Blog Post 6: Letter of Reflection to Tim Denevi

Timothy Denevi,

              I’ve only known two people with ADHD.  And although I spent 6 years of my life as a friend to someone I knew had ADHD, only now, after reading your work, am I aware of just how little I knew about her condition and how ignorant I was.  As a friend, I feel awful.  But as an inquisitive student, excited for my college career, I feel as though I’ve been given a new pair of glasses and a toolbox.  I now have the means to understand the history behind people I encounter with ADHD and insight into how they may see the world.  I can also look through the perspective of someone who has experienced ADHD. Although you speak for your own experience rather than the experience of the entire population of people with ADHD, you have opened my eyes to the picture of the world my friend sees and communicated your thoughts and feelings in such a way that I found them to be relatable and familiar. 

After reading your scholarly memoir, I definitely feel very informed about the historical transitions between different ideas, approaches, and treatments for ADHD.  However, beyond the facts, which you pointed out to have been told by the perspective of outsiders looking upon the psychological disorder, what resonated most with me was the special, intimate way your voice and imagery painted a picture of the world I’ve never seen before; your picture of the world through the lens of a legitimate psychological disorder.  When I first started reading your personal history of ADHD, I never expected to experience the sensation of walking through the history of the disorder as you relived your experiences through words.  And for the experience you shaped for me, by engaging me with insight into the disorder and depicting moments in your life affected by ADHD, I am very grateful.  As a visual learner, I was very affected by your vivid depiction of each personal moment; the colors, the feeling of the air, and the situation leading up to each specific moment in time seamlessly blended into a smooth, continuous scene.  The imagery that impacted me the most was definitely your depiction of a tantrum.  I saw the colors draining and felt suffocating anxiety as you described your loss of control in those moments.  However, everything, from the flow to the imagery blended into an informative and enjoyable book!