Attention Deficit & its Phenomena

Mural Kristne 5Contemplation on the Phenomena of Attention Deficit

by Dr. Schaeffer-Pautz, M.D.

Attention deficit is a wide spread phenomenon that a lot more people suffer from without carrying the official diagnosis given by a health care provider.

It is not just a diagnosis but a phenomenon of our time. No matter what terminology you would like to use…it is symbolic of our Western civilization with all its neurotic, externally oriented values, some of which are quite meaningless looking from a deeper spiritual, ethical development and aspect. The loss of inner connectedness results in an outer looking for meaning in people’s lives’ and an imbalance towards external values, resulting in loss of structure and inner balance. This results in a lot of confusion for the individual of what to focus on.

One of my patients once said: “It is not the attention deficit, it is the act of being over focused that is the issue. I will not put my book down before I have finished it, no matter how early the morning hours may be. “

If you are an adult suffering from attention deficit, or you want to increase your spiritual practice and efficiency, meditation or focus exercises are something you can do to decrease the attention deficit and increase your focus. After all, is the attention deficit not just an extreme scale of a phenomenon that we all are familiar with and carry in us as a potential deterioration that needs constant counterbalance and practice?  You may always look at the opposite value when trying to tackle an issue. No matter how you look at it: putting children or adults on drugs is only masking the underlying problem. Granted that there are some adults and children who because of the drugs can function and lead a proper life, which may be a welcome temporary crutch and have its purpose and justification, but like many other things, attention deficit should never be addressed with drugs alone.

Exercising and engaging the “will” is key to any long term therapeutic intervention. Focusing on only one thing at a time and creating a home and school study environment in such a way that the child has no unnecessary distractions and is allowed to focus and connect to the essentials.  Clearing the house of unnecessary distractions such as TV, video games, electronic music etc., keeping children from having access to phones & computers at inappropriate ages, will help tremendously in the long run to tackle the true root.  After all, the adults are the examples and facilitators for the child to display the symptoms of attention deficit through over stimulation. 

Putting individuals on chemical drugs may interfere with them being able to work on a human skill set that they came here to work on. This in turn may interfere with one of the most important aspects of human life: exercising the will, making things work out by applying your will force.

Dr. A. Schaeffer-Pautz, M.D. is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Diplomate of the American Board of Integrative Holistic Medicine (ABIHM). Amongst all the internal medical illnesses that she treats, she also sees patients that suffer from autism, attention deficit, depression. She specializes in holistic and anthroposophic treatment approaches in conjunction with conventional medicine and also in terminal diseases such as cancer. Of about fifty doctors practicing anthroposophic medicine in this country, Dr. Schaeffer-Pautz is one of the only two located in Florida. The practice can be reached at (904) 246-3583 in Jacksonville Beach.

The information provided on this website does NOT treat or diagnose any medical condition. If you need medical advice, consult with your health-care provider.