Sonia Gray

Why do some people with ADHD cut across conversations, read all the words on a page but not take in the meaning, and drift off into their own little daydreaming worlds, even when they are trying so hard not to?

What Gill and many others in the field now believe is that the issue happens further up in what's called the salience network.

Like the name suggests, this network decides what's salient, what's important.

Think of it like a switchboard that sits between the daydreaming network and the getting things done network, toggling between them, turning their volumes up and down.

And the salience network operates pre-consciously.

It's why we jump before we know the reason we're jumping.

At the end of the day, as homo sapiens, the fundamental purpose of all this is to keep us alive.

And at this point in the chain, things come into our consciousness.

We can see the saber-toothed tiger, or the modern equivalent, and we can look for our escape route at the same time.

So if you're ADHD, you have a salience network that's not telling you what's relevant, and that causes stress.

So there's a knock-on effect because stress lowers levels of that protein BDNF, and the salience network needs BDNF to form new connections.

An example Gill gives is the adolescent girl whose ADHD is missed early on because she might be a bit of a daydreamer, but she's not disruptive and she's smart enough to get through, in primary school at least.

But then in high school, not only does the work get tougher, but friendship groups become more important and more complicated.

And if your brain doesn't always tell you what to prioritise, it can have a big impact in lots of areas.

Not every child who cuts themselves has undiagnosed ADHD, but Gil sees it a lot.

When life feels chaotic, the act of cutting gives internal and external input, and you can see it happening.

It's real.

Now, this might all sound a bit bleak, but it's really not, because Gil and the team at Matai are committed to changing these outcomes, to educating not just whānau, but all of society on the reality of living with a differently wired brain.

I mean, having been to Matai a couple of times now, there is something very special about it.

I know you guys are at the forefront of what you do and it's groundbreaking stuff, but it's all very, it's a very whānau environment, very welcoming, very understanding of us non-science people who ask stupid questions.