Scattered Minds: The Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder

“What can be immobilizingly difficult is to arouse the brain’s motivational apparatus in the absence of personal interest.”

Maté believes that motivation for individuals with ADD relies on external validation. This is the product of low self-esteem. Maté believes that true motivation only comes as a byproduct of self-acceptance and expression.

“We all have experiences as parents that we are ashamed of and wish we could erase. Such scenes always represent failures of self-regulation and impulse control.”

Maté believes that parents are responsible for reestablishing a safe relationship with their child with ADD. This means that the parent needs to take responsibility for their own contributions to emotional dysregulation in the household. However, Maté softens his criticism by including himself within it; his use of the first-person plural pronoun bolsters his contention that “all” parents make mistakes.

“The deficiencies and imbalances of brain chemicals are as much effect as cause. They are greatly influenced by emotional experiences.”

Maté is convinced that physiology and emotion are interconnected. He believes that our emotional experiences are at least as responsible for brain development as our genetics are in determining our emotions, which contributes to his Skepticism of the Illness Model in ADD Awareness and Treatment.