Washington Post Articles regarding ADHD issues...
I Said, 'Honey, Are You Listening to Me?': When a Partner Has ADHD, Relationship Can Lose Focus
by Matt McMillen
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/20/AR2006032000786.html
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Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
by Thomas E. Brown, Ph.D.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2006/03/16/DI2006031601206.html
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Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Related To Advantageous Gene
Science Daily - University Of California, Irvine January 9, 2002
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/01/020109074512.htm
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New York Times - Business Section
EXECUTIVE LIFE
Attention Deficit Is in the Office, Too
By ANNE FIELD
Two years ago, Andrew Hearn felt as if he was going nowhere fast. He was 45 but couldn't hold down a full-time job in his field, social work, instead doing part-time stints at Planned Parenthood of New York City and Beth Israel Medical Center.
Mr. Hearn knew that something was wrong, but he didn't know what. So he sought help from an executive coach, and it didn't take her long to figure out the problem. She asked him if he had been tested for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
He hadn't. So he took the test and learned that he had the disorder. He began taking Adderall, used for treating A.D.H.D., and almost immediately could focus better and organize his day more efficiently. Though his symptoms ? trouble meeting deadlines, a tendency to become distracted and to jump from project to project ? didn't disappear, he learned some basic tricks to keep them under control. He could hold shorter meetings, for example, or break down projects into steps.
Last January, Mr. Hearn was promoted to director of social services at Planned Parenthood of New York City. His salary ? and his self-confidence ? shot up, and for the first time, he set up a 401(k) retirement account. "I now know how to deal with the problem and live with it," he said. "And at the end of every day, I'm able to accomplish so much more than ever before."
About 3 percent to 5 percent of all adults have the disorder, estimates Kevin Murphy, associate professor of psychiatry and chief adult A.D.H.D. clinician at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester. The condition, also known as just A.D.D., for attention deficit disorder, is a malfunctioning of the part of the brain that governs self-control, concentration and planning.
While the disorder can hamper anyone's job performance, it is a potential career killer for managers, who must struggle to complete tasks that colleagues can breeze through. Their energy and creativity are "enormous assets," said Dr. Edward Hallowell, clinical instructor of psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School and founder of the Hallowell Center for Cognitive and Emotional Health in Sudbury, Mass. "But in corporations, they get into trouble by being late, by offending people with their shoot-from-the-hip style and by their impulsiveness."
For some executives, the answer is to seek help not in psychotherapy but in the practical advice of executive coaches. An increasing number of coaches are specializing in A.D.H.D., and many have become more adept at recognizing its manifestations. About a half-dozen organizations, including the American Coaching Association in Lafayette Hill, Pa., and the ADD Coach Academy in Slingerlands, N.Y., provide such training to coaches.
"We've seen a substantial growth in the number of A.D.D. coaches and businesspeople seeking help," said Dan Martinage, executive director of the International Coach Federation in Washington. The increase has come even though most executives hide their condition, fearing that it will be perceived as a weakness.
What makes them go for help? Sometimes a spouse or trusted employee prods them, or they just "have the feeling that something is missing," said Nancy Ratey, a coach in Wellesley, Mass., and the president of the Attention Deficit Disorder Association. One of her clients, the chief executive of an insurance company in the Midwest, sought her out at the urging of his family.
His symptoms were classic. He would change appointments without telling his assistants, lose files, run meetings without an agenda, jump from topic to topic and generally leave everyone in confusion. "It was like trying to lasso an amoeba," Ms. Ratey said. But his condition was treatable. Ms. Ratey followed him around for three days, interviewing people including his chauffeur and his secretary, then made recommendations. Each morning, for example, his assistant would hand him one file at a time, discussing what needed to be done and taking notes. Only after they had finished with one folder would she hand him the next. The chief executive also moved his top executives' offices closer to his own, so he would have fewer distractions on his way to talk to them.
Difficulty in concentrating is probably the most troublesome symptom for executives and is the focus of most coaching. Pamela Redmond, executive director for finance operations at Anthem Inc., an insurance company in Columbus, Ohio, is a case in point.
Ms. Redmond, 46, had managed to succeed in her job despite her lifelong pattern of being easily distracted and her difficulty juggling multiple assignments. But there was a cost. "For years, I'd watch other people leaving at 6, and I'd be there till 9, 10 at night," she said. "I just wasn't able to focus." Thirty people reported to her, and she had meetings throughout the day.
Ms. Redmond suspected that she had A.D.H.D., though she didn't take a diagnostic test. Instead, a year ago, she sought help from Barbara McCrae, a coach in Colorado Springs. In weekly phone sessions ? executive coaching is often done on the phone ? the two zeroed in on ways to bolster her organizational skills. For example, she learned how to make a to-do list that wasn't "just 100 things I needed to get done," she said. She learned techniques for figuring out which two or three tasks were the most important and started keeping a journal about her goals. Today, she says, she leaves the office around 7, even during her busiest season.
Coaching techniques vary. A daily nagging session works for a 54-year-old Massachusetts executive who requested anonymity. For the past year, his coach has been making 10-minute calls every morning at 8 to go over the previous day's accomplishments and the goals for that day.
"It's all about time management," said the executive, who recently left his old job as the principal of a consulting firm to become director of policy for a state agency.
Executives can learn a variety of on-the-job strategies, but the most important coping mechanism is finding good office help, coaches say.
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What's It Like To Have ADD?
Contributed by: Edward Hallowell, M.D.
What is it like to have ADD? What is the feel of the syndrome? I have a short talk that I often give to groups as an introduction to the subjective experience of ADD and what it is like to live with it:
Attention Deficit Disorder. First of all, I resent the term. As far as I'm concerned most people have Attention Surplus Disorder. I mean, life being what it is, who can pay attention to anything for very long? Is it really a sign of mental health to be able to balance your checkbook, sit still in your chair, and never speak out of turn? As far as I can see, many people who don't have ADD are charter members of the Congenitally Boring.
But anyway, be that as it may, there is this syndrome called ADD or ADHD, depending on what book you read. So what's it like to have ADD? Some people say the so-called syndrome doesn't even exist, but believe me, it does. Many metaphors come to mind to describe it. It's like driving in the rain with bad windshield wipers. Everything is smudged and blurred and you're speeding along, and it's reeeeally frustrating not being able to see very well. Or, it's like listening to a radio station with a lot of static and you have to strain to hear what's going on. Or, it's like trying to build a house of cards in a dust storm. You have to build a structure to protect yourself from the wind before you can even start on the cards.
In other ways it's like being super-charged all the time. You get one idea and you have to act on it, and then, what do you know, but you've got another idea before you've finished up with the first one, and so you go for that one, but of course a third idea intercepts the second, and you just have to follow that one, and pretty soon people are calling you disorganized and impulsive and all sorts of impolite words that miss the point completely. Because you're trying really hard. It's just that you have all these invisible vectors pulling you this way and that which makes it really hard to stay on task.
Plus which, you're spilling over all the time. You're drumming your fingers, tapping your feet, humming a song, whistling, looking here, looking there, scratching, stretching, doodling, and people think you're not paying attention or that you're not interested, but all you're doing is spilling over so that you can pay attention. I can pay a lot better attention when I'm taking a walk or listening to music or even when I'm in a crowded, noisy room than when I'm still and surrounded by silence. God save me from the reading rooms. Have you ever been into the one in Widener Library? The only thing that saves it is that so many of the people who use it have ADD that there's a constant soothing bustle.
What is it like to have ADD?
Buzzing. Being here and there and everywhere. Someone once said, "Time is the thing that keeps everything from happening all at once." Time parcels moments out into separate bits so that we can do one thing at a time. In ADD, this does not happen. In ADD, time collapses. Time becomes a black hole. To the person with ADD it feels as if everything is happening all at once. This creates a sense of inner turmoil or even panic. The individual loses perspective and the ability to prioritize. He or she is always on the go, trying to keep the world from caving in on top.
Museums. (Have you noticed how I skip around? That's part of the deal. I change channels a lot. And radio stations. Drives my wife nuts. "Can't we listen to just one song all the way through?") Anyway, museums. The way I go through a museum is the way some people go through Filene's basement. Some of this, some of that, oh, this one looks nice, but what about that rack over there? Gotta hurry, gotta run. It's not that I don't like art. I love art. But my way of loving it makes most people think I'm a real Philistine. On the other hand, sometimes I can sit and look at one painting for a long while. I'll get into the world of the painting and buzz around in there until I forget about everything else. In these moments I, like most people with ADD, can hyperfocus, which gives the lie to the notion that we can never pay attention. Sometimes we have turbocharged focusing abilities. It just depends upon the situation.
Lines. I'm almost incapable of waiting in lines. I just can't wait, you see. That's the hell of it. Impulse leads to action. I'm very short on what you might call the intermediate reflective step between impulse and action. That's why I, like so many people with ADD, lack tact. Tact is entirely dependent on the ability to consider one's words before uttering them. We ADD-types don't do this so well. I remember in the 5th grade I noticed my math teacher's hair in a new style and blurted out, "Mr. Cook, is that a toupee you're wearing?" I got kicked out of class. I've since learned how to say these inappropriate things in such a way or at such a time that they can in fact be helpful. But it has taken time. That's the thing about ADD. It takes a lot of adapting to get on in life. But it certainly can be done, and be done very well.
As you might imagine, intimacy can be a problem if you've got to be constantly changing the subject, pacing, scratching and blurting out tactless remarks. My wife has learned not to take my tuning out personally, and she says that when I'm there, I'm really there. At first, when we met, she thought I was some kind of nut, as I would bolt out of restaurants at the end of meals or disappear to another planet during a conversation. Now she has grown accustomed to my sudden coming and goings.
Many of us with ADD crave high-stimulus situations. In my case, I love the racetrack. And I love the high-intensity crucible of doing psychotherapy. And I love having lots of people around. Obviously this tendency can get you into trouble, which is why ADD is high among criminals and self-destructive risk-takers. It is also high among so-called Type A personalities, as well as among manic-depressives, sociopaths and criminals, violent people, drug abusers, and alcoholics. But is is also high among creative and intuitive people in all fields, and among highly energetic, highly productive people.
Which is to say there is a positive side to all this. Usually the positive doesn't get mentioned when people speak about ADD because there is a natural tendency to focus on what goes wrong, or at least on what has to be somehow controlled. But often once the ADD has been diagnosed, and the child or the adult, with the help of teachers and parents or spouses, friends, and colleagues, has learned how to cope with it, an untapped realm of the brain swims into view. Suddenly the radio station is tuned in, the windshield is clear, the sand storm has died down. And the child or adult, who had been such a problem, such a nudge, such a general pain in the neck to himself and everybody else, that person starts doing things he'd never been able to do before. He surprises everyone around him, and he surprises himself. I use the male pronoun, but it could just as easily be she, as we are seeing more and more ADD among females as we are looking for it.
Often these people are highly imaginative and intuitive. They have a "feel" for things, a way of seeing right into the heart of matters while others have to reason their way along methodically. This is the person who can't explain how he thought of the solution, or where the idea for the story came from, or why suddenly he produced such a painting, or how he knew the shortcut to the answer, but all he can say is he just knew it, he could feel it. This is the man or woman who makes million-dollar deals in a catnap and pulls them off the next day. This is the child who, having been reprimanded for blurting something out, is then praised for having blurted out something brilliant. These are the people who learn and know and do and go by touch and feel.
These people can feel a lot. In places where most of us are blind, they can, if not see the light, at least feel the light, and they can produce answers apparently out of the dark. It is important for others to be sensitive to this "sixth sense" many ADD people have, and to nurture it. If the environment insists on rational, linear thinking and "good" behavior from these people all the time, then they may never develop their intuitive style to the point where they can use it profitably. It can be exasperating to listen to people talk. They can sound so vague or rambling. But if you take them seriously and grope along with them, often you will find they are on the brink of startling conclusions or surprising solutions.
What I am saying is that their cognitive style is qualitatively different from most people's, and what may seem impaired, with patience and encouragement may become gifted.
The thing to remember is that if the diagnosis can be made, then most of the bad stuff associated with ADD can be avoided or contained. The diagnosis can be liberating, particularly for people who have been stuck with labels like "lazy," "stubborn," "willful," "disruptive," "impossible," "tyrannical," "a spaceshot," "brain damaged," "stupid," or just plain "bad." Making the diagnosis of ADD can take the case from the court of moral judgment to the clinic of neuropsychiatric treatment.
What is the treatment all about? Anything that turns down the noise. Just making the diagnosis helps turn down the noise of guilt and self-recrimination. Building certain kinds of structure into one's life can help a lot. Working in small spurts rather than long hauls. Breaking tasks down into smaller tasks. Making lists. Getting help where you need it, whether it's having a secretary, or an accountant, or an automatic bank teller, or a good filing system, or a home computer - getting help where you need it. Maybe applying external limits on your impulses. Or getting enough exercise to work off some of the noise inside. Finding support. Getting someone in your corner to coach you, to keep you on track. Medication can help a great deal too, but it is far from the whole solution. The good news is that treatment can really help.
Let me leave you by telling you that we need your help and understanding. We may make mess-piles wherever we go, but with your help, those mess-piles can be turned into realms of reason and art. So, if you know someone like me who's acting up and daydreaming and forgetting this or that and just not getting with the program, consider ADD before he starts believing all the bad things people are saying about him and it's too late.
The main point of the talk is that there is a more complex subjective experience to ADD than a list of symptoms can possibly impart. ADD is a way of life, and until recently it has been hidden, even from the view of those who have it. The human experience of ADD is more than just a collection of symptoms. It is a way of living. Before the syndrome is diagnosed that way of living may be filled with pain and misunderstanding. After the diagnosis is made, one often finds new possibilities and the chance for real change.
The adult syndrome of ADD, so long unrecognized, is now at last bursting upon the scene. Thankfully, millions of adults who have had to think of themselves as defective or unable to get their acts together, will instead be able to make the most of their considerable abilities. It is a hopeful time indeed.
Address correspondence to:
Edward M. Hallowell, M.D.
142 North Road
Sudbury, MA 01776
http://www.drhallowell.com/
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Professional Athletes with ADHD?
Q&A with Adam LaRoche
ChopTalk Magazine's Patty Rasmussen chats with Adam LaRoche about the obstacles that the Braves first baseman has overcome throughout his career, including battling Attention Deficit Disorder as a professional athlete. LaRoche, who entered Tuesday leading the Braves in doubles with 31, also discusses his enthusiastic fan clubs, his power spike this season and much more.
ChopTalk: Are you taking anything for ADD (attention deficit disorder)?
Adam LaRoche: Yes, I am.
ChopTalk: What is it?
LaRoche: I'm taking a type of Ritalin. I've been taking it for about two months.
ChopTalk: Do you feel different? Is it helping you?
LaRoche: I feel a lot different. I went and saw a guy a couple of months ago. I wanted to get the facts straight. I asked, "Do I have ADD, or am I using this as my excuse to be a lazy human being?" We went through the tests, and he told me, "Without a doubt, you have ADD. There's no question." It was good to hear, because I could get on something (medication). I tried it for a couple of weeks, and I noticed the difference. But I noticed it the most when I would forget to take it. It's helped. It helps me to focus for three hours when I'm playing and not be spacing out or thinking about a million different things. We're still experimenting with dosages. ChopTalk: When were you first diagnosed with ADD?
LaRoche: It was 10 years ago, and I never did anything about it. I finally went to another doctor when I was talking to one of the team doctors and asked him about it. He said, "Would it hurt to get it checked out?" And I figured it wouldn't hurt and asked [trainer] Jeff Porter to find a good doctor to see. Then I got my diagnosis and started the treatment.
ChopTalk: Did you talk to other players [with ADD] about your situation?
LaRoche: I talked to [Houston's] Craig Biggio in Spring Training, and he told me what he took and what it did for him. He suggested I try it, that it couldn't hurt, and I never did. [Dodgers right-hander] Derek Lowe actually came up to [Braves general manager John] Schuerholz during batting practice this season to speak to him about me. Lowe said to Schuerholz that he'd heard I had a form of ADD, and this is what [Lowe] was taking, and to please tell Adam to look into it. Schuerholz came to me and said, "If you want to look into this, Lowe is trying to help." Finally, I thought I should take all these people's advice.
ChopTalk: Did it encourage you to know that other players were in the same situation, taking medication and still being successful?
LaRoche: Yes, it was definitely encouraging. It was also encouraging to know that even guys I didnšt know well were concerned about how I was feeling and my well-being. I was glad we got it cleared up.
ChopTalk: Do you think the medication has had any bearing on your improved hitting?
LaRoche: I would have to say it has something to do with it. It's not like a steroid or a drug that helps your vision or fixes your mechanics, but if you can get a little extra focus and concentration, I think it has to help. I also think it was my time to start hitting, to get on a roll. ChopTalk: Do your teammates, manager and coaches know that you're on the medication?
LaRoche: Most of the guys know. Some of the guys came up to me early, when I first started taking it, asking if I was taking something. They were saying they could see a difference, and they didn't even know I was [taking the medication]. They said I seemed more awake, alert and had more energy. The first time someone said something I thought, "Sure, whatever," but I've heard it from enough people to think it has to be changing my behavior.
ChopTalk: What's it like to have two of the most enthusiastic fan clubs this season -- LaRoche's Ladies and Adam's Army -- cheering for you?
LaRoche: It's pretty neat to have fans like that. I've known the LaRoche's Ladies for three years.
ChopTalk: Didn't they used to be Marcus Giles fans?
LaRoche: It took a little bit of money and work to get them to my side! I met the "Army" the other day on the field. They told me I wouldn't see them for the last month and a half of the season because they're all leaving for college.
ChopTalk: So what turned the hitting around? You raised your average 38 points from May 14 to July 16 (from .221 to .259).
LaRoche: First of all, it had nowhere to go but up. When you're hitting .200, it's hard to go below that. I haven't changed anything in my swing. I stuck with it, because early in the season, I was hitting balls hard, even though I was only getting one hit a game. I talked to T.P. [Terry Pendleton] and my dad [Dave]. There were a few people who said you might want to change some things, but I kept looking at the balls I was hitting and saw they just weren't going my way. I couldn't change [anything]. It felt too good.
ChopTalk: Where does your confidence come from -- just sticking with your swing?
LaRoche: Yeah, some of it comes from looking back and not finding anything wrong and staying with it. A lot of it goes back to when I was younger, when I was the best player on the team, and whether I was or not, I had that in my head. It comes from knowing that I've played in the big leagues for two years and know I can do it up here.
ChopTalk: You've had four multi-home run games. You don't go up there intending to hit homers, do you?
LaRoche: No, but I think I used to. I've got a natural fly-ball swing, so those home runs are just coming on accident.
ChopTalk: Last season, you hit 20 home runs, and by Aug. 8 this season, you had 23. That's a pretty significant increase.
LaRoche: I think they should keep going up. Obviously, if I hit 40 one year, I'm probably not going to come back the next season and hit 45. It's not going to keep climbing forever, but they will with more experience, more time in the league, confidence and just physically getting stronger.
ChopTalk: Do you attribute a lot of your hitting success to being the everyday first baseman?
LaRoche: Probably -- it's a combination. It's a totally different feeling coming to the ballpark knowing you're in the lineup. I don't even know if it's a lefty or righty [pitching]. That's the way it used to be, and that's the way I'd like the rest of my career to be, where I'm playing every game unless I'm hurt, getting that consistency. I got the chance early in the year for a couple of games against lefties, and I didn't [get it done], so I went back to platooning. I don't blame them for that; [manager] Bobby [Cox] couldn't try it forever. So now, to get the chance and to take advantage of it, get some hits off lefties, is nice.
ChopTalk: How would you describe this season for you personally and from a team perspective?
LaRoche: I don't think I'll ever think I had a good year. I had a decent rookie year, .278 and drove in a few runs and wasn't playing every day. In the offseason [looking back], it's never good enough. It would take hitting .330 with a ton of damage to say that's the kind of year I want to have. But when everything is said and done and I look back, I won't be satisfied because I think I'm a lot better than what I'm doing. For the team, it's been confusing. Nobody can figure out what we need, what's going on, why we're losing. There have been tons of conversations. The hitting can be blamed for [losing] some games, and the pitching can be blamed.
ChopTalk: What's going on with your hamstring? Is it something you're going to have to live with?
LaRoche: I think I tore it last year, then tweaked it earlier this season. I thought resting it over the offseason would have healed it. I thought it was gone completely until I did it again this season, and the trainers said it was probably the same injury. I think when I retire, a couple of years after that, it will be better! ChopTalk: Do you have a theory about why you hit better on the road than at home?
LaRoche: None! I don't get it. It's frustrating, since we lose a lot at home and I've had plenty of chances to change that. We don't face better pitching at home than on the road.
ChopTalk: A couple of years ago, you had a deal with Chipper Jones that if you reached a certain hitting level, you would get to hunt at his Double Dime Ranch in Texas. Do you have anything like that this season?
LaRoche: No, I'm just going to shoot [a deer], regardless of what I do this year! Išll just invite myself.
http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060829&content_id=1634633&vkey=news_atl&fext=.jsp&c_id=atl
