Self Help Books

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Comment by Michele on April 30, 2009 at 2:58am

I have to highly recommend Dr Thomas E. Brown's book "Attention Deficit Disorder - The Unfocused Mind in Children and Adults" as the one book I have read out of so much that actually provides a greater understanding on how the mind works with ADD/ADHD. He has a great many strategies and also discussed medication indepth. His website, videos and articles are just wonderful. I think he's a brilliant man with great insight.

I also quite liked "Scattered Minds - Hope and Help for Adults with ADHD" by Lenard Adler, MD. Medications are also covered thoroughly

I have Dr Amen's "Healing ADD" and find all the subtypes he listed as fascinating and very enlightening. I subscribe to his frequent posts as well. My only problem which puts me off, is his claim of being able to "heal" the disorder as I don't believe it's possible to be 100% 'healed'. Being able to 'manage' efficiently or function to our highest capabilities is more what I believe to be possible but heal - No! He's a great and brilliant man though.

The first book I found to be incredibly helpful in helping me to understand, cope and manage more efficiently with the extreme challenging behaviours displayed by my foster son when he was in his younger teens was by a leading Australian Psychologist, Ian Wallace. He wrote "You and Your ADD Child - Practical Strategies For Coping With Everyday Problems". He also speaks indepth about ODD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder) CD (Conduct Disorder) and the necessity of dealing differently with kids who only have ADHD to those who also have the frequent co-existing disorders of ODD and/or CD.

As one who was used to working with children and young people with ADHD and used to use the standard strategies, it was a great discovery and definitely made a difference in the way I approached living with him on a daily basis. In one way, it was harder, as I needed to develop greater skills and far more patience but on the other hand, it turned each day from 90% of non-compliance and chaotic stress down to about around 65-75% the majority of the time, eventually to actually having good days more frequently (not often enough...lol..) but enough to want to continue on and be able to cope enough to do so. I give Ian Wallace's book the highest of recommendations and if it can help with "worse case scenario's", then I'm sure it will help others who may not be at that stage with their own children or at least, get to that stage!!

Cheers, Michele

Comment by Bryan Hutchinson on March 19, 2009 at 4:11am

I agree Laurie! How can we seperate ADD or ADHD from who we are? How does that make any sense?

Comment by Laurie Siegel on March 19, 2009 at 12:23am

Lynn Weiss, one of the best. For years, I have been correcting people who say they have ADD. Agreeing with Ms. Weiss, I would say "you are ADD." Also, when I introduce myself, it's always "I'm ADD."

Comment by Tara McGillicuddy on March 17, 2009 at 4:13pm

Lynn Weiss maybe?

ADD and Success
ADD and Creativity
View from the Cliff

Comment by Bron on March 17, 2009 at 4:10pm

This is embarrassing, but there was one book by a lady with the last name of Weiss...I can NOT remember her first name to save my LIFE...but this book helped me tremendously. In fact, it is the most positive book I have ever read on ADHD/ADD. In this book, she posits (quite believably) that we do not HAVE ADD, but that we ARE ADD. In other words, without ADD we would not be the personality that we are. We would be a mere shell of ourselves. She gives lots of examples of famous and not-well-known people who are/were ADD, and demonstrates with her knowledge of these folks just how solidly accurate her idea is. I read that book about two years ago and since then, I think of myself differently. I AM ADD...and happy with it, as it is what makes me creative, artistic, musical, a great baker, on and on...it is what makes me, ME. :-) This is my very favorite ADD book of all. Maybe her name is Ann? LOL. I'm sure she'd understand why I can't remember her first name, but at least I grasped the most important concept of her extremely positive, ADD-celebrating, book. :-)

Comment by Voodoo on March 16, 2009 at 5:56pm

Does anyone know about "The ADD Answer" book?

Comment by Kathleen Christensen on March 14, 2009 at 10:06am

I second the recommendations for Sari Solden's Women with Attention Deficit Disorder and Hallowell and Ratey's Delivered from Distraction. I'd recommend people read the latter instead of Driven to Distraction or Answers to Distraction. Delivered to is newer and has lots of interesting stuff that wasn't in the first books, as well as a more complex, updated look at ADD/ADHD.

I also got a lot out of reading Understanding Girls with ADHD and Understanding Women with ADHD by Kathleen Nadeau and Patricia Quinn.

For teenage girls, a local author has a fantastic book, written in the voices of a fictional teenager and a couple of her friends, girls who are different from each other but all have ADD. It's The Girls' Guide to ADHD by Beth Walker.

Comment by Wendi on January 22, 2009 at 7:41pm

Frances,

Thank you so much for recommending the books to me. I was finally able to find a copy of Learning Outside the Lines. (I'm out of town so I couldn't order it from Amazon.) I can't wait to read it.

Comment by Frances Finley on January 1, 2009 at 2:46am

Wendi,

For studying, one of the things I notice is successful students are not necessarily more intelligent, they just understand being a student is a job and apply the right skills. Fortunately these skills can be learned, but they won't be in your syllabus!

It's important to get relevant information because most studying tips don't account for ADHD challenges. The two best books for this are "Fidget to Focus" and "Learning Outside the Lines: Two Ivy League Students with Learning Disabilities and ADHD Give you the Tools".

For issues of time management, etc., you would probably do better with a book with practical ideas in an ADHD friendly reading format, such as "ADD Friendly Ways to Organize your Life" or "Organizing Solutions for People with Attention Deficit Disorder: Tips and Tools to Help You Take Charge of Your Life and Get Organized".

Comment by Wendi on December 31, 2008 at 2:24pm

Does anyone have any suggestions for books or web sites for adults in college? All the information I have found has been on high schoolers going to college (with info about living in dorms and stuff). I'm a 25 year old stay at home mom and need help on studying, time management, etc. Thank you!!

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