Review: Adult ADHD by Ruby Reiter

[chstress]

his book is a God-send……you see my husband was recently diagnosed as an adult with ADHD, which sometimes makes life very frustrating for him and for me. Ruby Reiter successfully introduced the topic of ’Adult’ ADHD and provided step-by-step strategies for managing symptoms and reducing their harmful impact. I will definitely be using some of her self-assessment tools and skill-building exercises. I especially liked how she presented ideas for overcoming challenges in critical areas where people with the disorder often struggle—work, finances, and relationships. For a short e-book I found it very comprehensive, immensely practical, highly readable, and Reiter was wholly compassionate in how she presented it. This book ”Adult ADHD: How to Overcome Common Challenges…” did a wonderful job of educating me on ADHD and how it affects my husbands daily life and subsequently mine. What a relief to find out that his problems are not inherent character flaws and we now have some executable solutions that can dramatically improve our lives! I loved the book, its a life-saver.

[Nathrad Sheare]

I've done exhaustive research on a variety of mental disorders, and ADHD is definitely one of the MOST controversial. Have you ever heard about Asperger's syndrome? Often it's mistaken for ADHD. I was blown away by Dr. Gaus' book and a few of the articles by Temple Grandin. Most interesting about them were the statistics they explained, which all showed the commonness and complexity of the syndrome.

[anomalocaris]

The coping strategies sound helpful, but the title sounds as if the book is outdated. Current state of knowledge in the field is that the hyperactivity component (the H in ADHD)) does not exist as a component of ADD.

As far as Aspergers, unfortunately it's the "diagnosis of the month" at the current time. Diagnoses tend to become fads for a number of years, and right now everyone's either autistic or "autism spectrum" or Aspergers. A little socially awkward? Aspergers. Spoiled child prone to tantrums? Aspergers. Disruptive in class? Aspergers. A school gets extra funding for every child that has a diagnosis, so they tend to push parents to get a diagnosis. Aspergers is out there, but not as much like ADD, symptomatically. as one might think.

There are some similarities, in that both are dopamine related, and the situation is further confused by the fact that there's a certain amount of comorbidity -- as you'd expect, with dopamine playing a role in both.

[Nathrad Sheare]

I do have to agree that diagnoses are often too quickly pinned on people who have a couple of behavioral quirks... Everybody has to label everybody... They actually took Asperger's off the list of mental illnesses a couple of months ago and claimed the condition is simply normal. Weird, hm?

[anomalocaris]

I wonder if they took it off because it's so far out on the edge of the spectrum as to be a meaningless diagnosis, or because these days it's politically incorrect to say people have a mental illness, or are not normal. Now they call people without mental illness, "neurotypicals," as if it's a bad thing, and talk about people having "differences." Like patients with severe schizophrenia should be grateful for it because at least they're not one of those boring neurotypicals!

[Nathrad Sheare]

Your point is very colorful and undeniable. Psychologists can be just as twisted as the next prosaic 21st century philosopher... I guess that if you want a job done, you might as well do it yourself? I've had to find remedies for certain issues family and friends of mine have had. They've worked, at least. I think the pros need to stop hypothesizing and start doing something...

[anomalocaris]

One of the more interesting studies I've seen found that military veterans who were diagnosed with PTSD tended to continue to have issues, while vets with the same symptoms who didn't go in and actually get diagnosed improved and ended up symptom free. That probably wouldn't apply to issues with a neurochemical basis, but it's interesting nonetheless. I suspect, though, that some issues, like clinical depression might yield similar results. I have no experience with psych doctors, but it seems to me that people who see them for certain issues end up so attached to wallowing and having people treat them like porcelain that they're not likely to get better -- even if they do.

[Nathrad Sheare]

Some types of depression are not neurochemical, so can be escaped by a change of pace or with the passing of time, but other types, like dysthymia, are all about imbalances that need to be treated with supplementation or medication and, of course, cognitive therapy. It's quite a process, actually, in cases like those, and, usually, the sufferers have to continue with treatment for the rest of their lives. Sucky stuff.

I agree with you about psychotherapists. They make people dwell on their problems by asking all the "why" questions. Sometimes it's not a matter of why, it's just a matter of helping someone to develop new habits, communicate more easily, and more readily accept the flaws of the people around them.

I wish mental illness didn't exist, but it's getting worse... I read the most awful news on sufferers of postpartum depression, dysthymia, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia all the time. When people say the world we live in has gone crazy... the sad part is that they're right...

[anomalocaris]

Yeah but that means maybe I'll finally fit in!

[Nathrad Sheare]

Thanks for that! I know that I finally started getting to be cool when vampires and fantasy villains started going bestseller. In some ways, we need weirdness to get through the day!