Scattered Minds by Gabor Mate

Scattered Minds

The Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder

By: Gabor Maté

Scattered Minds explodes the myth of attention deficit disorder as genetically based – and offers real hope and advice for children and adults who live with the condition.

Gabor Maté is a revered physician who specializes in neurology, psychiatry and psychology – and himself has ADD. With wisdom gained through years of medical practice and research, Scattered Minds is a must-read for parents – and for anyone interested how experiences in infancy shape the biology and psychology of the human brain.

Scattered Minds:

  • Demonstrates that ADD is not an inherited illness, but a reversible impairment and 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 ‘distractibility’ is the psychological product of life experience
  • Allows parents to understand what makes their ADD children tick, and adults with ADD to gain insights into their emotions and behaviours
  • Expresses optimism about neurological development even in adulthood
  • Presents a programme of how to promote this development in both children and adults

About the Author

Gabor Maté is a retired physician who, after 20 years of family practice and palliative care experience, worked extensively with patients challenged by drug addiction and mental illness. The bestselling author of four books published in over twenty languages, Dr Maté is an internationally renowned speaker highly sought after for his expertise on addiction, trauma, childhood development, and the relationship of stress and illness.

His book on addiction received the Hubert Evans Prize for literary non-fiction. For his groundbreaking medical work and writing he has been awarded the Order of Canada (his country’s equivalent of the MBE) and the Civic Merit Award from his hometown, Vancouver. His books include In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction; When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress; Scattered Minds: The Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder and (with Gordon Neufeld) Hold on to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers.