Читать книгу New hope for ADHD in children and adults - Helena Bester - Страница 26

In my opinion the impulsivity associated with ADHD is not adequately emphasised in the DSM-5 criteria.

I often hear very amusing stories about these children’s impulsivity. I chuckle quietly to myself when I hear how their spontaneous honesty blows the lid off our pretensions. They’ll comment on the braai that was supposed to be lunch, but will clearly not be ready before sunset. Everyone is hungry, irritable and ever so decently quiet about it all. But when James feels the first hunger pang, he says so. He doesn’t mean to insult Uncle Robert’s honour – even though he let the fire go out five times. He has no idea that the women have been trying to pretend no-one’s hungry for hours. And in the deathly silence that follows the child’s faux pas (when all he’s done is to tell it like it is), he will often just say: “Oops!”

They speak without thinking. They don’t mean to tread on anyone’s toes. They are not being difficult. They aren’t the kind of children who scheme underhandedly and create difficulties for others – they’re not like that at all. They say and do things straight. A thought has scarcely popped into their head, and it’s slipped out their mouth. Needless to say, they are hopeless at keeping secrets.

Honesty, in a sense, almost goes naturally with impulsivity. I’ll discuss the attractive characteristics of these children and adults more seriously in chapter 12. Right now, for the sake of comprehensiveness and structure we are focusing on the other behavioural characteristics that are often associated with ADHD.