Kaman’s Reflection

EL SEGUNDO – Clippers center Chris Kaman expounded Monday on what he revealed Sunday, during an ESPN “Outside the Lines” segment, that since childhood he mistakenly was diagnosed with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, commonly known as ADHD. However, according to Dr. Tim Royer, the neurosurgeon who met Kaman last May and first tested Kaman last summer, and discovered the misdiagnosis, Kaman had what Royer described as, “an anxious brain,” meaning that Kaman’s brain was working too fast. “Based on his history, when he first came to me, I thought that it would be a slam-dunk ADHD case,” Royer said, by phone Monday. “But in Chris’ case, he actually was being treated for something completely opposite of what he needed to be treated for.” Royer said he designed a program for Kaman last summer, which Kaman diligently adhered to.

“I had Chris tested and his I.Q. is at the 99.9 percentile,” Royer said. “That means he was probably more intelligent than any teacher he had in school and professor that he had in college. But his brain was so overmedicated, that he seemed just like a dumb basketball player.” In past seasons, Kaman would forget plays or try to do too many things, all at once. It reached a point that an exasperated Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy instituted a rule limiting how many times Kaman could dribble the ball in the post before making his move to the basket.

At that time, however, Kaman stubbornly ignored the edict. According to Royer, it is possible that there are hundreds of thousands of children that have been misdiagnosed as having either ADHD or Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). “That’s because 95 percent of the time, people are making these diagnosis based on behavior, rather than looking at the brain,” Royer said.

Neurofeedback, which is what Royer specializes in, is the ultimate way to sharpen focus, reduce stress and make positive changes to the way an individual’s brain operates day to day. This, according to the web site hope139.com. The web site goes on to state: 

Utilizing real-time computerized measures of brain waves, associated with lack of focus and distractibility, the individual learns to regulate these waves into a pattern of sustained focus. The person permanently can change his or her brain waves, not merely treat the symptoms – without medication.

Kaman might never have learned of his misdiagnosis had a cousin of his not gotten tested by Royer. After she was placed on the neurofeedback program, and she showed marked improvement in her attitude, grades and overall outlook on life, Kaman’s uncle contacted him and said he should try it. Kaman said Monday that the stigma of having to take a pill every day in what was supposed to control his behavior and aid his concentration and focus, was embarrassing, hurtful and lowered his self-esteem. He did not stop taking the medication until he was in college. “I’d come home from school crying,” Kaman said, “because I had to take this pill.”

Until Kaman’s diagnosis last summer he and his family believed that he suffered from ADHD. In fact, Kaman’s mother related a story over a year ago where she said that once when Kaman was in elementary school, he locked her out of the house and would not open the door. She attributed that to him suffering from ADHD. But by relating his childhood experience, first on the “Outside the Lines” segment and then Monday after practice, Kaman said he hopes to bring attention to the subject and help educate individuals that have not heard about Neurofeedback.

Kaman is enjoying a breakout season, in this his fifth year in the NBA. He ranks among the league leaders in rebounds, blocked shots and double-doubles, and is one of the leading candidates for the league’s most improved player award. Kaman said that he wanted to tell his story shortly after seeing the initial positive results of the program Royer designed for him but Kaman said he wanted to make sure that his improved play was due to the neurofeedback and not simply his own hard work.

“It’s definitely from the neurofeedback that I’ve been doing,” Kaman said. “But I wanted to make sure that’s what it was from before I started telling people about it. It’s very interesting for me because growing up I had to take the medication. I can’t turn back time. I wish I could but I can’t. It really bothered me having to take the pill every day, knowing that I had to take it to make me a regular person. Or, so I thought.”

Kaman said he has done a lot of research and study of neurofeedback, since getting involved, and he has come to conclusion that there might be many people like himself that are taking medication when they don’t have to or are taking the wrong medication. “I don’t want to go against doctors or psychologists or neurologists and say they don’t know what they’re doing,” Kaman said. “Because I’m not as intelligent as they are and I don’t know all that stuff. But there are alternatives.”

Kaman said he hopes to become a spokesman for neurofeedback because from his platform, as a NBA player, he believes the message can be delivered to masses of people. “God’s really blessed me with the ability to play basketball, to live and to breathe,” Kaman said. “I can’t go back and change what I am and what I’ve become, and I wouldn’t want to. Because who knows where I’d be? Now, I’m in a good position. I’m blessed, my family’s blessed, and I’m in a good position to help people. And that’s what I’m trying to do.”