Counterwill, Defiance, and Emotional Safety in ADD: The Defiant Ones | Chapter 20 of Scattered Minds by Gabor Maté
Counterwill, Defiance, and Emotional Safety in ADD: The Defiant Ones | Chapter 20 of Scattered Minds by Gabor Maté Welcome to Last Minute Lecture’s summary of Chapter 20 from Scattered Minds by Dr. Gabor Maté. In this chapter, Dr. Maté unpacks defiance and oppositionality in ADD children, revealing that “stubbornness” is often counterwill—a natural, protective response to feeling controlled, not a sign of willful disobedience. Watch our full chapter video below, and subscribe to Last Minute Lecture for more trauma-informed parenting guides and deep-dives into child psychology: Subscribe to Last Minute Lecture for more chapter-by-chapter textbook summaries and family support resources. Understanding Counterwill: Natural Resistance, Not Rebellion Dr. Maté introduces the concept of counterwill—a biologically-wired resistance to control or coercion. In ADD, this can manifest as verbal defiance, passive refusal, mood swings, and all-or-nothing thinking. Rather than being a ch...