I was walking on walls and suffering from hyperactivity

Jordanian artist Saba Mubarak sparked controversy regarding her childhood, when she indicated that she was suffering from hyperactivity and distraction, to the point that she was “walking on walls” when she was young.

Comments were divided, across social media platforms, between those who believed that she was speaking metaphorically and those who asserted that she narrated difficult and rare details about that age stage, which was filled with energy that she could not rationalize, which made anything possible.

Mubarak said during television statements that she had had an abnormal energy since childhood, which was greatly exhausting her mother.

She added, “I was walking on walls and did not know how to stay still and could not sit quietly. If there were people around me, I had to interfere in what they were doing.”

She pointed out that her condition was not limited to hyperactivity only, but that she was also exposed to seizures while at school, which prompted doctors at that time to prescribe sedative medications for her, but her mother refused to continue taking them, preferring to search for other means to deal with her condition.

She explained that as she grew older, the symptoms of hyperactivity began to gradually decline, but on the other hand, she developed more symptoms of distraction, in addition to depression, which made her tend toward isolation and was noticeably affected by loud voices and noise.
She indicated that over the years she underwent a number of medical diagnoses, before doctors confirmed to her that she had reached an advanced stage of attention-deficit disorder, pointing out that she was greatly affected when she started treatment, to the point that she cried for the first time after taking the medication, because of the difference she felt in her condition.

She confirmed that doing the things she loves helps her increase focus and clearly improve her condition, stressing that drug treatment alone is not enough, and that psychological support and continuous follow-up with specialists represent an essential part of the journey of recovery and living with the condition.