Gabor Maté on Impact Theory
- Really really interesting stuff. The trauma/infant attachment/parental losing of intuition stuff seems correct to me, particularly having read his book. At the same time, I feel he doesn't do a great job at addressing some of the questions, and repeatedly leans on the "aboriginals /hunter gatherers do it this way" as the source of his authority, which feels weak. Tom asks about tantrums at one point and he mentions that you should allow kids to express their anger rather than teaching them that you'll only love and respond to them under certain conditions and emotional states. I would've loved to hear Tom ask about obviously-manipulative behaviour children engage in to get what they want, and how to be responsive without rewarding, which is to me where the interesting stuff lies.
- Book - the myth of normal
- Rheumatoid arthritis - avg profile tends to be super conscientious, suppress healthy anger, some more stuff <- strong claim. Claim is that rheumatoid arthritis is the result of adaptive response.
- We have to connect. But we also have to be in touch with our emotions and be true to them, and to be in relationships where we can do that.
- Lots of people grew up in a house where your honest emotions are not accepted by your parents.
- Not a fan of Jordan Peterson - “he says children should be made to sit alone until they come back to “normal”.
- If a child experiences healthy normal anger, but gets the message that he’ll be excluded for expressing that, they’ll adaptively repress the anger.
- When you suppress your emotions, you suppress your immune system.
- The lungs evolved as an expectation to oxygen. humans evolved as hominids as expectations for certain conditions. The less society meets those conditions, the more toxic it is. <- This sounds pretty close to many of the things I’ve written.
What Is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder?
- From 1902 to 1980 it was about "little boys who couldn't sit still"
- Not so much a behaviour problem but a problem with the brain's management system.
- Attention problems tend to be much more problematic than behaviour problems.
- Not connected to IQ at all.
- They can't stay in tune with things - attention drifts much more than most people.
- Huge problem with distraction. Trying to watch tv, all the signals are coming at the same time.
- Distraction isn't consistent - some things where they have no trouble paying attention.
- All the problems of ADHD are things everyone has problems with sometimes.
- "My mind is a great sprinter, it's a lousy distance runner"
- Many times difficulty managing emotions - some little frustration can cause a 9/10 anger response. "Computer virus in the head" thing - difficult to put it in the back of their mind.
- Working memory - if you ask them about something that happened a few minutes ago they won't be able to.
- Not that they didn't have it, they couldn't retrieve it when they needed it.
- Difficulty slowing down when they need to slow down and speeding up when they need to speed up.
- The evidence shows it's mostly inherited.
- What's happening in the brain
- 100 billion neurons - electrical pulses that jump from one to another
- The brain makes chemicals to help send and receive these electric pulses - we think ADHD people doesn't effectively produce and manage those chemicals.
Focused vs Diffuse Modes of thought
- Brain has two modes - focused mode & diffused mode
- Focussed - high cognitive load - uses a lot of energy.
- Diffused - mind wanders - shower thoughts
- Both are super important for decision making & problem solving.
- "When in focus mode, don't wait until all your energy is used up before you go into diffuse mode" <- This is exactly what me and Dusty were talking about re: feeling spent by end of the day and taking breaks - relevant to ADHD.
- After you've left your brain idle for a while you'll often come up with the answer.