Gail Johnson, LMSW, ACSW
Did you ever wonder whether you might have ADD? Have people joked that you had an attention problem? Every year we discover people who have been trying so hard just to keep their heads above water asking themselves: “I should be able to do this — why am I such a failure?!”


​How do you know if it is ADD or just a momentary lapse? Several factors should be considered:

​Have you ever been deep in an interesting conversation with someone you like and lost track of the conversation because something else happened? (Squirrel!)

​In a self-contained elementary classroom you stayed “with the program,” but upper grades, and college got tough. You just couldn’t keep up. You did your homework, but forget to hand it in. Or lost it. (Shiny!)

When Stress and Pressure Buildup: Your Body Keeps Score
We tend to ignore the fact that we too are subjected to increasing pressures. When it comes to ourselves and the stress we face throughout the day, something eventually has to give – just like the natural world.

This is experienced over time: rising prices, lost jobs, working “smarter and harder”, and catastrophic events (both human caused and natural).

For example:

• the mom and pop store trying to deal with regulations and costs
• the customer service centers where the caring employee is expected to do the job and keep the numbers  down
• the parents with the new baby and inadequate sleep
• the women who needs to make a tough decision
• the man trying to cope with time constraints
• the family with overloaded schedules

​Pressure builds and predictably, we see a blowup or implosion:

• sleep loss
• anxiety
• frustration
• anger
• emotional outbursts
• freeze, flight, fight responses
• rapid heart rate
• increased blood pressure
• gastrointestinal problems
• muscle tension
• dizziness

That’s when many of us finally get it.  We are ready to blow up or implode.  Now we need help, so what to do?