A Diagnosis in Question
Breaking the Spell of ADD/ADHD Series — Part 1
“Our society has developed a strange habit of labeling the natural restlessness of children as pathology—then prescribing medication as a cure for childhood.”
— Dr. Allen Frances
Once upon a time, there was no such thing as ADD or ADHD.
There were curious children. Active children. Dreamy, inattentive children. Restless, impulsive, spirited, disorganized children. And there were also structured adults, rigid classrooms, and a rising pharmaceutical industry desperate to label—and to medicate.
Once upon a time, there was no such thing as ADD or ADHD, but then the story changed … why? The term Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) did not appear in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) until 1980. It was renamed ADHD in 1987. What was once seen as temperament or developmental variation became pathology—and a generation of children became candidates for stimulant drugs.
Dr. Allen Frances—former chair of the DSM-IV Task Force—would later call the inclusion of ADD one of the greatest regrets of his career. “We created an epidemic,” he wrote in Saving Normal, “by medicalizing normal variation.”
The Rise of a Diagnosis
Since the 1990s, ADHD diagnoses have exploded. Today, millions of children—and now adults—carry the label. Billions of dollars in stimulant medications are prescribed annually. But what if this diagnosis is more than a medical term?
What if it's a socially sanctioned spell—one that shifts the blame for a broken system onto the shoulders of sensitive, soulful children?
We must ask:
Why is it children who must adapt to the system, and not the system to the child?
What if difficulty focusing is not disorder, but signal—of a deeper cultural misalignment?
What happens when a society no longer honors rhythm, nourishment, and meaning?
Attention or Attunement?
There is a vital difference between being taught to pay attention and being invited into attunement.
Attention is a task.
Attunement is a relationship.
Attention demands performance—usually outward, often imposed. Attunement invites connection—emotional, sensory, soulful.
A child who cannot sit still may be attuned to the rustle of the wind, the tension in a room, or the sadness in a parent’s voice. What we call “inattention” may be over-attunement to a world the adult mind has long stopped noticing.
In a culture that values control over curiosity, presence over productivity, is it any wonder that attuned children are seen as disordered?
Yet attunement is the foundation of creativity, intuition, and relational intelligence. When supported—not pathologized—it becomes one of the greatest gifts a human can carry.
Rethinking the Roots
More and more experts are calling for a radical reframing. Among the root causes of restlessness and distraction, they point to:
Environmental toxicity: food dyes, preservatives, EMFs, heavy metals
Early trauma and attachment wounds: especially in formative years
Educational models that demand conformity over imagination
Nutritional imbalance and poor gut health
Overstimulation, disconnection from nature, and unprocessed grief
Dr. Gabor Maté, in Scattered Minds, suggests ADHD is not a biological defect but a developmental response to chronic stress and disconnection.
“We are medicating children’s resistance to a toxic environment rather than healing the environment itself.”
A New Path Forward
To question the ADHD diagnosis is not to dismiss the very real struggles children and adults face with focus, impulsivity, or overwhelm. It is to ask: why are they struggling—and who benefits from the label?
Does it serve the child?
Or the system?
Or the pharmaceutical industry?
Instead of diagnosing, drugging, and managing behavior, we might begin to:
Observe without judgment
Listen to the body
Heal the nervous system
Reconnect with rhythm and rest
Restore agency to children and their caregivers
The truth is this: when a child resists a world that has lost its soul, that may not be a disorder. It may be a sign of life.
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Sources & Resources
Allen Frances, Saving Normal: An Insider’s Revolt Against Out-of-Control Psychiatric Diagnosis (2013). See also his interviews in Psychology Today and The New York Times (e.g., "The Epidemic of Attention Deficit Disorder", NYT, Dec 14, 2013).
Gabor Maté, Scattered Minds: The Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder. Maté views ADHD as rooted in early stress and disconnection, not biology.
Waldorf Education: Founded by Rudolf Steiner, Waldorf schools emphasize developmental rhythm, imagination, movement, storytelling, and emotional connection—without labeling children.
Trauma-Informed Models:
Nurtured Heart Approach (Howard Glasser): Builds inner wealth in sensitive, intense children.
Polyvagal Theory (Stephen Porges): Explains how safety, co-regulation, and social connection are necessary for learning and attention.
Somatic Experiencing (Peter Levine): Supports nervous system regulation as foundational to behavior.
Conscious Discipline (Dr. Becky Bailey): Emotional safety and connection first; discipline through relationship.