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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.
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