.
I was intrigued, so I looked up some information on what properties mine (amethyst) was supposed to have.
What I found read like a checklist of the issues I was having.
An excerpt from The Crystal Bible: "Amethyst is extremely beneficial to the mind, calming or stimulating as appropriate.
...
Mentally, it helps you feel less scattered, more focused and in control of your faculties.
It enhances the assimilation of new ideas and connects cause with effect.
...
It calms and synthesizes, and aids the transmission of neural signals through the brain.
It is helpful where insomnia is caused by an overactive mind...
enhances memory and improves motivation, making you more able to set realistic goals.
" So I got myself some amethyst and began wearing it all the time.
I didn't actually notice any difference right away, but I'm also a lot more sensitive to energy now than I was when I started investigating stones a few years ago.
Now though, I notice a major difference if I don't have it on.
Before long I'll start feeling very scattered and overloaded, but then when I realize it's missing and put it back on, I can feel the change back to a more calm and focused mental state within seconds.
At this point my significant other, who is also very ADD, chimes in that ametrine (a stone that combines amethyst and citrine) has made the biggest difference for her, and she did notice a major difference immediately when she put it on.
In addition, there are stones that help with grounding; smoky quartz is noted for this, for example.
My favorite is tiger iron, which combines hematite, red jasper and tiger eye.
For these and other reasons I'm now a strong advocate of using stones as a tool in one's development.
At this point I'd like to point out that grounding, centering and crystals are risk-free methods that can easily be tried with young children who are struggling with symptoms of ADD.
Any child can be taught how to "pretend you're a tree, and put your roots into the ground.
" In my experience kids are also very attracted to stones and crystals, and most would probably love to "wear a special one to help them feel good.
" I haven't tried these methods with any young kids myself, but I'm very curious to know how that might work out, so if anyone tries it, let me know.
Self-Hypnosis Hypnosis is simply the practice of relaxing into a state where the subconscious mind is receptive enough to take in suggestions directly.
My experience with self-hypnosis was productive for two reasons - it's great for getting into a light trance relatively easily in order to improve meditation, and it's also good for breaking negative patterns associated with ADD (lack of focus, procrastination, etc) and implanting suggestions into the subconscious that reflect the changes I wanted.
My favorite book on the subject is called Instant Self-Hypnosis - it teaches you to hypnotize yourself simply by reading scripts out loud, and I can vouch for the fact that it works quite well.
I find self-hypnosis to be good for loosening up a lot of the resistance to change that you get when trying to overcome any long term issue, but it should be considered a supplemental tool that has to be backed up by action in order to reinforce those desired patterns.
Meditation Regular meditation has many well documented benefits, and is known to improve concentration and focus.
The effect is cumulative, and if practiced long enough you'll start noticing positive changes in your mental state, and ability to have more control over it, even when not meditating.
While telling someone who has problems with concentration and focus to quiet their mind for extended periods might sound like an exercise in pure masochism, there are ways to work around the condition in order to use meditation as a valuable tool for improvement.
Is it difficult? Does it take patience and willpower? Yes, yes and yes.
But if you've read this far already, I figure chances are you've got the drive and dedication to keep going until you start noticing real improvement.
My approach to this was mostly by trial and error, and took shape as I went along; now I can produce a more systematic approach here based on what worked well.
In order to meditate effectively it's important to first rid your body of as much tension as possible.
I recommend the technique called "progressive relaxation" which is done by tensing each of the body's muscle groups one at a time, holding for five seconds and releasing.
A systematic routine for this can be found with a simple online search, so I won't spend too much time on it here.
This preliminary should not be overlooked though; holding too much tension will soon make the body uncomfortable and increase the tendency to get restless.
The best way to meditate is in a comfortable chair, in loose-fitting clothes, with no shoes.
I don't recommend lying down, or meditating in bed.
When we get in bed we're conditioned to fall asleep, and that's likely what will happen.
To start with, I recommend focusing on your breathing; simply observe the breath going in and out of your body, and try to hold your mind clear of all other thought.
If your mind starts to wander (and it will) once you realize it, simply release the thoughts and gently bring it back to your breathing.
The most important factor for me in becoming proficient in meditation was to take it in small increments.
Trying to go for too long at once, especially for someone who has trouble focusing to begin with, is just a recipe for frustration and burn-out.
Thus, if you can hold your mind clear for fifteen seconds to start, consider it a victory! Allow yourself to feel good about it, and move up to the next increment.
Ideally, you'll want some sort of timer that can be programmed to make a soft noise at predetermined intervals, that you can gradually increase.
The most useful thing I found was the Brainwave Generator software that comes with the book Mastering Astral Projection.
It's designed to put your mind in a meditative state to begin with, but also comes with several presets that you can program to play a soft tone at intervals that start with fifteen seconds and gradually increase to three minutes.
I'm currently trying to find a reliable method of achieving the same result for someone who's not necessarily interested in astral projection, but so far Brainwave Generator is the best I've found.
The presets from Mastering Astral Projection are available on the Brainwave Generator website in the Preset Library.
Final Thoughts At this point it should be said that learning to successfully manage ADD should be considered a process, and there will always be room for improvement.
That said, with the combination of all the methods I've discussed as well as a good amount of stubbornness, I'm very happy to say that I have reached my goal of training my mind to be clear and focused when I need it to be.
I now control my ADD rather than allowing it to control me, and I am confident that anyone with sufficient determination can use these techniques to-- HEY A SQUIRREL! Ahem.
