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Every October, people around the world stage activities, share experiences and wear orange ribbons to raise awareness about the neurological attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
High profile Radio Bahrain presenter Shannon Crockett hopes to encourage others to seek help and learn from his experiences.
The chronic and debilitating disorder can affect an individual in many aspects of life – academically, professionally and even with every day simple tasks. It is primarily diagnosed in children aged four to 17 but according to the National Institute of Mental Health, an estimated 4.4 per cent of adults aged 18 to 44 have ADHD.
“Many believe that children grow out of it when they are older, but in most cases, it can actually get worse, especially if left undiagnosed,” said the 43-year-old Australian RJ and operator of Stand Out Events in Sanabis. “Many people still believe ADHD isn’t real and we just want people to understand that it is and what we go through every day.”
He was first diagnosed in 2014 by a specialist while working in Abu Dhabi and was re-diagnosed in 2020.
According to a scholar who wrote the ‘Experiences of criticism in adults with ‘ADHD: A qualitative study’, adults with ADHD may experience poor self-worth, sensitivity towards criticism and increased self-criticism.
“This can also include making careless mistakes, difficulty focusing, fidgeting, inability to sit still and even constantly interrupting people to speak,” continued Shannon, who is a member of the ADHD Supports Group Bahrain, which was launched by Ali Ziad Khalifa Buaij to help others. “ADHD is also different for everyone which can often make it harder to detect.”
This rings true as Shannon struggled during his childhood and was viewed as a ‘class clown’ that ‘needs to sit up front’ or ‘needs to focus more’ or is ‘easily distracted’ and ‘needs to apply himself’.
“ADHD wasn’t a thing growing up in Australia so my behaviour was always seen as ‘that’s just Shannon’,” said the presenter who has worked and lived in the US, the UK, Ireland, Australia, Maldives, UAE and Bahrain. “I always felt different to the other kids but it became more noticeable in Secondary College. I was forced to change schools in 1995, as I wasn’t the ‘pen pushing’ student my school was looking for at the time. They were trying to get into the Top 100 schools in the state and they thought that was more important than my education.
“After changing schools, I had to do my last year across two years, purely because I couldn’t focus. I pushed through purely to make my parents happy, but I wasn’t.
“After I finished school, I left Australia to see the world and find out who I was and who I wanted to be. I’ve now been away the most part of 25 years.
“When I was diagnosed, I went through a whole range of emotions – denial, guilt, anger, sadness, acknowledgment and acceptance. The last one is the hardest, but it is when you realise that a lot of the issues you face on a daily basis are not your fault.
“To be honest, every day is a struggle in one way or another but no two days are ever the same.”
Some of the factors that affect Shannon’s day includes forgetting what he needs to do as he suffers from poor short-term memory. He also has time blindness where he is unable to tell how long things take to do, causing him to run late. He also struggles with procrastination, emotional dysregulation, is easily frustrated and distracted and fidgets constantly.
“I speak without thinking and I can’t handle crowded malls or supermarkets,” he added. “I am unable to multi-task and sometimes I forget to eat or drink. I am messy and disorganised, horrible with numbers, commit careless mistakes, have perceived rejection and I can never just answer a question without telling the story that got to the answer – even though the story had nothing to do with the original question.”
Something else that is common in ADHD, that people like Shannon suffer from, is Imposter Syndrome.
“It’s when you feel like you do not know your own skills and ability and you are constantly worried that someone will find out or expose you,” he explained. “You constantly feel like you don’t belong and every success is because you were lucky. Another thing about ADHD is ‘masking’. We do our best to hide our struggles from the world as we don’t want to be seen as different or failing at common everyday tasks. We know we need help, but we don’t want anyone to know and we don’t like to ask for help so we just deal with it and move on.”
Shannon, however, assures others that it’s not all ‘gloom and doom’.
“I’m creative, positive and spontaneous,” he added. “I’m unpredictable, unique, opinionated, social, funny and the life of the party. People with ADHD thrive on chaos, so we are perfectly calm and ready in emergency situations. We are very good judge of character and know how to read a room.
“I also have the ability to come up with a vast array of new and extraordinary business ideas for different industries and am very good at finding new hobbies.”
While there is no cure, there are many different forms of treatment available.
“Medication can help but isn’t a cure,” said Shannon. “It can help you focus, but doesn’t mean it will help you focus on the right things. Some medications can even subdue your personality. “Supplements like vitamin D3 and magnesium can also help in a more natural way.”
It helps to talk about it as well and having supportive individuals in your corner. He is thankful to his wife Ruzy Vardanyan, his pet dog Nushki and the ADHD Support Group Bahrain.
“My wife Ruzy does her best to help by making sure I update my monthly planner every day and verifies everything I have to do each day,” he said. “My one-year-old puppy is my rock. When I am home with him, the chaos inside my head disappears.
“As for the group, we communicate on WhatsApp and Zoom calls. We all talk about our daily struggles and what coping technics we do that could help.
“If you think you may have ADHD, get yourself diagnosed. If anything you read in this article reminds you of yourself or someone, you know then connect with the @adhd_support_bh group.
“They will always welcome you with open arms. Don’t be afraid, you are not alone. You are perfectly normal. We just do things differently and we think differently. We have our strengths and weakness, just like everyone else. It’s just different and that is not a bad thing.”
The ADHD Support Group has organised a number of events around Bahrain for adults as well as families throughout the month of October. Shannon is also hosting a question and answer session about ADHD at Seef Mall on October 22 at 9.30am.
For details, follow @sirshannoncrockett on Instagram.
