Driven to Distraction: Recognizing and Coping with Attention Deficit Disorder

by Edward M. Hallowell

Break the tapes of negativity. Many people who have ADD have long ago taken on a resigned attitude of “There’s no hope for me.” The same can happen to both partners in the couple. As will be mentioned in many places throughout this book, negative thinking is a most corrosive force in the treatment of ADD. What I call the “tapes of negativity” can play relentlessly, unforgivingly, endlessly in the mind of the person with ADD. It is as if they click on as the sun rises and click off only when the unconsciousness of sleep shuts them down. They play, over and over, grinding noises of “You can’t”; “You’re bad”; “You’re dumb”; “It won’t work out”; “Look how far behind you are”; “You’re just a born loser.” The tapes can be playing in the midst of a business deal, in the reverie of a car ride home, or they can take the place of making love. It is hard to be romantic when you are full of negative thoughts. The thoughts seduce you, like a satanic mistress, into “loving” them instead. These tapes are very difficult to break, but with conscious and sustained effort, they can be erased.