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March 15 - March 19, 2024
Like the borderline population and those with disorders of impulse control, many who are diagnosed as antisocial personalities actually have ADD.
American society tends to create ADD-like symptoms in us all. We live in an ADD-ogenic culture.
Yes and only moreso since this book was published
Most adults who have ADD do not suspect they have it. They just feel that something is amiss in some unnameable way.
ADD is much higher among the adopted than among the general population.
As yet, we do not have formal, statistically validated criteria for the diagnosis of ADD in adults.
Is this still true in 2024?
it cannot be stressed too firmly how important it is not to diagnose oneself. While the information and examples presented here may lead you to suspect that you or your child or a relative has ADD, an evaluation by a physician to confirm the diagnosis and to rule out other conditions is essential.
Table IV lists some of the conditions that may resemble ADD and need to be ruled out in making the diagnosis, and some of the conditions that may accompany or mask ADD.
SUGGESTED DIAGNOSTIC CRITERIA FOR ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER IN ADULTS
met only if the behavior is considerably more frequent than that of most people of the same mental age.
15. Mood swings, mood lability, especially when disengaged from a person or a project.
many people who do in fact have ADD appear not to have it when given psychological tests. This is because the testing procedure may temporarily treat the ADD, obliterating the symptoms during the time of the testing. Three of the best treatments for ADD are one-to-one tutoring, high motivation, and novelty. People with ADD typically can focus in a one-to-one setting while they become distractible in a group setting
Once the diagnosis has been made, the next step is to learn as much as possible about the condition. The more you know, the better you will be able to construct your treatment to meet your own needs,
Effective treatment often requires a radical rethinking of your view of yourself. Understanding the many forms ADD takes will help you not only to recognize how it affects you, but also to explain the syndrome to those around you—
ADD is an explanation, not an excuse. They still have to take responsibility for what they do.
Another man cost himself literally tens of thousands of dollars a year in tax deductions because he felt constitutionally incapable of saving receipts. The task of getting organized, one that bedevils us all, particularly vexes the ADD mind.
In doing psychotherapy with adults with ADD, the therapist will help structure sessions; he or she will be quite active.
If you have ADD, you need the therapist to guide you through your thoughts and associations, helping you prioritize your mental productions and pay attention to what is germane while letting go of what is extraneous. If in the process you let go of a pearl, that is too bad; but it is better than spending the whole therapy shucking pearl-less oysters.
In making the decision I did, I was taking on the role of distraction censor, a role I often play with my patients who have ADD. The risk inherent in making such a decision for my patient is that I would unintentionally sidestep important material.
In a sense, the best therapist for someone with ADD is someone else with ADD, someone who has been there, someone who knows the place from the inside.
medication is no panacea. It does not work for everybody who has ADD, and for those it does help, it ameliorates but does not cure the syndrome. When medication is used, it should be used only under medical supervision, and it should be used only as part of a comprehensive treatment program
Children, particularly boys, often feel that taking medicine is like admitting something scary is wrong with them, admitting they are “retarded” or “crazy” or “stupid,” all labels they are struggling to throw off.
what too often happens is that one decides against medication without a full understanding of what is involved. One decides against medication on the basis of heresay, superstition, or gut feeling, not on the basis of fact and science.
Although medication does not always work, when it does work, it works wonders. To decide against it on an informed basis is fine, but to decide against it for irrational reasons is a mistake.
The taking of medication for ADD should not be an act of faith but an act of science.
Practical Tips on the Management and Treatment of ADD
The most important section for my work.
16. When it comes to paperwork, use the principle of O.H.I.O: Only Handle It Once. When you receive a document or a memo or any kind of written material, try to only handle it once.
21. Break down large tasks into small ones. Attach deadlines to the small parts. Then, like magic, the large task will get done. This is one of the simplest and most powerful of all structuring devices.
Often people with ADD need to be doing several things at once in order to get anything done at all.
27. Leave time between engagements to gather your thoughts. Transitions are difficult for ADDers, and minibreaks can help
28. Keep a notepad in your car, by your bed, and in your pocketbook or jacket. You never know when a good idea will hit you, or you’ll want to remember something else.
31. Recharge your batteries. Related to number 30, most adults with ADD need, on a daily basis, some time to waste without feeling guilty about it. One guilt-free way to conceptualize it is to call it time to recharge your batteries. Take a nap, watch TV, meditate. Something calm, restful, at ease.
33. Understand mood changes and ways to manage these. Know that your moods will change willy-nilly, independent of what’s going on in the external world. Don’t waste your time looking for someone to blame. Focus rather on learning to tolerate a bad mood, knowing that it will pass, and learning strategies to make it pass sooner.
36. Expect depression after success. People with ADD commonly complain of feeling depressed, paradoxically, after a big success.
37. Learn symbols, slogans, sayings as shorthand ways of labeling and quickly putting into perspective slip-ups, mistakes, or mood swings.
These are not excuses. You still have to take responsibility for your actions. It is just good to know where your actions are coming from and where they’re not.
14. Eliminate, or reduce the frequency of, timed tests. There is no great educational value to timed tests, and they definitely do not allow many children with ADD to show what they know.
I hate timed tests.
24. Announce what you are going to say before you say it. Say it. Then say what you have said. Since many ADD children learn better visually than by voice, if you can write what you’re going to say as well as say it, that can be most helpful. This kind of structuring glues the ideas in place.
2. After an initial burst of improvement, progress slows.
it is also in the employer’s best interest: people with ADD are hard, energetic workers. Tapping into their true potential is like harnessing rushing rapids to a hydroelectric turbine.
The Attention Deficit Information Network (AD-IN) is another excellent national organization devoted to helping people with ADD. Its address is 475 Hillside Avenue, Needham, MA 02194. Telephone: (617) 455-9895.
Still’s observations supported the theory of William James, the father of American psychology. James saw the deficits in what he called inhibitory volition, moral control, and sustained attention as being causally related to each other through an underlying neurological defect.
So can we say that ADD is a chemical imbalance? Like most questions in psychiatry, the answer is yes and then again no.
topographagnosia (getting lost a lot!)
I have this!
