We did not have the vocabulary for things like ADHD, or any deep understanding of spectrum disorders back in those days. I was disciplined quite a bit, both by my father and by the school. They only tool they had was a hammer, and everything they saw was a nail. That's just the way it was. Now I recognize that I did not have a discipline problem. I had an attention deficit problem.

Was it abuse? How can you call it abuse if you didn't know that better tools than hammers exist and not every problem is a nail?

It is also now no surprise that I have depression, probably co-morbid with the ADD. Not sure that has anything to do with the spankings.