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Emotional ADD

Recently I have begun work on a condition I have been calling “Emotional ADD”. In people with emotional ADD there is not always a clear framework of seeing actual difficulties when it comes to concentrating on study or work or reading. It mainly has to do with a loss of any center of passion and even of any sense of entitlement to passion. Most glaring is the tendency to feel like the loser in almost any argument which involves a battle of wits or a difference of point of view. In fact the person with emotional ADD may have a strong inkling of what is right in a particular situation but can be argued out of that inclination with a bat of an eyelash, or anything which resembles an arrogant disapproval or disagreement. In this sense the person with emotional ADD is distracted from anything resembling a strong sense of self and self-initiated direction, particularly in the vicinity of anyone inducing doubt. The doubter becomes the authority, thereby rendering the emotional ADD person altogether fragile when it comes to another’s emotional bullying.

This condition can be dramatic in scope or more subtle, as when an adult lives a “regular” life with job, family and vacations and at first glance all may even see quite fine. But the spark is missing: strong opinions, strong feelings of preference are missing, the “oomph” is gone or is not even an expectation of its sufferer. For the person for whom the zest is all but gone, when the condition is suggested there is often an “aha!” experience. In some people the suffering is enormous and constant; it may look more like a case of obsession but it is not about worrying about the same thing: it is about guilt and lack of practice in holding onto one’s right to have the bare minimum of joy and an opinion without absolute proof or in the face of any objection whatsoever.

In a therapy session with an emotional ADD person, there is often a look of feeling lost...