Adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) who received medication and individual sessions of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) showed greater improvement in symptoms through 12 months compared to patients who did not receive CBT, according to a study in the August 25 issue of JAMA.
Read full article here.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Friday, August 13, 2010
How To Live Successfully with ADD
It's not easy to live successfully with ADD. It's human nature for adults with ADD / ADHD to focus on their weaknesses, to try improving their skill at those things they don't do well.
I propose a different approach. It's been incredibly helpful to my ADD coaching clients and has worked miracles in my life, too.
Here's my suggestion: Accept your weaknesses and do whatever you can to avoid them!
Build your life instead around your strengths. Focus on improving your ability to do the things you naturally do well.
Why?
If something is hard for you to do, you will avoid it. You'll procrastinate. You'll struggle. No matter how noble your intentions, it's hard to force an ADHD brain to do what it doesn't feel like doing.
When your life is built around your strengths, you're more likely to do what you say you'll do and keep track of details. You'll find life easier and more joyful, too.
Read on for some tips to help you build an ADD strength focused life.
First, you must become aware of what kinds of tasks challenge you and what tasks you find easy to do.
I use a strengths assessment to help my ADD coaching clients identify their strengths and weaknesses.
Next comes the fun of refocusing your life around your strengths. Here are some guidelines:
Delegate as many of the tasks you find challenging as you can. One of my clients has four school-aged children and keeping track of their homework totally overwhelms her mind with details. She finds delegating those homework details to a tutor well worth the cost.
Find creative ways to make challenging tasks easier to do. Another client bogs down paying his bills. He finds on-line banking makes bill paying so quick and easy to do he enjoys doing it. Automatically downloading his bank transactions into Quicken helps keep his check register in order, too.
Don't volunteer or work in areas focused around your weaknesses. A client belonged to an international service club with lengthy weekly meetings. His ADHD made sitting through those meetings almost painful. He resigned from the club and now happily volunteers in more physically active community projects.
Building a strength-focused life is a major step toward outsmarting ADHD.
The Last Word In ADD Success
Until you learn to outsmart ADHD, life can be incredibly frustrating.
You struggle to stay on track, finish projects and keep commitments.
It's worse, of course, if your ADHD is undiagnosed since you don't know why life seems more effortless for other people while being difficult for you.
Over the years I've found living with my ADD gets easier. Why? Because of the various tricks I've developed to outsmart it. Some of my tricks I figured out before diagnosis, others after.
In fact, when you learn to outsmart your ADHD, you can actually turn it into an asset. Isn't it nice life doesn't have to be so hard!
What exactly do I mean by outsmart ADHD?
My experience from my clients and my own life shows you can't fight ADHD - you've got to work with it.
That's why my approach to ADD coaching is to help clients identify their strengths and challenges. We orient their life around their strengths and figure out ways to avoid or soften the challenges.
These steps, along with improving self-awareness are important first steps to outsmarting and coping with ADHD.
To Your ADD Success,
Dana
P.S. When you work with an ADD coach you learn all kinds of new habits like how to build a strength-focused life. What are you waiting for? I've got one opening for a new client starting next month. Learn more about ADD Coaching.
I propose a different approach. It's been incredibly helpful to my ADD coaching clients and has worked miracles in my life, too.
Here's my suggestion: Accept your weaknesses and do whatever you can to avoid them!
Build your life instead around your strengths. Focus on improving your ability to do the things you naturally do well.
Why?
If something is hard for you to do, you will avoid it. You'll procrastinate. You'll struggle. No matter how noble your intentions, it's hard to force an ADHD brain to do what it doesn't feel like doing.
When your life is built around your strengths, you're more likely to do what you say you'll do and keep track of details. You'll find life easier and more joyful, too.
Read on for some tips to help you build an ADD strength focused life.
First, you must become aware of what kinds of tasks challenge you and what tasks you find easy to do.
I use a strengths assessment to help my ADD coaching clients identify their strengths and weaknesses.
Next comes the fun of refocusing your life around your strengths. Here are some guidelines:
Delegate as many of the tasks you find challenging as you can. One of my clients has four school-aged children and keeping track of their homework totally overwhelms her mind with details. She finds delegating those homework details to a tutor well worth the cost.
Find creative ways to make challenging tasks easier to do. Another client bogs down paying his bills. He finds on-line banking makes bill paying so quick and easy to do he enjoys doing it. Automatically downloading his bank transactions into Quicken helps keep his check register in order, too.
Don't volunteer or work in areas focused around your weaknesses. A client belonged to an international service club with lengthy weekly meetings. His ADHD made sitting through those meetings almost painful. He resigned from the club and now happily volunteers in more physically active community projects.
Building a strength-focused life is a major step toward outsmarting ADHD.
The Last Word In ADD Success
Until you learn to outsmart ADHD, life can be incredibly frustrating.
You struggle to stay on track, finish projects and keep commitments.
It's worse, of course, if your ADHD is undiagnosed since you don't know why life seems more effortless for other people while being difficult for you.
Over the years I've found living with my ADD gets easier. Why? Because of the various tricks I've developed to outsmart it. Some of my tricks I figured out before diagnosis, others after.
In fact, when you learn to outsmart your ADHD, you can actually turn it into an asset. Isn't it nice life doesn't have to be so hard!
What exactly do I mean by outsmart ADHD?
My experience from my clients and my own life shows you can't fight ADHD - you've got to work with it.
That's why my approach to ADD coaching is to help clients identify their strengths and challenges. We orient their life around their strengths and figure out ways to avoid or soften the challenges.
These steps, along with improving self-awareness are important first steps to outsmarting and coping with ADHD.
To Your ADD Success,
Dana
P.S. When you work with an ADD coach you learn all kinds of new habits like how to build a strength-focused life. What are you waiting for? I've got one opening for a new client starting next month. Learn more about ADD Coaching.
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