A genius behind the illness

Let’s change the stigma of Mental Illness by telling your story

I have had significant difficulty relating with people. My family say I tend to go on extensive tangents, which apparently can be quite hard to deal with. At church I am no longer aloud to attend young adult groups, as I would apparently get quite angry in a tangent, that I have no memory of, and consequently would scare people. I have no recollection of these, and could be easily linked to emotional dysregulation, one of my symptoms. An accumulation of these type of behaviors have resulted in no long term friends, and quite a deep loneliness. I have quite a brain on me, believe it or not some reasonable people apply genius in regards to my personal analytical capability.I know it is quite surprising for me too, I didn't have that until I started taking medication. Well at least my ability to sit and read a book was pretty poor. ADHD is theorised to be due to a problem in the distribution of Dopamine and Noradrenaline. This means that the brain has difficulty working, which often if accompanied by long serotonin (from what I have read) leads to hyperactivity, short leads to my sort of ADHD, which is that of the daydreamer. If you need to get yourself moving, acquiring some 5 HTP can be quite helpful in my experience. my academic career is a long list of failure. I mean if you could have a job where you were paid for failing I would be great! It can be quite difficult with my passion for learning, looking at a failed opportunity to spend years at school learning, and the lack of ability I had to relate with people there. In short school sucked, and consequently, with my lack of friends, long standing employment and my academic history to date being in disarray, I have quite a strong claim to being a failure. Failure in my social, career and academic life leaves me doubting myself quite regularly, and unfortunately I do not seem to be on my own. An article by Children and Adults with Attention- Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder Community (CHADD) called ‘Long term effects of ADHD gives insight to how regular this is. ADHD can also be quite a gift. Our hyperactive minds absorb information that most filter out. It is not uncommon for me to be able to attain information about a person from merely their body language. I mean how many people can say that there is a religion based solely on their ‘supernatural’ capabilities (documentary: Inside the strange psychic world of indigo children by vice). Could you imagine the benefits this may have somewhere like psychology? When it comes to my personal genius, I believe it is merely that I do not think like normal people. The box that contains most people's minds, which I believe to have walls made by societal norms, and a floor laid out by a desire to fit in. I seem to have lost my box at birth. I do have ADHD, losing stuff is a bit of a talent. If you would like a fantastic example of out of box thinking, Albert Einstein who is believed to have ADHD, and his Theory of Relativity is the one which I would present. He among other physicists helped to smash open the doors to awe inspiring areas of physics. A discipline that in the 19th century, I have read, was coming to stand still, and believed to have been a completed discipline with no further potential for development. Now, thanks to the development in physics we get to ponder about amazing things like the emergence theory! Thank God for divergent brains! Those who do not just call it a day when everyone else does, but whose thoughts race with creativity, with logic, with dreams, and can not restrain their practice. Those thoughts who do not humbly walk with the majority, but boldly dive into obscurity. Many of those people have had some form of mental health ‘disorder’, the thin line between crazy and genius.

This Mental health week, I invite you to consider how you can help people who do not fit in with society, fit in. We have gifts to offer, lets learn to thrive off each others gifting. We may be weird, we may be different, we may help expand your comfort zone.

You are Phenomenal and inspiring! Thank you!