Disneyland: the most stressful place on earth?

It’s been 7 years that I’ve been helping children, teens and adults in overcoming the effects of ADHD and Autistic Spectrum Disorders—7 years since I’ve come to grips with my own struggle with ADHD. So when the wife, daughter and I arrived at Disneyland, I was happy, excited and totally expecting to have a good time. We went through the gates, walked up main street, headed for the magic kingdom. It was amazing--watching the parade, seeing the world of Disney through the eyes of our 4-year-old daughter. We were having a wonderful time.

However, after about 4 hours, something began to happen--something I was not expecting and something I'd not really experienced in a number of years.
As we weaved in an out of the crowds, I became more and more uncomfortable. My posture shifted to one that was braced for impact. My chin dropped slightly. My lips ever so slightly pursed. My eyes continuously scanning the crowd. At the time I was unaware that my unconscious mind had become more and more alert to the subtle signs of stress and anxiety among the other patrons. By closing time, even my wife noticed that I seemed to be in a world of my own and my walk had an unmistakable swagger. On a scale of 1 to 10, my hyper-alertness was about a 9.5.

The next morning I was acutely aware of my stress level as well as some very old stress-related behaviors that I had not experienced in several years. Most notably among them was unconsciously tracking my footsteps to avoid cracks and breaks in the paving as well as the myriad of invisible lines created by the corners of wall, doors, columns, furniture, and other architectural features.

If I may just to the end, I was able to walk myself through a short series of physical and mental exercises to restore myself to a relatively relaxed and focused state that was much more conducive to an enjoyable day at Disneyland.

My reason for relating this experience is that anyone, particularly children, with the physical and emotional sensitivities common to ADHD and other ASD’s, is likely to be vulnerable to this type of response to large crowds or stimulating events. (Some of you may recall my experience of becoming overwhelmed during the first game of the 2010 world series.)

It was only the result of my intimate understanding of ADHD and my extensive training in techniques to overcome the effects of ADHD that enabled me to first, become aware of my stress response and over-stimulation, and second, have the tools to do something about it.

Your typical ADHD or ASD child will have no such awareness or tools at his disposal. As his nervous system becomes more and more overloaded by the conflicting sea of emotions and unconscious sensations, he will most than likely feel more and more anxious and dissociated until, ultimately, he releases his anxiety upon whomever he feels is safe to deliver his wrath.

As parents, it is up to us to see beyond how we think our children “should” feel or should respond to a given situation and be present to how they are actually responding. As parents of ADHD or ASD children, we must be even more vigilant to those situations that will overstimulate or over-stress our children. For more information and parent training programs, visit http://www.swish4fish.com