[ Note: From AOL to Pilgrims Anonymous,
this Web site has been retrieved from Internet Archive WayBack Machine
and is temporary hosted at the above URL. ]
Welcome to ADD Anonymous--a fellowship of adults with ADD. In this group we can share our experience, strength, and hope in an effort to find freedom where there has been bondage, peace where there has been turmoil, courage where there has been fear, and self-esteem where there has been none.
Most of us have been searching for ways to overcome the confusion, conflicts, and chaos that ADD brings to our lives. We have longed to function effectively, maintain relationships, and understand ourselves. Many of us grew up believing we were defective. We were often accused of being morally bad, lazy, stupid, or crazy. Treatment was often discipline in the form of shameful accusations or physical punishment. We were the "battered children" who nobody wanted to have around. Since our diagnosis and new awareness of what ADD really is, we know that ADD is a condition over which we have no control.
In our own way, we have each experienced the pain and emptiness that often accompanies our efforts to "pass for normal" and fit in with "normal" people. At the same time, we struggled with impulsivity, distractibility, restlessness, disorganization, anxiety, or depression. Our histories may include using mood-altering substances to mask the pain resulting from low self-esteem and to fill the emptiness we felt inside.
We learned to survive in our environment, but in ADD Anonymous we are learning to live in a healthy and nurturing way. Through applying the Twelve Steps to our daily lives and relationships, we can experience a new freedom from our self-defeating behavior. It is an individual growth process--where each of us grow at our own pace and will continue to do so if we seek to know God's will for us on a daily basis. Sharing with others is our way of identification. It helps us to free the emotional bonds of our past and the compulsive control of our present.
No matter how traumatic our past was, or how hopeless today may seem, there is hope for a
better future through the fellowship of ADD Anonymous. By joining together, we will learn that
we can be what God intended us to be--loved and valued.