In this video, Nick Kemp talks about Dr. Gabor Maté, a renowned researcher and addiction expert, as he shares his surprising journey with ADHD. Known for his calm, focused presence, Dr. Maté challenges stereotypes surrounding ADHD by opening up about his own diagnosis. His story highlights the diverse ways ADHD can manifest, breaking the misconception that it’s only about hyperactivity.
Varied expressions of ADHD
Nick: It’s interesting you said that, because I was shocked to discover a researcher and doctor and an addiction expert Gabor Mate. He's this charming, softly spoken, completely focused presence interviewee, and he does a lot of interviews.
And then he sort of just one day casually said, 'You know, when I was diagnosed with ADHD.' And I was like, what? You? Of all people in the world? And he would say, 'I'd be at work and I'd be bumping into people not even noticing.' And he would be get fixated on things.
His addiction was unusual, that he would just go to music stores and buy just hundreds and hundreds of dollars worth of music he didn't need. He could not control this impulse to buy music. And it got quite serious with his marriage.
But when you look at him, and you hear him, you think of all people in the world, that man would not have ADHD. So I guess there's this preconceived idea that it is just someone with a monkey mind bouncing around and unable to focus. And that's obviously not the case. So there are different...
Ariadne: Different presentations. Yeah.