Controlling the Chaos: The Upside of ADD

Imagine a life that is constantly in fast-forward. Sights, sounds, smells and thoughts are constantly coming at you, one right after the other, making it nearly impossible for you to focus on just one idea. You concentrate on one idea, but unexpectedly another thought fills your mind, then a third, fourth and so on. All of a sudden, it feels like there are ten different TV stations in your brain. However, these different stations make up one single channel: The Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) channel.

ADD is simply just a different type of cerebral wiring through which an individual perceives the world. An ADD brain is like a turbocharged race car in the sense that it works rapidly, utilizing its high energy performance to cross the finish line in first place. Acceleration and dedication fuel the ADD engine. The ability to see the bigger picture, see that finish line, is one asset of ADD. Creativity, spontaneity and constantly “thinking outside the box” are also among the many advantages of the ADD-wired brain. Many ADD individuals take control of it, make ADD work to their advantage and, as a result, are very successful. However, if undiagnosed or untreated, ADD can drastically prevent an individual from achieving success. The root of the negativity surrounding ADD comes from the name itself: Attention Deficit Disorder.

For my senior thesis, I created a 12 minute documentary, "Controlling the Chaos: The Upside of ADD." This original video production includes interviews with top Chiicagoland area medical experts and ADDers. This film was presented at the Undergraduate Research and Creative Investigation's EXPO on April 1, 2009.

(Because YouTube only allows 10 minute clips to be uploaded, this film was split into two clips (Parts 1 & 2) to allow the full 12 minutes and 27 seconds to be available.)

ENJOY!