ADHD, Clarified: Essential Strategies for Thriving with ADHD (w/ Doctors Hallowell and Ratey)

ADDitude is a supervaluble resource - I say this as a 'consumer' and professional alike. I came across leading expert through ADDitude that I didn't know they existed. That tells me how well regarded ADDitude really is.

Lesson - Emotional health, self control, & a sense of purpose important. Nature, love, & connection.

Thank you very much gentlemen - just had my Ferrari brain want to drop this message: for the question "How can I make this a positive experience for my 9 year old?" - MY answer would be "Get your child the F out of the regular school system" - I can't stress enough just how damaging a regular school experience can be for someone with ADHD's self esteem & self worth. IT IS NOT THE RIGHT PLACE FOR US TO LEARN!! I don't even think it's good for people without ADHD, but for us, it can literally ruin your life by ruining your formative years. These are the years you need to build confidence - to have that confidence taken away for no good reason, can lead to decades of pain and self loathing. I think we would all be less maladjusted if the current school system was thrown in the garbage. On a positive note: I am SO happy to have discovered this magazine 🙏 thank you for existing and please keep going.

ADHD affects every area of my life. (ex function, time blindness, hyper focus, perfectionism,procrastination etc) I have to try 1,000 strategies to do the most basic things. I couldn’t even finish listening to this video thats packed with so much valuable information bc of my hypersensitivity to sound. Every time Dr. Rarely says something with an “s” it makes this high pitched whistle noise and throws off my focus. There are a couple other YT channels I’d love to learn from but they also have that same whistling sound and it disrupts my attention. I don’t even know why. I tried to find ways to adjust the audio on my iPhone/iPad with an equalizer app but none of them work. I’ve learned to not even express how I feel unless I’m talking to a health professional or a someone who has ADHD themselves bc they don’t understand and make me feel worse. I’m sooo tired of spending precious time trying to figure out how to navigate through life as an adult with ADHD it’s exhausting. But something within me will NOT let me give up on my dreams!! 😟🙏🏽

4:42 the drone stops rambling

For me, here are only a few lovely experts on ADHD, that are actually both helpful and rock solid in their knowledge, It's more than a handful, less than a dozen of people, in terms of numbers. Their cotribution is priceless. Full stop. When I say that Dr Ned stands out, (for me) it's because he's stance is hands-on, practical, no BS, and deliberately fighting the deficit orientation of the traditional medical approach without denying the problematic side of ADHD. Kudos. Thank you for your superb input

i am a 66 yr old female late diagnosed. I ruminate constantly and currently it’s over the search for motivation based on what gives me dopamine. i like my brain . too bad it’s a nuisance to others

Great video. Also, 8 minutes of intro is tough to slog through with ADHD.

51:39 What Dr. Ratey says after this. As a defiant teenager in the late 90s, I discovered my love for skateboarding & guitar at about the same time. Both these things allowed me to independently expel my angst and express my creativity, while constantly laughing with a group of friends. And good for balance! It would be another 20 years before I knew anything about ADHD. But looking back, I think it's no coincidence that my grades and interest in school started to improve around this time. And also probably no coincidence that dropping these things from my lifestyle more and more over the years is what has brought on more and more mental blockage from undiagnosed ADHD.

Find something that is difficult, which you enjoy and excel at - this is your ADHD gift. Thank you for this

My mother took my brother am I for it tests when I was about 7, mine was significantly higher than my brothers, consequently a lot was expected of me. I was the the clever one. I remember saying to my my mum that I wished my brain would slow down and I could just work at a checkout till (16 yrs). I studied psychology,physiology and psychobiology at University .I am 52 now, it’s like having 100 ideas , wanting to pull a thread and not being to pick which one .

32:03 - Social connection isn't necessarily 'fun'. I find it extremely stressful and awkward. I think social interaction is more like cold showers - It feels awful, but it's good for you.

"ADHD people often feel bad, like they don't deserve love/acceptance/purpose." (sic) Yes, that's me. From a scarily early age I was told I was useless, a pain, that I didn't deserve anything, that I was loved because I had to be but wasn't liked, that they wished they'd never had me to begin with (which was the perfectly wrong thing to say to a child with ADHD, loads of RSD, and a younger brother who they doted on, who was good, well behaved, helpful, had a tidy room, did his homework, passed the exams, picked the right friends, and so on.) I didn't find out I had ADHD until I was in my mid 50's, so I've had 50 years of this horrible nonsense dominating my inner monologue. Never found a purpose, or "my difficult thing", or a direction, or anything really. Chose the wrong partners, the wrong friends, the wrong everything pretty much. Now I know why. Even the most basic, steady encouragement was missing. I either got told I was being ridiculously stupid when I was not and so it was a "wicked waste" or I was left to my own devices. Many, many learned maladapted coping routines developed. The rest was inevitable. Everything that could have happened to make it much harder did. And then everything I could have done to make it much harder I went on to do. So yes, definitely an issue with deserving anything other than judgment and rejection.

Thanks for putting a different perspective on this! Over many years of teaching, I have seen so many brilliant kids getting the ADD label and being made wrong instead of being honored for their gifts!

I did an internship at Mass Mental Health Center in 1966. Dick Shader was Chief Resident then. You take me back to a wonderful time in my life there! Loved it.

Wow, the coffee as a medication hit the nail on the head. Why is that not pointed out in the discussion more? I considered my coffee habit so beneficial and did not understand there is a medicinal effect that combined with THC it allows me to operate at hyper speeds that defy logic used by most diagnosticians. Perhaps you could expound on any medical research supporting that.

Racing car brain with bicycle brakes! Love this! At 57 years old I'm just grasping that the exhausting and emotional mystery of my life has possibly been down to undiagnosed ADD (although VAST seems to pinpoint our family experience better ) Having travelled a period I liken to 'feeling startled in the headlights ' with this realisation, the reframing outlined in this of unwrapping my VAST potential talent feels like an empowering hug. The current waiting time in the UK from GP referral is estimated to be 50+ months !! Thank you for the work you do, especially the learning I have gained through listening several times to Driven to Distraction. Fabulous choice of narrater. Off to see if your new book is on UK audible . Thank you, a brighter future filled with new vigor to pursue my best brilliance with renewed self awareness and tools to manage RSD.

Thank you doctors for shining a light on methods to help us give our child a positive message. You’ve given a wealth of information for us to utilize!

18:40 Don’t feed the demon with your attention. Click bait news 28:10 For some reason people fear connection. Connecting makes you feel vulnerable. Most of us, particularly men, would rather fight than connect. We’d rather be in an aggressive stance than a vulnerable stance. However, being vulnerable is really good for you. 35:18 Find your right difficult thing — for a lot of ADD people it’s some kind of entrepreneurial activity, planning a trip around the world, etc. Something that involves something big and allows you to express your imagination. 35:45 Create the stellar environment – put yourself in the right environment to thrive. The right job, the right spouse, right friendship and group that you’re affiliated with so it’ll give you positivity. 44:12 “Race car brain with bicycle breaks.” 52:45 ADHD traits and entrepreneurship – creativity, persistence, enthusiasm, interest, avoiding boredom (looking for the new and you’ll find it). Seeing that the emperor has no clothes (a positive and negative trait) — challenging conventional wisdom, seeing something different and you follow it. 56:00 Live with ADD and don’t be ashamed of it. It’s a funny part of life if you let it be funny.

Thank you ADDitude