Delivered from Distraction: Getting the Most out of Life with Attention Deficit Disorder

by Edward M. Hallowell, Edward M. Hallowell (Narrated by), John J. Ratey

Overview

In 1994, Driven to Distraction sparked a revolution in our understanding of attention deficit disorder. Widely recognized as the classic in the field, the book has sold more than a million copies. Now a second revolution is under way in the approach to ADD, and the news is great. Drug therapies, our understanding of the role of diet and exercise, even the way we define the disorder–all are changing radically. And doctors are realizing that millions of adults suffer from this condition, though the vast majority of them remain undiagnosed and untreated. In this new book, Drs. Edward M. Hallowell and John J. Ratey build on the breakthroughs of Driven to Distraction to offer a comprehensive and entirely up-to-date guide to living a successful life with ADD.

As Hallowell and Ratey point out, “attention deficit disorder” is a highly misleading description of an intriguing kind of mind. Original, charismatic, energetic, often brilliant, people with ADD have extraordinary talents and gifts embedded in their highly charged but easily distracted minds. Tailored expressly to ADD learning styles and attention spans, Delivered from Distraction provides accessible, engaging discussions of every aspect of the condition, from diagnosis to finding the proper treatment regime. Inside you’ll discover

• whether ADD runs in families
• new diagnostic procedures, tests, and evaluations
• the links between ADD and other conditions
• how people with ADD can free up their inner talents and strengths
• the new drugs and how they work, and why they’re not for everyone
• exciting advances in nonpharmaceutical therapies, including changes in diet, exercise, and lifestyle
• how to adapt the classic twelve-step program to treat ADD
• sexual problems associated with ADD and how to resolve them
• strategies for dealing with procrastination, clutter, and chronic forgetfulness

ADD is a trait, a way of living in the world. It only becomes a disorder when it impairs your life. Featuring gripping profiles of patients with ADD who have triumphed, Delivered from Distraction is a wise, loving guide to releasing the positive energy that all people with ADD hold inside. If you have ADD or care about someone who does, this is the book you must read.

From the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780739317631
Publisher:	Random House Audio Publishing Group
Publication date:	11/08/2007
Edition description:	Abridged

About the Author

Edward M. Hallowell, M.D., is a senior lecturer at Harvard Medical School and the founder and director of The Hallowell Center for Cognitive and Emotional Health in Concord, Massachusetts. He lives in the Boston area.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter 1

THE SKINNY ON ADD:

READ THIS IF YOU CAN'T READ THE WHOLE BOOK

Most people who have ADD don't read books all the way through. It's not because they don't want to; it's because reading entire books is very difficult--sort of like singing an entire song in just one breath.

We want to make this book accessible to people who don't read books all the way through. For those people, our most dear and treasured brothers and sisters in ADD, we offer this first chapter, set off from the rest of the book. Reading this will give you a good idea of what ADD is all about. If you want to learn more, ask someone who loves you to read the whole book and tell you about it. Or you can listen to it on a tape or CD.

We offer this chapter in the ADD-friendly format of Q&A. You can get the skinny on ADD in these thirty questions and answers. For more detail and research-based answers, you can refer to the chapters of particular interest.

For those blessed readers who intend to read the entire book, some of what's in this Q&A will appear again, but some of it won't, so you too should read this section.

Q&A ON ADD

Q: What is ADD?

A: Attention deficit disorder, or ADD, is a misleading name for an intriguing kind of mind. ADD is a name for a collection of symptoms, some positive, some negative. For many people, ADD is not a disorder but a trait, a way of being in the world. When it impairs their lives, then it becomes a disorder. But once they learn to manage its disorderly aspects, they can take full advantage of the many talents and gifts embedded in this sparkling kind of mind.

Having ADD is like having a turbocharged race-car brain. If you take certain specific steps, then you can take advantage of the benefits ADD conveys--while avoiding the disasters it can create.

The diagnostic manual of mental problems, called the DSM-IV, defines ADD by a set of eighteen symptoms. To qualify for the diagnosis you need six. These diagnostic criteria are listed in chapter 12. But be careful when you read them. They describe only the downside of ADD. The more you emphasize the downside, the more you create additional pathology: a nasty set of avoidable, secondary problems, like shame, fear, and a sharply diminished sense of what's possible in life.

The pathology of ADD--its disorderly side--represents only one part of the total picture.

The other part, the part that the DSM-IV and other catalogs of pathology leave out, is the zesty side of ADD. People with ADD have special gifts, even if they are hidden. The most common include originality, creativity, charisma, energy, liveliness, an unusual sense of humor, areas of intellectual brilliance, and spunk. Some of our most successful entrepreneurs have ADD, as do some of our most creative actors, writers, doctors, scientists, attorneys, architects, athletes, and dynamic people in all walks of life.

Q: What is the difference between ADHD and ADD?

A: It's just a matter of nosology, the classification of disorders. There is an arbitrariness to it all. By the current DSM-IV definition, ADD technically does not exist. By the DSM-IV definition, the term ADHD includes both ADHD with hyperactivity (the H in ADHD) and ADHD without hyperactivity. Technically, this means you can have ADHD with no symptoms of H, hence there is no need for the term ADD. But ADD, the old term, is still used by many clinicians, including the authors of this book. Whichever term you use, the important point to know is that you can have ADHD (or ADD) without showing any signs of hyperactivity or impulsivity whatsoever. ADHD without hyperactivity or impulsivity is more common among...

Editorial Reviews

This follow-up to the authors' 1994 manual, Driven to Distraction, has the advantage of personal testimony regarding adult Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)-the authors themselves have ADD-as well a very readable presentation of the latest research in the field. Defining ADD as a collection of traits, some positive, some negative, the authors intend to encourage those who have this condition or are raising children with it and advise on how to maximize their abilities and minimize characteristics, such as procrastination, that may hinder them at school or work. In a comprehensive overview, Hallowell and Ratey provide a new screening questionnaire for adults and list methods that physicians, parents and educators can use to diagnose and treat the ADD child. Of primary importance to readers are the recommended steps for living a satisfying life with ADD; these include developing personal relationships and engaging in creative activities that will foster self-esteem. The authors also separate nutrition fads from what is known about how diet can affect brain functioning and discuss whether to take medication. Overall, this is an excellent resource. Agent, Jill Kneerim. (Dec.) Forecast: Driven to Distraction has sold more than one million copies over 10 years; the market should be equally promising for this sequel. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Here are two different but successful takes on attention deficit disorder (ADD). Psychiatrists Hallowell and Ratey (Harvard Medical Sch.) follow up their successful Driven to Distraction, which dispelled myths about ADD, with this comprehensive guide to living a successful life with ADD. The authors cover new medications; dietary and nutritional suggestions; approaches to diagnosis, including quantitative electroencephalography and single proton emission computerized tomography; and understanding of the characteristics of ADD. A concise Q&A chapter on the basics of ADD is followed by reader-friendly sections organized around actual stories of patients with ADD who have all been successfully treated by the authors. The authors' professional clinical background is further enhanced by their firsthand experience with ADD, which results in an important contribution to ADD collections in all libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 9/1/04.] Only 19 when he wrote this book, which was first self-published in Australia in 2003, Polis has lived with ADD all his life. In his distinctive writing style, he shares what it's really like inside the mind of a child/adolescent with ADD and provides encouragement for parents and educators who strive daily to reach children and adolescents with ADD. Through his great determination and use of self-taught concentration techniques, along with timely intervention by the right medical team, the author managed to complete high school, attend university, and create this remarkable firsthand account. Polis's youthful perspective is a significant contribution to the growing ADD literature and includes a foreword by Edward M. Hallowell (see review of Delivered from Distraction, above); highly recommended. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 9/1/04.]-Dale Farris, Groves, TX Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal