The Wizard of Oz meaning, in therapist Jeremy Van Wert's reading, is that the brain, heart and courage you keep looking for outside yourself were yours all along. He retells Dorothy's story through ADHD: Kansas is masking, the tornado is burnout, the Lion is rejection sensitivity, and home is your actual nervous system.
ᛉKey takeaways
- Jeremy reads Kansas as the world of ADHD masking, where Dorothy is managed instead of understood.
- He sees the tornado as a breaking point, the moment old coping mechanisms stop working, not a punishment.
- The Wizard's diploma, heart-shaped clock and medal are, to Jeremy, outside approval standing in for qualities the characters already had.
- In his telling, the Wicked Witch is the inner critic, defeated by something soft and cleansing.
- Jeremy's bottom line is that the work with ADHD and anxiety is about recognizing what already exists inside you, not fixing yourself.
ᛃ Moments in this one
ᚠThe Wizard of Oz meaning behind Kansas
Jeremy Van Wert, a licensed marriage and family therapist who works with ADHD, calls the film an amazing allegory for how an ADHD mind works. This is his own reading, told as a Campfire Story, and it starts in Kansas.
Everything there is black and white, Jeremy says, because Dorothy has been told over and over that her vividness is the problem. A neighbor wants her dog destroyed, and her family doesn't have enough time for her. He sees in this anyone with ADHD who has been called too dramatic or too intense, while nobody asked what their brain needed.
ᚢADHD masking: managed instead of understood
Jeremy says Kansas represents the world of masking. Dorothy isn't unaccomplished on the farm, he says. She is unaccommodated. He compares this to unsupported ADHD at work, where talented people get labeled undisciplined or inconsistent when they need a different structure, not a different personality.
Miss Gulch, in this telling, is every manager, performance review and family member who has ever asked why you can't just be normal. For people working through this, Jeremy offers individual therapy and ADHD coaching.
ᚦThe tornado as burnout, and landing in color
Jeremy says people miss that the tornado isn't a punishment. It's the point where the old ways of coping stop working: a panic attack in a parking lot, getting fired, a divorce, a diagnosis.
What matters to him is the other side. Dorothy lands in color, in a place both brilliant and terrifying, and Jeremy reads that as expansion, a chance to become a more honest and vivid version of yourself.
ᚨWizard of Oz meaning of characters: the Scarecrow and Tin Man
The Scarecrow believes he has no brain, yet he solves the problems the whole way. Jeremy sees the contradiction people with ADHD live with: years of being called careless, alongside moments of brilliant work under pressure.
The Tin Man wasn't born without a heart, Jeremy says. He froze because nobody came with oil, and in Jeremy's view chronic masking does the same thing, burying warmth rather than removing it. Oil doesn't install a heart. It dissolves what was blocking the one already there.
ᚱThe Lion and rejection sensitivity in ADHD
Jeremy reads the Lion as anxiety and rejection sensitivity. He apologizes constantly and is sure he's weak, much like the overthinking Jeremy describes around small things. His conclusion is that the Lion isn't a coward. He's dysregulated and unsupported, walking a hard road with a nervous system that never got the security it needed.
In the story, the Lion grows once he recognizes he is valuable and lovable. For readers who want company on a hard road, Thriving Spirits, the Mindful Mutiny community, offers real conversation and live Fireside Chats.
ᚲThe Wicked Witch as your inner critic
The Witch comes after Dorothy because Dorothy has something of value. Jeremy calls her the voice that speaks up just as you're about to do something fantastic. He says rejection sensitivity works the same way, with a preload of humiliation before any rejection happens, so the blow lands harder.
She isn't outsmarted. She's undone by water, and Jeremy says this is what real integration work looks like: unraveling the self-sabotage and the demeaning way you talk to yourself, dissolving the shame.
ᚷGlinda and what a good therapist does
Glinda knew the way all along, yet she never does any walking for Dorothy. She keeps pointing her inward. Jeremy calls this a clean description of a therapist, coach or facilitator: someone who holds space long enough for you to recognize what you already have. He does this work himself, including at Light in the Mountains, a three-day small-group psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy retreat in the Sierra Nevada.
ᚹThe Wizard of Oz symbolism behind the curtain
Jeremy calls the unveiling the emotional peak. The Wizard stands for whatever you've outsourced your worth to: the diagnosis that will explain you, the achievement that will prove you, the approval that will quiet the critic. Behind the curtain is an ordinary, frightened man performing power.
He never gives anyone what they asked for. The Scarecrow gets a diploma, the Tin Man a heart-shaped clock, the Lion a medal. Each came from an outside authority, while the real quality had been inside all along.
ᚠWhat "there's no place like home" means
Dorothy had the ruby slippers the whole time, and Jeremy says she could have come home from the first step. To him, home is your actual brain, heart and nervous system, not the ones you were told you should have. The intensity and sensitivity that got her pathologized in Kansas are what carried her through Oz.
You can get a diagnosis and you can take medication, he says, but he believes healing goes deepest when you stop believing the old stories about yourself. He also says you need support, and he closes by inviting people to reach out. A private 30-minute conversation is the place to start.
This story is for education and inspiration and is not a substitute for therapy or medical advice. Please talk with your prescriber before making any change to medication.
ᚨ Questions people ask
What is the meaning behind The Wizard of Oz?
Jeremy Van Wert reads it as an allegory for ADHD, with Dorothy and her companions searching outside themselves for what they already have. This is his interpretation, not a claim about what the filmmakers intended.
What do the Wizard of Oz characters represent?
In Jeremy's telling, the Scarecrow is the person told they aren't smart, the Tin Man is warmth buried by masking, and the Lion is anxiety and rejection sensitivity. The Witch is the inner critic, Glinda is a good therapist or coach, and the Wizard is any authority you've handed your worth to.
What are examples of ADHD masking?
Jeremy describes masking as pretending, hiding your heart and apologizing for existing. He says years of it can leave a person believing they're cold or too much.
What is rejection sensitivity in ADHD like?
Jeremy describes a preload of humiliation before any rejection happens. People become so sure they'll fail, he says, that a firing or a breakup lands as an even more powerful blow.
Is there a spiritual meaning in The Wizard of Oz?
Jeremy closes by saying the answer isn't only in techniques, but in your spirit and in recognizing you have what you need inside you. He pairs that with the need for support.