Preface

Living with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) means always looking for a new or different way to manage the ongoing struggles of life. Often it seems that just as we start to get ahead, something is there to trip us up. ADD can make us feel that no matter how hard we try, our lives are and will always be two steps forward and three steps back. 

When this derailment happens, there is always someone with the best of intentions, be it a friend, family member, colleague, support group member, coach, or therapist, who will suggest yet another strategy for us to try. And maybe we do try it, hoping that this one will work. After all, it works for everyone else. If we live with ADD, we've probably noticed that just about anything will work. But only briefly. Then it all falls apart again. When we experience this kind of failure again and again and again, it is painful, discouraging, and demoralizing.

Every once in a great while, a new idea surfaces that challenges our assumptions about why we do what we do. Such ideas have surfaced on several occasions in the world of ADD. For instance, it would seem obvious that hyperactivity is the result of too much activity in the brain, yet we have learned that hyperactivity is really about inactivity in the brain. We also used to think that ADD was a childhood disorder, yet we have learned that many do not outgrow ADD, that it can persist into the teenage years and even into adulthood.

We hope that the ideas in this book will challenge yet more assumptions about why we do what we do. We hope it will give everyone, not just those with ADD, coping strategies that will work, not just briefly, but for a lifetime.