Why ADHD?
for any parent or supervisor who also dares to take a critical look at themselves
- ADHD is not a disease
- the three types of ADHD
- high sensitivity
- actual causes of ADHD behaviour
- important nutrients
- predisposition and heredity
- why (no) medication?
- What you didn't know about Ritalin and Strattera
- 52 tips of the week
Practical guide to a behavioural problem
Why ADHD?
HSP is still not recognised by the vast majority of the Dutch population and is dismissed as hovering, while meanwhile 2 to 7 % of all children in the Netherlands have been labelled ADHD.
But what is really the difference?
An HSP (High Sensitive Person) is someone who is hypersensitive to stimuli (high sensitivity), which can get in the way of daily functioning quite a bit.
However, the existence of HSP cannot be proven through blood tests, scans, photographs or other medical tests.
High sensitivity or high sensitivity is determined using a questionnaire.
ADHD (Attention Deficit Attention Disorder) is considered a "congenital brain abnormality involving a biochemical imbalance between neurotransmitters" that causes a person to react hypersensitively to stimuli and be easily distracted as a result.
However, so far no scientist has been able to demonstrate such an imbalance. One does not even have a clue what a normal balance should look like at all!
ADHD is nothing more than a collection of behavioural symptoms and is diagnosed using a questionnaire.
So both ADHD and HSP cannot be scientifically proven. Yet so-called ADHD patients are provided with medication that acts on the brain precisely where no one has ever been able to prove that something is actually wrong here.
I wrote the book "Hoezo ADHD?" in 2010 in collaboration with psychiatry pharmacist Fernand Haesbrouck.
Besides my own experience as a parent and teaching assistant, he taught me all about how the brain works and how ADHD medication affects the brains of growing children.
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Why ADHD?
What you didn't already know about ADHD, HSP, Ritalin and Strattera, but should know. Because ADHD versus HSP: isn't that a bit like comparing apples and oranges? No. ADHD and HSP have more in common than you think. And so do Ritalin and Strattera! 'Hoezo ADHD' explains why ADHD is not a disease, but has everything to do with, among other things, environmental influences, a possibly hereditary way of processing information, stress and/or a lack of structure. In 2010, 'Hoezo ADHD?' won the Paravisie award for the most inspiring book in the national category.
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