Driven to Distraction: Recognizing and Coping with Attention Deficit Disorder

by Edward M. Hallowell

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. Change sets, i.e., get involved with some new activity (preferably interactive), such as a conversation with a friend, or a tennis game, or reading a book. 34. Related to number 33, recognize the following cycle, which is very common among adults with ADD: a. Something “startles” your psychological system, a change or transition, a disappointment or even a success. The precipitant may be quite trivial, nothing more than an everyday event. b. This “startle” is followed by a minipanic with a sudden loss of perspective, the world being set topsy-turvy. c. You try to deal with this panic by falling into a mode of obsessing and ruminating over one or another aspect of the situation. This can last for hours, days, even months. To break the negative obsessing, have a list of friends to call. Have a few videos that always engross you and get your mind off things. Have ready access to exercise. Have a punching bag or pillow handy if there’s extra angry energy. Rehearse a few pep talks you can give yourself, like, “You’ve been here before. These are the ADD blues. They will soon pass. You are OK.”