1. The Davinci Life Script:
The Gift and Curse of Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder
Cheryl Leong, MA, LMFT #52417, ADHD #314.00

2. THE GIFT-DISORDER OF ATTENTION
DEFICIT?
 A paradoxical diagnosis that is a gift at its best
and a disorder at its worst.
 Doctors, researchers, psychologists, therapists
& counsellors have not come up with a reliable
and consistent way to diagnose, treat or support
the diagnose.
 Current diagnostic criteria for the DSM is vague.
 Professionals vastly defer in opinion around
this diagnosis.
 Not enough literature around how to make a
differential diagnosis.

3. DAVINCI….
 Attempted countless paintings- completed only 25.
 he was an inventor, scientist, carpenter—— so
much more
 his ideas were endless!
 today- we would say he has ADHD.
 Thomas edison was always in trouble at school, day
dreaming and being talkative, impulsive….
 There are incredible research that find a co-
relationship between creativity and ADHD.
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4. “COINCIDENCE OF CREATIVITY & ADHD”
 Shaw, G.A. (1992). Hyperactivity and creativity: The
tacit dimension. Bulletin of the Psychonomic
Society, 30, 152-160.
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5. LIMITATIONS OF THE DSM DIAGNOSIS
 Gives an incomplete picture of this neurological type.
 Pathologizes a learning and personality difference.
 Limited understanding of the disorder in adults.
 Does not distinguish genetic/environmental factors that
affect attention span.
 Does not consider other traits of the ADD personality that
go beyond mere “attention” difficulties.

6. ADHD GIFT IGNORED
 Hyperfocus is an intense form of mental
concentration or visualization that focuses
consciousness on a narrow subject, separate
from objective reality and onto subjective mental
planes, daydreams, concepts, fiction, the
imagination and other objects of the mind. It is a
state that may occur during hypnosis, especially
at theta rhythm brainwave levels
- (wikipedia)
Hartmann, Thom:
-A.D.D.: A Different Perception.
-The Edison Gene

7. FLIP SIDE OF BEING HYPER-FOCUSED
:OBSESSIVE/ADDICTIVE TRAITS
 Video game addiction
 Intrusive obsessive thoughts
 Process addictions
 Compulsive behaviours

8. DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS/
CO-OCURING DISORDERS
•Examples:
•Mood Disorders
•Anxiety Disorders- e.g. OCD
•Sensory Disorders
•Anxiety Disorders
•Personality Traits/Disorders
•Post Trauma Symptoms
•Sleep Disorder
•Substance abuse/dependence
•Process addictions

9. 40, 000 YEARS AGO….
The story of the (7R) & (2R) allele of the human
dopamine receptor D4 (DRD4) gene

10. • ADHD GENETICS ARE CALLED THE ‘NOVELTY
SEEKING GENE’ THAT EMERGED ONLY 40, 000
YEARS AGO..
SCIENTISTS BELIEVE THAT THIS GENE ENABLED HUMAN
BEINGS TO SURVIVE THE ICE AGE.
THIS GENE ALLOWED FOR ADVENTUROUS TYPES, DAY
DREAMERS, ONES WITH IMAGINATION AND INTUITION,
CREATIVITY TO EXPLORE NEW LANDS TO SURVIVE
THE ICE AGE
HUMAN BEINGS AS A RESULT SURVIVED BY LEAVING
AFRICA.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA HAS THE HIGHEST
CONCENTRATION OF THIS GENETICS- IT IS THE
FURTHEST FROM AFRICA.
THATS THE STORY OF THE DAVINCI ANCESTRY.
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11. OUT-OF-AFRICA MIGRATION SELECTED
NOVELTY-SEEKING GENES
 Richard P. Ebstein, Ben-Gurion University in Beersheva (1996)
 http://www.nytimes.com/1996/01/02/science/variant-gene-tied-to-a-love-of-new-
thrills.html?src=pm
 Chen Chuan Sheng, UC Irvine (2001)
 “Evidence of positive selection acting at the human dopamine receptor D4 gene
locus’
 Luke Mathews, Harvard University (2011)
 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/2011/05/how-the-fierce-people-came-
to-be/

12. BRAIN WAVES

13. ERIC BERNE’S
PSYCHO-BIOLOGICAL HUNGERS-
 Stimulation: 5 senses
 Time Structure: Calendar marking,
 Incident: news, the latest gossip
 Recognition: sense of identity, belonging
 Contact: touch
 Sexual: sexual needs
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14. DAVINCIS ARE THAT MUCH MORE HUNGRY.
 Low dopamine leaves the brain feeling a hunger for
stimulation.
 What early decisions were made when these
hungers were unmet/met? Were these decisions
pre-verbal/verbal?
 How are these Parent introjects like?
 How did the child make sense of his/her being?
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15. 3rd Degree impasse
Dream & Disappear
Crash and burn
Take drugs to be me
Take drugs to not be me
Death/Imprisonment
P0
A0
C0
Literature/research- parents report
difficulty soothing/ feeding challenges
as well as lack of responses to touch
contact during infancy.
Don’t be hungry
Don’t feel
Don’t be
Don’t exists
Don’t need
I want milk
I feel …
I’m here!
I need you

16. A2
P2
C2
P1
C1
A1
Don’t be
Don’t Feel
Don’t Be
Don’t Make It
Don’t Belong
I want to be
I want to Feel
I want to to make it
I want to belong
2nd degree impasse

17. 1st Degree Impasse
P2
Follow the rules
Have Patience
Pay attention
Settle down
Behave
Stay out of trouble
I’m bored
I want to do
what I want
I don't care
I want what I
want
A2
C2

18. EGO-STATE PORTRAIT
Neurology
Low executive functioning
(Adult/Parent)
Low Dopamine levels
A
P
C
Time management,
planning
communicating ideas
in an organized way,
organizational skills

19. Authority Figures,
Romantic
Partners, Friends,
Helpful
(Or Rescuing)
strangers
Aside from neurological pre-dispositions,
ongoing relational patterns contribute to Adult/Parent Exclusions
Symbiotic Relationships

20. GIFT AND CURSE
 Hyper-Activity
 Impulsivity
 Obsessive/addictive/inat
tentive
 Bad with details
 Overly Detailed
 Distracted
 Conduct Issues
 Enthusiasm
 Risk-takers/courage
 Hyper-focused
 Big-picture/visionaries
 Imaginative, integrating
various ideas into novel
concepts/stories.
Creativity
Challenges Advantages

21. CHALLENGING WAYS OF GETTING
HUNGER NEEDS MET
Low Dopamine
Dopamine
Seeking -ve
Strokes
Anticipation of
Consequence
External
Consequences
Guilt, shame,
anger, sadness
RACKETEERING

22. SOME PROPOSED INTERVENTIONS
 Permission to get hunger needs met in authentic
ways.
 Permit the A1 (LP) to be the creative explorer or
experimenter
 Offering the experience of a nurturing and firm
Parent ego state
 Offering Adult decontamination.
 Re-parenting for deeper impasses
 Holding counter-transference material as clinical
information to facilitate script change.
 A SENSE OF PLAY… SERIOUS PLAY.
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23. EARLY CHALLENGING DECISIONS
 WORLD- regular, ordinary world of structure, rules
and boring predictability (You’re Not OK).
 I- different, trouble maker, out of place, a burden,
careless, impulsive, rule breaker, social misfit, black
sheep of the family (I’m Not OK) .
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24. EARLY WINNING DECISIONS
 WORLD- appreciates and is accepting of my unique
and special qualities (You’re OK).
 I- am an imaginative wonderer, different, creative,
brave, risk taker, seeker of the extraordinary/novelty
(I’m OK).
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25. The Integrated Davinci
(Winner Script)
Thrive, be you, survive, compromise.
If I want to thrive/survive then
this makes sense
I want to survive, I want to be.
LP NC

26. GAMES THERAPISTS PLAY WITH DAVINCIS
 Con (client is helpless/scattered Victim) + Gimmick
(therapist takes over/Rescues -> Switch -> X Client
feels ‘controlled’ and Persecutes therapist, Therapist
feels like an unappreciated/helpless Victim =>
Payoffs / Racket feelings
 Early decisions are reinforced.
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27. (EDUCATORS) FACILITATING
HEALTHY TRANSFORMATIONS
 Affirm/attend to interests, ideas and creativity.
 Improve relationship life through authenticity
training.
 Reinforce natural sensation/thrill seeking/creative
obsessions while discouraging addictive behaviours.
 Affirm students when they seek novelty through
healthy means.
 Manage parents expectations, e.g. getting their child
to stay still for long hours
 Affirm imagination and day dreaming after school
work is done.

28. ADHD COACHES
 Increase study skills based on their specific learning
style
 Increase organizational skills, time management
 Grounding/mindfulness techniques to increase
attention span.
 Increase their relationship & communication skills-
listening, keeping to commitments.
 Behavioral treatment for oppositional behaviors
 Systemic work with parents and teachers to work on
firm and consistent boundaries
 Couples therapy/professional coaching for adult
ADHD

29. VIDEO: ADHD MEDICATION