What springs to mind when someone mentions that a child has AD/HD? (Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder; Previously separated to ADD or ADHD)
Running around the classroom disrupting other kids?
Anger outbursts where a child storms out of class?
Inability to concentrate and subsequent poor school work?
What about psychological pain and confusion at your body's lack of control of your own thoughts?
What about bodily fatigue from auditory over-stimulation?
What about loneliness, sadness and frustration at your own lack of impulse control?
These are just a hint of the pain and frustration that ADD/ADHD kids, and indeed adults, persevere.
What's worse is that many of these kids go without optimal help, perhaps just living on white food and medicines. Well, Fin Mackenzie is here to change that!
Fin understands the hurdles facing kids with ADD/ADHD. Over her years of clinical experience, she's helped many kids to accept and manage their condition and to find their gifts in living with AD/HD. The success of her approach has led her to write a course for health practitioners (coming soon!), where she goes through all the practical steps necessary to optimise kids’ mental, social and physical health.
Today we discuss AD/HD diagnostic criteria and the foods, nutrients and herbs that can support their wellbeing. We explore aspects to how they feel and what they need in social and schooling circles and how their brains work differently to process the world and circumstances around them.
Fair warning; it's a long podcast! There's a lot to cover…and more to come in her forthcoming course! Stay tuned!
RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE:
American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th edition, text revision (DSM-5-TR). Washington DC, USA: APA. 2022.
Diagnostic Manuals. RANZCP.
Rhys Price-Robertson. Diagnosis in Mental Health. Institute of Family Studies, Aust Govt. 2018 Jul (Accessed 2022 Dec 2)
Your Health in Mind. Expert mental health information for everyone. RANZCP. 2023 (Accessed 2023 May 24).
ADD/ADHD Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. MINDD Foundation. 2023 (Accessed 2023 May 24).
Patrick RP, Ames BN. Vitamin D and the omega-3 fatty acids control serotonin synthesis and action, part 2: relevance for ADHD, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and impulsive behavior. FASEB J. 2015 Jun;29(6):2207-22. [Full Text]
Faraone SV, Banaschewski T, Coghill D, et al. The World Federation of ADHD International Consensus Statement: 208 Evidence-based Conclusions about the Disorder. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2021 Sep;128:789-818. [Full Text]