Scattered Minds: A New Look at the Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder
About the Book
Scattered Minds: A New Look at the Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder – published in the U.S. as Scattered: How Attention Deficit Disorder Originates And What You Can Do About It – is written from the inside by a doctor who himself has Attention Deficit Disorder. It offers a completely new perspective on ADD and a new approach to helping children and adults living with the problems Attention Deficit Disorder presents.
SCATTERED MINDS (or SCATTERED):
- Demonstrates that ADD is not an inherited illness, but a reversible impairment, a developmental delay
- Explains that in ADD, circuits in the brain whose job is emotional self-regulation and attention control fail to develop in infancy—and why
- Shows how “tuning out” and distractibility are the psychological products of life experience, from in utero onwards
- Allows parents to understand what makes their ADD children tick, and adults with ADD to gain insights into their emotions and behaviors
- Expresses optimism about neurological development even in adulthood
- Presents a program of how to promote this development in children and adults alike
NB: The Canadian edition is also available as an audiobook; click here to find out more, including download information.
Read from SCATTERED MINDS (U.S.: SCATTERED)
The following chapters are available to read online:
Chapter One — So Much Soup and Garbage Can
Chapter Two — Many Roads Not Travelled
Chapter Nineteen — Just Looking for Attention
Chapter Twenty — The Defiant Ones: Oppositionality
Chapter Twenty-Five — Justifying One’s Existence: Self-Esteem and the ADD Adult
Praise for SCATTERED MINDS (U.S.: SCATTERED)
“This delightful, helpful book is a welcome addition to the literature on ADD. Based on solid research and a strong humanistic sensibility, it is written with humor and compassion, from an unsparingly honest personal perspective. I would enthusiastically recommend Scattered to anyone touched by ADD—adults, parents, and professionals.”
John J. Ratey, M.D.
co-author, Driven to Distraction
“Those with ADD, their loved ones and their physicians will profit from reading this book. People who do not yet know they have it will have their lives transformed.”
Canadian Medical Association Journal
“Maté’s argument is organic, a refreshing change from the medicalized and mechanistic models dominating the debate. You won’t find a drug chart or Seven Easy Steps to the Road Less Scattered here. You will find family stories, an accessible description of brain development and sound information. You will also find hope.”
The Globe and Mail
“In one of the most comprehensive and accessible books about Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Maté , a Canadian physician and popular medical columnist, challenges many accepted notions about the condition, which afflicts more than three million children and a significant number of adults… In the closing pages of this well-documented but sure-to-be-controversial book, he effectively hammers home his suspicions about the possible over-prescription of Ritalin and other drugs to control rather than heal children, and proposes that, in some cases, emotional support, patience and love can be more powerful remedies than chemicals.”
Publisher’s Weekly
“[U]tterly sensible and deeply moving… Dr. Maté offers an original and helpful theory about a condition whose diagnosis has spread like wildfire in North America. Until now, the medical profession has mostly proclaimed attention deficit disorder as a hereditary genetic disease and prescribed a drug called Ritalin by the bucketful.”
Vancouver Sun
“[Maté] challenges the standard view of ADD [and] asks questions that deserve to be considered about a debilitating disorder—and the kind of society in which is flourishes.”
Maclean’s
“Enlightening and sensitively told [with] a much needed focus on adults and adolescents with ADHD… For someone who is wondering if their own lack of attention, impulsiveness, distractibility, or hyperactivity may be ADHD, this would be a good read.”
Winnipeg Free Press
“Scattered Minds [is] necessary reading for anyone who lives with the effects of ADD, in himself or in others; it’s an encouraging and reassuring approach.”
The Chronicle-Journal (Thunder Bay, ON)
“Since reading this book, I have found myself being more aware of my parenting style. I will consider his advice of always thinking of the long term objectives for my son’s development when parenting him, rather than using short term approaches to controlling his behaviour. This will be a book to keep on the shelf for future reference.” (read the full review)
Synergy Magazine (Vancouver Island, BC)
Reader Feedback
“As a 27-year-old man in an increasingly pressured society I cannot express the value and life lessons that your books have elucidated for me. Just a year ago, I was dangerously close to out-of-control binge partying and was using cocaine regularly. I always knew there was something amiss. My report cards always said: ‘Has potential but cannot apply himself’. The way you explained some of the ADD symptoms and daily accounts was like reading the daily itinerary of my life: the shame, attachment problems, aggression; misplacing keys, my wallet, the phone. I had not kept a job in years and was out of a degree just one year from completion. Since your book, I have changed my life. I am now just a month from completion of my undergraduate degree, I spend more time at the library than anywhere else and have had the best year of my recent life…”
M.R.
“Yesterday I finished your book Scattered. I went through almost two highlighters noting everything I found important… I couldn’t believe how insightful it was, over and over and over again. I learned invaluable information to apply as a parent, and as a psychotherapist. I’m sure I’ll get even more from it when I go through it a second and third time around. A very heartfelt thank you!”
H.
“I am reading Scattered and it is one of several books I have about ADD. My son was diagnosed a couple of years ago with ADHD, as was I. I have done a lot of research and reading on the topic since then. I have felt compelled to tell you that your book is far superior to all the other books and online articles I have read… I have never felt that someone understood and was able to describe so clearly the condition that is ADD. I feel great relief at being understood so completely, and I know that I will be able to convey some of this understanding to my 17-year-old son.”
Gail
“I just finished reading Scattered, and I do believe that this week is the first time I have exhaled in twenty years. I feel…explained, understood, accepted…by me. Finally! Thank you for helping me clear my own path and accept my own journey.”
V.B.
“Thank you very much for Scattered Minds. It has been a very validating book to read. I have learned so much about parenting, patience, self-love, the list goes on and on. Thank you so much for your book; I keep it by my bedside table and find that even after finishing it I can open to any chapter and become totally immersed in it.”
J.T.
“I just read and really enjoyed your book Scattered Minds. I found it extremely helpful and eye-opening. It described me to a tee. It was shocking to read what felt like my personal bio in your book, when we have never met! It’s nice to know I’m not alone!”
Heather
“I just want to tell you that your book Scattered Minds has deeply affected me and my husband and given us profound insight into some issues we are having with our 13-year-old son. Though we have struggled greatly with him and getting him to do his homework since kindergarten, it never once dawned on me he might have ADD until reading your book and seeing clearly some of his tendencies that are probable signs of ADD. After reading your book I now have many layers of insight into our family dynamics and how we have raised him, as well as how I was raised and some of my own ADD tendencies.”
R.M.
“I am 47 years old and I was assessed as ADD one year ago. I read your book this week and each page made me feel that I was reading my autobiography. I have hope now that I can turn my life around.”
Mark
“I wanted to let you know that I read Scattered, and it has answered so many questions about my child hood and adult ADHD. Knowing is half the battle. Most of all, I have found hope in your book. If we believe that we’re determined to live a debilitating life with medication being our only hope, then we will live out that belief. Now I am taking steps of healing from my past, and creating new desired patterns of behaviour for my future.”
Eric
“When I started reading Scattered Minds the first thought that came to me was ‘wow, this is so me’. The second thought that came to me was ‘if I were to ever write a book on ADHD, this is the book I’d write’. Thank you for making the world of ADHD so real and so easily understandable to those who do not have ADHD. I’m happy to report that in the 10 or so visits I’ve had with my son’s school teachers and principal this year, that they’ve all been enthralled by my words of wisdom (taken liberally from your book) about what ADHD is like for my son, and they’ve implemented all of my suggestions on how to help him learn.”
Matthew
“I love this book. I am a Classroom Assistant in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. I work with students with various learning disabilities and I love my job. Last year I worked in a classroom that had a lot of behaviour problems – no big deal – but I clashed with one particular student. He has ADD (not medicated), as many of my students do, but he was so loud, demanding, inappropriate, angry, the list goes on. As I read your book and think about this child, and his childhood, I am filled with dread when I think about how I could have better handled almost every situation. By the end of the year I would do anything to avoid seeing this student outside the classroom – it seemed like he worked so hard to get my attention, like he was desperate for my affection. I gave him none. I always remained neutral and I think if I had just spent more quiet, one-on-one time with him we could have had a better year, a more productive year…
Your book has also changed some ways we deal with our four year old in the mornings. As you described in your book, we now see the anxiety level rise as we run late and we have learned to prevent it. My husband teaches Grade 8 – you would think we could recognize this behaviour in ourselves but it was not until reading your book and the consequences of our actions that we made changes to our parenting style in tense situations. I also felt good about behaviours we felt we were doing properly with our daughter like giving choices, talking through disagreements and not forcing our child to do everything we think it right. When friends and family ask why we handle certain situations as we do, I tell them about your amazing book and what I have learned.”
Rosie
“I found Scattered Minds absolutely fascinating, and I feel like I finally have some understanding of my daughter, who is 17 years old, as well as my husband. The title of the book is what caught my attention, as I have often thought of my daughter as “scattered”. I am inspired by my newfound insight into the dynamics of our relationships [and] I am working on giving her the attention and unconditional love she needs. Thank you for your wonderful book.”
B.G.
“Thanks again for an amazing book. Your wisdom & humour are tremendous & SO therapeutic. I borrowed the book from the library, but have ordered it so that I can mark my own copy.”
David
“I am only a bit of the way through Scattered Minds and, of course, must stop before I read any further to extend a sincere ‘THANK YOU!!!’ and ‘God bless you’ for this incredible and insightful work. It is a relief and source of hope to be able to put a name to behaviors I have feebly tried to self-analyze for many years… Thank you for seeing ADD as one more manifestation of the beautiful diversity of creation instead of a disease, for your frankness about your own situation and growth, and the courage and conviction to share what you have both suffered and discovered. On those days when you may wonder whether or not your life has made a difference, know that one middle-aged mom in the Midwest is walking with a new hope in her heart because of the work you have done. Thank you so much.”
Ann
