Reddit Reddit reviews Driven to Distraction: Recognizing and Coping with Attention Deficit Disorder from Childhood Through Adulthood

We found 21 Reddit comments about Driven to Distraction: Recognizing and Coping with Attention Deficit Disorder from Childhood Through Adulthood. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

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Driven to Distraction: Recognizing and Coping with Attention Deficit Disorder from Childhood Through Adulthood
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21 Reddit comments about Driven to Distraction: Recognizing and Coping with Attention Deficit Disorder from Childhood Through Adulthood:

u/libertysyclone · 8 pointsr/ADHD
u/machuu · 8 pointsr/ADD

First of all, you need a plan. ADDers require a lot more structure than others, so you need a system of organizing tasks/time management that you think you can work with.

Second, medication. If you aren't diagnosed, see a psychiatrist and get diagnosed (make sure it's a psychiatrist, psychologists can't prescribe meds). If you are diagnosed, go see a doctor and talk about what meds are available. Medication will help you stick to the plan, and stay on task long enough to complete what you're working on.

Third, get a "Coach". This is a person who will keep you accountable. It can be a friend/co-worker/parent/spouse/whatever. Their job is to check in with you for a few minutes each day/two days/week and keep you on track. All they need to do is cover 4 topics, with the acronym H.O.P.E

H - Help, What do you need help with?
O - Obligations, What obligations do you have in the near future?
P - Plan, What is your plan to meet your obligations?
E - Encouragement, You're doing a good job!

I'd recommend some reading too.
Books that have really helped me are:
Driven to Distraction - Gives a thorough explanation of what ADD/ADHD is and isn't.
The Now Habit - Gives a really good plan to work through procrastination, but most importantly to deal with the guilt and anxiety that go along with it.
These are available in audiobook too. I find it easier to listen while driving/running/waiting in line/etc than to force myself to sit and read.

There are lots of resources to help, and your psychiatrist can answer a lot of your questions too.

Hope this helps :)

u/rabidassbaboon · 5 pointsr/nova

When I got treatment for ADHD as an adult, it was as simple as finding a psychiatrist (psychologist? The one more focused on medical treatment than talking about your childhood.) that took my insurance, talking about my issues, and then getting on Ritalin. I think you can even go to your GP for it, which I didn't know at the time. It wasn't a long term fix for me but definitely helped me get it under control to the point that I could manage it without medication and I've been off Ritalin now for almost a decade.

This book was also an enormous help to me. Highly recommended.

Best of luck to you. Getting my ADHD under control was a gigantic turning point in my life.

u/KCF11 · 5 pointsr/DoesAnybodyElse

This was me, and I know exactly why in my case. I had undiagnosed ADD and the brain chemicals that are triggered by the stress of an impending deadline actually allowed my brain to focus.

While there are benefits
>Yeah, and it has worked out well for me recently. I did a ten page single-spaced paper in one eleven hour session the night before it was due and got an A. Also, I put off five weeks of reading until the night before a final and set the curve.

it can also be very troublesome.
>This was me in school, and this has been me in my few-decades-long software engineering career. It's really a problem on self-directed projects where I set the deadline. Things never get done.

As a teacher who was diagnosed with ADD during grad school, I have learned that while it is majorly over-diagnosed in some populations, it is woefully under-diagnosed in others. Extremely intelligent people without the hyperactivity component (which generally leads to diagnosis by driving teachers crazy) generally can do so well in school and work situations by utilizing the last minute focusing ability, that they never get diagnosed.

In some cases, undiagnosed people are perfectly happy to continue on enjoying their time between deadlines and then cramming. Many people, however, no matter what they have achieved, always feel this overwhelming sense that they are not living up to their potential, that they could have done better if only they could have focused themselves. This constant feeling of under-achievement can lead to depression.

I would suggest that anyone who identifies with this do some research about ADD and decide if maybe they should be evaluated -- it saved my life. An excellent book, which includes the DSM-IV criteria for diagnosis in adults is Driven to Distraction.

u/fefebee · 5 pointsr/ADHD

> I, of course, asked her why she felt that way. She said, "Because you said you did well in school. You got good grades, finished college, etc." She chose to ignore, of course, the 5 major-changes, 2 times I dropped out of college, 2 times I changed colleges, 35 missed days of my senior year of high school and the fact that I sporadically attended class in college.

Wow are you me? This is exactly what happened when I first asked my doctor about ADD. She literally said "You wouldn't have graduated college if you had ADD." I was fuckin pissed when she said that, and when I tried to calmly explain my symptoms, she just dismissed them saying "That sounds more like depression, let me talk to another doctor real quick about prescribing you Lexapro." I protested I wasn't depressed, she left the room anyway. She ended up not giving me Lexapro because she didn't want to give me anything without me talking to a psychologist first.

Around this time, I also moved to the other side of the state, and since I was (and still am) having issues finding a job -or more or less FOCUSING on finding a job -I decided to go to a new doctor in the area and went in with the approach that I was just seeking a referral for a psychologist, she asked why, I explained my symptoms, again she thought maybe depression yadda yadda yadda, BUT she gave me a referral anyways.

A week later I found myself in a psychologists office and I spent two or three weekly sessions explaining my issues, read a couple ADHD books, and took a few ADHD tests. It took about a month of this before she prescribed me anything, but I hung in there knowing the results would be well worth it. And it totally was worth the wait. The 'depression' I had been feeling went away within a few weeks of being on Vyvanse because my head felt clearer and there weren't as many random thoughts going through my brain.

I highly, highly recommend you read Driven to Distraction by Hallowell because it does an absolutely amazing job at describing exactly how it feels to have ADD from childhood to adulthood. Force yourself to read it, I know reading with ADHD is torture sometimes, but there were so many "HOLY SHIT THAT'S ME" moments that it was hard to put it down. Everything was explained from my wild childish imagination to why teachers wrote what they did on report cards ("She's smart but doesn't apply herself!") to why I'd skip class. EVERYTHING.

TL;ADD: I'm serious, read Driven to Distraction by Hallowell!!!!!!!! Armed with the knowledge you get from that book about yourself and your symptoms, you should be able to not only give a more effective 'argument' as to why you think you have ADHD and not depression, but you will also learn a lot about ADHD and why it effects you the way it does.

u/SeaTurtlesCanFly · 5 pointsr/ADHD

I found Driven to Distraction helpful. The author has also written a few more books. I haven't read them yet, but they are supposed to be very good.

u/warlockjones · 4 pointsr/Parenting

I can't even really formulate a coherent response to this because it's late and my meds have worn off, but I'm the exact same way. I THRIVE in high stress, very intense situations or emergencies.

I'm also curious if you've ever read the book Driven to Distraction by Edward Hallowell? Reading it was a huge turning point for me and my wife and it has really helped a lot.

u/[deleted] · 3 pointsr/AskReddit

You might want to also check out Driven to Distraction by Edward Hallowell. He has a whole series that's excellent, but this is the one that I read first (and the book that I think diagnosed me). The stories made me cry because they were so much like me.

u/hedgeowl · 3 pointsr/ADHD

ADHD/f, 35 years old here.

If you've asked her what is wrong and she told you nothing, then don't treat her like she's being dishonest about it. (Not saying you are! Just saying - don't keep asking.) Even if there is something wrong, she may not be ready to talk about it or she may not even know quite how to articulate it yet. Just let her know that you're there for her anytime she wants to talk or needs help, no matter how trivial her problems might seem to her, and leave it at that.

I've had boyfriends that thought the answer to this kind of situation was to shower more attention on me, which I then felt obligated to respond to when there was already an increased demand on my time and focus, which stressed me out even more!

So respect her personal space, both physical AND mental. If she needs some extra time to herself during stressful periods, then that's the best thing you can do for her. Try not to take it too personally, especially since you mentioned she's applying to med school. My best friend applied to law school this past spring and she was an absolute mess from the time she started narrowing down schools until she got accepted - we're talking months here - and she doesn't even have ADHD.

I think it's great that you're dedicated to keeping your relationship healthy. I would strongly recommend that you read Driven To Distraction by Edward Hallowell if you haven't already. It gives a generally useful overview of ADHD but also talks about relationships. I think it would give you some additional insight that might be helpful.

Good luck!

u/S_K_I · 2 pointsr/ADHD

A woman who was close to your age wrote a post exactly as you described a while back ago so I'll give you the same advice I gave her, I hope this helps.

Let me break down a few things so you can gain some perspective, and I apologize for my broad speculating here because I don't have a lot of detail from you to reflect on. But I'll do my best to give you some analysis so you can more or less gain insight and introspection into what he is experiencing right about now, because I've been there my friend, believe me...

Men are prideful by default, we bottle all of our emotions because of societal pressures convince us that it's a sign of weakness if we do, and it's just silliness. Your husband I'm sure has known about this for a lot longer than you might have imagined, and he's at the stage where his pride and ignorance has turned into fear and depression because the years of failure and self-doubt has profound psychological and emotional devastation that is only natural for many people first discovering they learn they have a disorder. And it's not just the learning deficit which has fractured his self-esteem, but the impact ADHD has on the ones closest to him. It's a vicious cycle to deal with.

To admit to himself he has ADHD (like so many others who subscribe to /r/adhd) is to admit he is a broken clock that can't be fixed; that is a huge blow to anyone's self-esteem. It is equally frustrating for him to understand because it is so complex and can take years of incite and self introspection to fully grasp all of the nuances of this disorder; many individuals dismiss it as an excuse for being lazy or simply being dumb, and unfortunately many buy into that narrative of being dumb or lazy. So it could be possible (assuming he in fact truly has ADHD) that he's afraid to express to anyone what is going on inside him for the fear that they will marginalize his problems or worse, judge him. And if that is the case I wouldn't be suprised if he's already experienced that with his family or close friends. The unfortunate reality though is people will judge him, you ask anyone here and you will get a story about how people look at you differently when you openly tell them you have ADHD. So part of his fear of expressing himself to others is warranted.

The other fear is actually seeing a psychiatrist. To open yourself up completely to a stranger is one of the most difficult and uncomfortable situations someone can experience. Simply being there exacerbates your anxiety, what you might or might not say, or how the psychiatrist will react. Thoughts and emotions are racing at a million miles per hour that it becomes almost impossible to think clearly. Picturing that situation is terrifying for him because facing that infinite void of uncertainty reinforces his innner self criticism. It makes him feel inadequate and helpless as a husband.

First off, it is really courageous of you actively looking for guidance, it is a strong indication that you do love him and are already looking to tackle the issue head on, so my hats off to you. Second, like many of some of the other comments have already said, start watching YouTube videos of Dr. Russell Barkley because he breaks down the complexities of ADHD into a digestable clear form. Also, consider reading the book Driven To Distraction because it's usually my go to book for anyone wanting to learn more about the disorder.
There is a reason why ADHD is one of the most misunderstood disorders is because how easily people misinterpret it, so knowing where the ADHD ends and the real person begins is absolutely critical for a relationship to work because it will not only help you understand him more, but also shows him that you're his emotional rock because it is so easy for him to give up on himself which is one of the hallmarks of ADHD. You'll soon learn (if you haven't already of course) how easy your husband can lose control of his emotions and why it is easily confused with Bipolar, because the symptoms are co-morbid and are easily criss-crossed, that is also why you need to educate yourself on the disorder.

This is not going to be an easy battle, in fact you will have a lot of ups and downs in the coming future but being mentally prepared will ameliorate those turbulent times when they do come. Remind him that having ADHD isn't the end of his life, it's a daily struggle but there are millions of Americans who are also in the same boat as him, and that he needs to understand he has you to support him. But in the end only he can decide if he wants to fix himself, and even with all the love and support that you throw at him, he ultimately has to decide if he wants to seek medical help because if it is truly ADHD then you are simply out of you depth on this one and it requires professional help. Just remember the context of what he is experiencing and don't pressure him too hard because it can sometimes backfire if he feels like he is being put in a corner, but he is your husband so you know all his idiosyncrasies and where to draw the line, trust your instincts.

Here are a few examples that I've compiled over the years on this sub-reddit that are consistent to what me and many others experience on a daily basis, use these as a templatesu to compare with your own experience and analyze so that you can a wider perspective. However, I mustt emphasize this one point more than anything else because if there's anything I want you to take away from this mother fuckin' long ass rant is this: everyone can exhibit or display the symptoms I'm about to write below. The key distinction between a neuro-typical individual vs. someone with ADHD is that these symptoms negatively impact every aspect of their lives. Additionally, not everyone is equal in their situation like I said before but in many cases including my own there's a big correlation of these symptoms, so it's all about context here as well:

Working Memory Problems

• Impulsive

• Sleep disorders

• Extremely talkative when engaged

• Can’t finish sentences

• Difficulty doing basic chores: brushing teeth, cleaning room, hygiene as a child

• Constantly interrupting people

• Can’t sustain an argument or debate because of working memory problems

• Financial problems

• Inattentive

• Opposition to authority i.e.: managers, bosses, etc.

• The constant starting and never finishing of any project

• Education breakdown and exhaustion with studying for long periods of time

• Severe lack of motivation either through boredom, frustration, or distraction.

• Can only focus on the big picture and not the details

• Little or no motivation for work, relationships with friends or family, or goals for that matter

• The failure to act on ideas and goals, and be actually self-aware of it

• Everything you learn you can’t use it as effectively as other people can

• Can’t do what you know. IE: reading an instruction manual or learning new facts but unable to apply what
you learned because of dysfunctional working memory

• Under report the symptoms due to not writing it down when you need to and eventually forgetting over time

• Long term memory is also faulty due to working and short term memory, so you remember things in an
unclear way. In a "you know you're right, but you can't explain why" kind of way.

• Feels like the brain is some sort of web browser infected with mal-ware popups occurring every second.

• Satisfaction in aggregating tons of data and information in my head all at once but unable to put into long-
term storage

• Impossible to stay on a single task because by the 4th or 5th distraction you can’t remember what you were doing in the first place, hence the broken neuron theory (working memory)

• Difficulties in all areas of the executive functioning of the brain

• Working five times harder than everyone else but to do as half as well

u/elizinthemorning · 2 pointsr/education

Get in touch with the other adults supporting him (with the parents' permission, of course). You communicating with his teachers can help all of you work together to help him out.

Does he already have a planner or assignment book or something, but forgets to use it/uses it inefficiently? Or does he have nothing at all?

Kudos to you for working to support this kid. It might help him with the way he feels about himself if you share that you have ADD and have had trouble getting organized, too.

I recommend you read Driven to Distraction, which talks about both child and adult ADD. (Might even give you some insights into your own brain, too.) It's an accessible read and I found it really valuable.

u/eatthemenu · 2 pointsr/ADHD

I'm in a similar boat, my parents don't quite believe it. I just bought and read the book "Driven to Distraction" and it's awesome, there's a lot in there that will help you come to terms with your new diagnosis. It was originally published in 1994 so there have been a lot of changes in the field since then, but there are a lot of case studies in there so you get to hear other stories that are similar to yours. It addresses so much of the issues that you're mentioning here and will help you come to terms with your diagnosis. I'm going to give it to my parents to read next, so we'll see how that goes.

Edit: My psychiatrist also suggested that I just wait until the people around me are really able to see the change in me. Your parents are mostly worried about you so once they see that you're happier and are functioning at a higher level then they will probably become more receptive.

u/xctwprice · 2 pointsr/ADHD

http://www.amazon.com/Driven-Distraction-Recognizing-Attention-Childhood/dp/0684801280

Driven to Distraction. It's by a couple doctors who help patients with ADHD, and one of them has ADHD himself. It really goes in depth, and uses examples from some of their patients. The medications that they suggest may be out of date, as it was published a while ago, but the advice is solid. It's helped me and my entire family out many times.

u/Pandashire · 2 pointsr/ADD

This Honestly Hits home for me. I am sensitive to meds.

I recommend you read Driven to Distraction , Skip the first parts about diagnosis, and get to the living suggestions.

There are a few CBT guides that help with ADD, I recommend this one it worked for me. + if you can afford it a therapist trained for ADD would be a good resource.

u/HyperKiwi · 1 pointr/ADHD

You should read the book: Driven to Distraction

Every page was like reading my life story. You could also get the audio book.

u/7sonofa7son · 1 pointr/ADHD

Learn as much as you can about ADHD. Get books, look up stuff online.

Definitely exercise. Plan things out so you don't go awry when you want to do certain things.

they had this (link at the bottom) at my local barnes and knobles, and I couldn't put it down. and I HATE reading. It gave me a great insight, and changed my views so much. Also made me feel better about things. http://www.amazon.com/Driven-Distraction-Recognizing-Attention-Childhood/dp/0684801280

u/dontpostdrunk · 1 pointr/AskReddit

I wasn't diagnosed until college, but I have the extra distracted form of ADHD and not the hyperactive version so I never had to deal with those problems. Read this, it should be helpful.

u/Enphuego · 1 pointr/relationship_advice

I suggest you and your SO read the book Driven to Distraction and work on a plan to remedy the situation. If she is a part of creating the plan, she'll be a lot more involved and positive about it.

Are you on meds?

u/motorsizzle · 0 pointsr/learnprogramming

Hyperfocus is actually a trait of ADD. Source: Driven to Distraction, written by a psychiatrist.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0684801280/ref=redir_mdp_mobile

u/MaxFrost · -2 pointsr/AskReddit

It's a problem of not knowing the impact it has within a persons life, and as stated by several others so far, sometimes tossed out too quickly by non-professionals.

It turns out all the men in my family, including myself, are diagnosed with ADHD (or ADD) to some degree. The thing is, we're all adults, and we weren't diagnosed with it until then. If you've ever met someone who's charismatic, has insane drive to do things, is always picking up new projects, and must have the latest toys, they're probably ADD to some degree. Our culture here in the US doesn't help this at all, as the culture itself also helps drive this behavior.

For me, ADD exposes itself in terms of "new experiences", so I'm constantly consuming new media, usually video games, and music, and seeing what I can do to contribute as well. On the work side of things, it means I usually like working on my own, at my own breakneck pace, because working with others slows me down, and I get antsy when people can't consume and process information as fast as I can.

For me (and my father and brother), ADD isn't a disorder. It's more a conditional Perk. We consume and process information incredibly fast, and can make accurate decisions based on that in a fraction of the time most take to make the same call. However, the downside to this is short tempers, acting on impulse all the time (trying to keep money in an ADD person's pocket is like trying to keep water in a wire mesh basket. It just doesn't happen) and totally missing social queues.

I'm an impulse buyer. Like, half my savings impulse buyer. I've thankfully tempered this quite a bit, so now I can actually save money, by putting all my impulse "wants" on a list, and coming back to the decision sometime later. My wife helps a ton here too.

During conversations, I tend to have two other streams of thought going at the same time, and my attention drifts everywhere. I have zero issues inturrpting someone to go check out a noise or flashy thing, even if the subject is important to me. I'll go fix the thermostat in the middle of an important business meeting because I see everybody's too cold, even if I'm the one being directly addressed.

In school, this impacted my life because I hated paying attention to the teacher, and typically just read the text book cover to cover. I didn't care about social cliques, so I basically just ignored people, and was a social outcast for high school. People liked me, but I didn't belong to any 'group' aside from ones that were academically driven.

I could go on and on about this. I do know that I suspected that I had ADD back in college, when my life basically fell apart due to a lack of "something" (which turned out to be schedule structure" and I fell into massive depression. Same thing happened to my dad and my brother, in that we all dropped out of college. I stuck it out the longest, and returned the fastest. Of my immediate family, I'm the one who got the degree the fastest (and incidentally, ADD influences my life the least of my family).

If you have honest questions, or suspect that you or a loved one may possibly have ADD or ADHD, I would recommend picking up Driven to Distraction, written by the doctor who set the psychiatric world straight on this disorder back in the 1980s, and is technically the foremost expert on it. It answers the OP's question regarding the social stigma with the disorder, and also answers many others, from "how does this affect people" to "how to deal with people who have it." I'm still finishing it up myself, but it's this book that lead my entire family to go see the shrink and literally change my dad's and brother's social lives for the better for good.

My brother went from being a college dropout who couldn't hold down a job, to a crack accountant at a fairly large non-profit, all because he got on ritilin. Who woulda thunk?