Help Thoughts on "Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess" by Caroline Leaf?

[annoyed]

So my mother just basically told me that my ADHD is a hoax/not real and to listen to this podcast about how trauma is basically just an excuse to "sit around" and be "lazy". She also states that "everyone drifts away and doesn't pay close attention in school, doesn't mean you have ADHD," but I couldn't get to explain to her that it's deeper than just that. Either way, I just want someone's feedback on this podcast before I painstakingly give this a listen and ruin my already abominable mood. She could be right about giving it a listen but she also seems very tone deaf and blatantly inconsiderate giving me the synopsis.

 

[annoyed]

bump please if anybody is knowledgeable on this audiobook please let me know

 

[Forever Sleep]

I'm afraid I don't know anything about the podcast. I can appreciate why you're reluctant to listen though.

My Dad is also like this really. He doesn't have much time for mental illness.

It's tricky really because nowadays anyway, I would absolutely admit to being lazy. I suppose I always wonder myself- is it because we truly can't do something or, that we won't?

Still- if it's that we won't- is that even unjustified? Firstly- why are we so put off about doing something? I imagine a lot of people don't actually want to go to work. It's exhausting. It's stressful. It takes a massive toll on physical and mental health. If a person suffers with accute physical issues or experiences anxiety in certain situations, it can really aggrevate those things. So, we obviously try to avoid things that make us feel worse.

Plus, for many of us that are anti-natilist and hate the idea of wage slavery, there's also a tone of resentment sometimes I think too. As in- it's not fair that we've been dumped into this world and expected to perform.

Ultimately though, anything which causes distress. Whether we can actually function with it or not tends to diminish our quality of life. Sometimes severely. So- whatever someone wants to call it- it's surely a problem.

I suppose the bigger issue is what to do to treat it. Is it better that we pander to it? Or, should we force ourselves to keep working against it? I feel like I have some social anxieties. Unwisely, I've isolated because, that felt more comfortable but it now means that the issue has become worse. To the point it would very likely hold me back from career development.

What were you hoping for from your Mum? That she would get you an official diagnosis and maybe treatment for ADHD? Or, were you hoping for more understanding if you struggled with school work?

 

[annoyed]

I don't really care for how she feels, I just wish she wouldn't dig into my life because when she puts her two cents in anything it's always so blind and disrespectful. I'm not saying there could be truth to the audiobook but she's basically just indirectly calling me a bum and a self-diagnostic when she knows I frequent doctors, therapists, and psychiatrists about the same symptoms and feelings for years now, and she's instilling trust into the word of some unlicensed "doctor". It feels like she chooses to not understand how dehumanizing this feels.

 

[missedmybus]

I'll have a listen to it while working today, will get back to you. Generally podcasts aren't a great source of information though. My mum keeps trying to get me into astrology podcasts.

Edit: on a first skim on this Caroline Leaf person's website/background, she seems like your typical internet huxter. It seems like she has done some somewhat serious work in the past, but now seems to be fully in the internet self help grifting category.

Her resume on her website says she studied some sort of Communication Science thing. Most things related to what you would be looking for seem to be things she invented herself, and are registered trademarks in her name (generally a big warning sign that you are dealing with a snake oil salesman).