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Summary: Maybe the most original book about ADD & most ignored
Review: Mate offers a very fresh, insightful interpretation of ADD as a cognitive vulnerability that may or may not manifest itself, or manifest itself in varying degrees depending on one's environment. In this sense, the book takes a ecological approach to the problem; ADD, according to the author, is not biological determinism and it's not cultural construct and it's not some conspiracy to keep certain children in their place and it's not a pharmaceutical ploy for more business. Anyone who has taken prescribed Ritalin knows it's about the cheapest prescription drug on the market (and has been around nearly the longest). The author simply points out that according to current and provisional informed research (and research can only be provisional unless we can stop time), the idea that symptoms of ADD are a result of many forces--chemical, environmental, cultural, and developmental--just makes sense. Since Mate's analysis is moderately complex in comparison to most analyses in most popular ADD books, it may turn off those who want a quick pat explanation to the "disorder." The author is a doctor with ADD; so his analysis is both research oriented and phenomenological. He is also smart enough not to use the word "prove" in his book because he knows he isn't proving anything: he is simply making his own best inferences based on current knowledge. He makes sense; and he adds to the current literature on the subject. If you have been diagnosed with ADD, you will nod your head in agreement through much of the book. The author also has a gift for writing, having been a former English teacher. Thus, his language is on a level of sophistication which does justice to the subject, and lends his observations authority. This is far different from the "cookbook" breezy style of so many other authors who address the subject.
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Summary: Best thing ever happened
Review: Reading this book was the best thing that ever happened to me. For me as a 49-years-old with only recently diagnosed ADD, it is of more therapeutic value than a good 17 years of psychotherapy have been. One reason is that I feel understood for the first time in my life. Another reason is formed by Maté's clear explanations on how to treat myself in order to make room for personal growth and development. In short: a jewel.
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Summary: Best thing ever
Review: Reading this book was the best thing that ever happened to me. For me as an adult with only recently diagnosed ADD, it is of more therapeutic value than a good 17 years of psychotherapy have been.Baukje (aka Bonnie)
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Summary: A provocative book that offers insights & hope.
Review: SCATTERED is filled with insights into possibile origins of A.D.D. in early-life contexts. I found Dr. Mate's research very helpful in unoncovering these origins in myself. One of my main problems as an artist is focusing long enough on one creative project to actually accomplish it. By pinpointing possible origins in myself I am dissolving negative energy investments. I seek daily to re-gather this energy & to apply it to creative projects for a more fulfilling life. Also, I use the material in SCATTERED to enrich dwelling on the Earth by un-focusing on what is not important & discovering what is. Thank you & Good Luck! Gary Clark
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Summary: An insightful, humane perspective
Review: The ADHD world seems to have split into several definable camps -- the neo-Darwinist doomsayers like Barkley who say flat-out that ADD is "of no value whatsoever" and is purely a sickness; the deniers like Breggin and Rush Limbaugh who think it's a conspiracy by doctors or liberals; the geneticists like Comings who suggest ADDers shouldn't breed to keep from contaminating our gene-pool; and those like Lucy Jo Pallidino who consider it a "context disorder," a collection of traits that may be useful in some times and places but is generally not a good match for the way our schools are currently set up (I consider myself in this category). Now comes Gabor Mate, an insightful, no-nonsense, and thoroughly compassionate physician who provides an overview of all these perspectives and comes to the marvelously humane conclusion that ADD/ADHD is neither nature (genetics) nor nurture (parenting/environment) but, rather, the result of the collision of a predisposing nature with an ADD-hostile life situation, family, school, or job. How refreshing! Gabor Mate has made a valuable contribution to the ADD/ADHD world, and this book not only offers thoughts on what it is and where it came from, but also is chock full of useful, real-world solutions for the problems people with ADD confront in a world increasingly run by bureaucrats and farmers. Highly recommended! --Thom Hartmann
Rating:
Summary: An insightful, humane perspective
Review: The ADHD world seems to have split into several definable camps -- the neo-Darwinist doomsayers like Barkley who say flat-out that ADD is "of no value whatsoever" and is purely a sickness; the deniers like Breggin and Rush Limbaugh who think it's a conspiracy by doctors or liberals; the geneticists like Comings who suggest ADDers shouldn't breed to keep from contaminating our gene-pool; and those like Lucy Jo Pallidino who consider it a "context disorder," a collection of traits that may be useful in some times and places but is generally not a good match for the way our schools are currently set up (I consider myself in this category). Now comes Gabor Mate, an insightful, no-nonsense, and thoroughly compassionate physician who provides an overview of all these perspectives and comes to the marvelously humane conclusion that ADD/ADHD is neither nature (genetics) nor nurture (parenting/environment) but, rather, the result of the collision of a predisposing nature with an ADD-hostile life situation, family, school, or job. How refreshing! Gabor Mate has made a valuable contribution to the ADD/ADHD world, and this book not only offers thoughts on what it is and where it came from, but also is chock full of useful, real-world solutions for the problems people with ADD confront in a world increasingly run by bureaucrats and farmers. Highly recommended! --Thom Hartmann
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Summary: One-Third Good, Two-Thirds Mumbo Jumbo
Review: The first third of the book is very good at recognizing ADD as a legitimate problem. If you're ADD yourself, it is kind of seductive and makes you want to keep reading, and you feel as if some really good information is soon to follow. However, somewhere between 40 to 50 percent of the way through it starts to get pretty "out there" and repetitive in it's "out thereitiveness". In a nutshell the author is trying to say that since the baby did not get as much attention as it needed (due to its predisposed sensitivity) from it's parents, it did not have time to develop it's prefontal cortex. But does the author really believe himself here? OK, it's a theory that sounds good to a naive individual...but is this doctor really convicted of what he is saying? If a child was never taught to walk by their parents, they would eventually figure it out. There is no "One-foot in front of the other-deficit disorder". But there are people who are physically handicapped at birth. Trust me, my parents were fully there for me in every conceivable way during my childhood. But I still have ADD and do best when it is treated as a biological disorder. I think the authors theory is about as sound as this one: "The socialistic medical system in Canada has flooded doctor offices with everyone that cuts their finger or has a bad case of the runs. Outside of a really good eye-surgeon in Windsor, this system has cranked out the quackiest of theories by their practitioners." But we know that theory has no basis. Neither does much of this authors ADD theory.
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Summary: Understanding ADD and its treatment in context
Review: This book has been a national bestseller in Canada in both itshardcover and paperback editions, with only the title a little different: Scattered Minds. That Scattered has something unique and liberating to say about ADD, its causation, and its treatment is confirmed also by many U.S. readers who have written to me since the book's first publication in August, 1999. Like most doctors, I knew very little about ADD for many years, until I was diagnosed with it myself. From the very beginning, the idea of ADD being some sort of genetic disease failed to make sense to me. It doesn't square with what neuroscience tells us about human brain development. It completely ignores the importance of life experiences in shaping both the neurophysiology of the brain and the psychological characteristics of the individual. The genetic/disease model also ignores the lifelong potential for brain development and psychological growth--which, from my perspective, are the real goals of treatment. There is biology involved and in many cases medications may help, but there is far more to ADD than heredity, and far more to its treatment than pharmacology. I wrote Scattered to explore the roots of ADD in life experience, and to investigate how we can help children and adults develop beyond the impairments ADD imposes. The long term objective is not just symptom control or even behavior control, but development. We don't have to worry about behaviors so much: given the right conditions, development naturally occurs, and as development occurs, maladaptive behaviors automatically stop...
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Summary: God Bless You, Dr. Mate!
Review: This is a must reading for the serious ADD sufferer. I wish I could say "thank you" to the good Doctor in person.
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Summary: This book makes sense.
Review: This is the best book so far on the ADD subject. The theory makes much more sense than other explanations. Interestingly, a negative review here finalized my decision to purchase the book, and I am very happy I did. I simply could not put the book down after I started reading it. The author goes beyond where most would stop in admitting their own experiences. Combined with numerous tales of ADD patients, this book provides very helpful views on the condition, family, and relationships. While it is true that the book is a bit sketchy on how to "cure" adult ADD as compared to its guidelines for children, the underlying theory that the neural structures can be modified offers hope that other sources do not.
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