Center of Attention
Newsletter of CHADD of Northern California
Also at: http://www.chaddnorcal.org/newsletter
8 July 2002

CHADD Works to Improve the Lives of People with
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder through Education, Advocacy,
and Support

===== In This Issue =====

About the Newsletter
Calendar of Events
Feature Article: Book Review: Journeys Through ADDulthood
Please Tell Us

===== About the Newsletter =====

The Center of Attention is CHADD of Northern California's bi-weekly
newsletter. The newsletter is designed to keep you up to date with
CHADD of Northern California's activities and updates in the field.
It's a step toward bringing the members closer together.

======== Calendar of Events ==========

============================
Marin - 7/9/2002, Tues. 7-9pm
Ask the Doctor- Dr. William Foote -- A San Francisco psychiatrist,
Dr. Foote has been treating ADHD for more than 15 years.
Town Center Corte Madera Community Room, Corte Madera - Contact:
Beverlee: 415-789-9464
============================
Alameda - 7/10/2002, Wed. 7 - 9 pm
Tri-Valley Parent Support Meeting -- New location: Pleasanton Public Library
Pleasanton Public Library, Pleasanton - Contact: JoAnn Matone: 925-484-2173
============================
Marin - 7/16/2002, Tues. 7-9pm
Drop in Support Group -- for Adults with ADHD and Significant Others
Marin Community Mental Health, Greenbrae - Contact: Beverlee: 415-789-9464
============================
Marin - 7/24/2002, Wed. 9:30 - 11:00 am
Support Group for Parents of Children / Teens with ADHD -- Share your
concerns with a parent who really understands. Call to confirm
location and for directions.
87 Elm, Mill Valley - Contact: Holly Seerly: 415-388-6514
============================
Online - 7/25/2002, Thu. 6-8:00 PM PST
Thomas Pelan, PhD - Dealing with AD/HD in Foster, Adopted, and Step-Children --
CHADD Online Chat, Internet - Contact: Message Line: 510-291-2950
============================
Contra Costa - 8/7/2002, Wed. 7-9 pm
Walnut Creek Topical Meeting: To Be Announced -- Ongoing,
confidential support groups for Adults with ADHD
Kaiser Mental Health, Walnut Creek - Contact: Donna Love: 925-687-4324
============================
San Francisco - 8/7/2002, Wed. 7:30pm
Women's ADD Support Group -- Please Call Lynn to confirm times and
locations before attending.
CPMC Davies Campus, San Francisco - Contact: Lynn: 415-621-1078
============================
===== Feature Article ======

Book Review
by Lew Mills, PhD, MFT

Journeys Through ADDulthood: Discover a New Sense of Identity and
Meaning with Attention Deficit Disorder
- Sari Solden, M.S., LMFT (To be published October, 2002)

An insurance company recently claimed that if ADHD is a
neurobiological disorder, then it ought to be treated
biologically-with medications. Psychotherapy ought to be unnecessary.
This will surprise any of us who are familiar with the extensive
psychological consequences of ADHD, particularly in adulthood. We
know that ADHD has a neurobiological basis, but that far from
precludes that there are virtually always psychological implications.

So why do we focus so much on those first treatment decisions about
diagnosis and medications? Even the insurance company mentioned above
ultimately had to admit that this is a superficial approach to
treating ADHD in adults. Nonetheless, many adults diagnosed with ADHD
stop their own exploring of their ADHD once the medications are seen
to work (or not). Too often, ADHD adults fall into this medical model
of ADHD and, like the insurance company, they conclude that treatment
of their neurobiological condition ends with neurobiological
treatments.

This can lead to dangerous disappointments when the medication does
not "cure" ADHD, nor solve the heap of life's problems that have
accumulated in the pre-diagnosis years. This setback, in the context
of a life of many unexplainable failures, can lead to the discouraged
ADHD adult abandoning hopes for real change.

Sari Solden's new book takes the longer view. She elaborates on the
period from before diagnosis through a full acceptance and embracing
of the authentic self with ADHD. This life's work she sees altogether
as a voyage of "three journeys." The first journey-discovering the
diagnosis and treating it medically-is the most familiar. It is also
the one that most other ADHD books primarily address. And Solden also
covers this ground well.

But after diagnosis and medication, what should an ADHD adult expect?
What should they try to do? The second and third journeys pick up
from this point and fills in what the ADHD adult is really going to
have to do. Reaching past advising that we all need to self-advocate,
we need to build on our strengths, that we need to accept ourselves,
Solden lays out the maps for these journeys in detailed, practical
terms.

There are many nuggets to be mined here, but I would share one of my
favorites. I often tell clients just starting work with me that there
are two jobs that they can do in therapy. The first is to
problem-solve about how to make their future work. They already
expected that one. The second, less obvious one is to revise the
history that they have created for themselves in their explanations
of the their own behavior since childhood.

Their reaction may be to tell me that when they were in therapy
before, they already had all of those "insights", and it didn't help
at all. A therapist has already asked them to consider whether they
may be expressing aggression or dependency in their irresponsible
behavior, or suggested that they may have some unconscious desire to
sabotage themselves. But these "insights" are the same toxic
attributions about their behavior that they and everyone else
inflicts on them to no avail. Like the injunction to "try harder",
there is no way that the ADHD adult can use these to improve their
ability to function. It condemns the ADHD adult for not controlling
these things which they really cannot. So the ADHD adult is carrying
a heavy load of self-recrimination that is not deserved, does not
motivate or guide them, and about which they are not even fully aware.

So one of the greatest problems that an ADHD adult will immediately
face is that they have acquired a distorted sense of who they are and
their culpability in their difficulties. This is the history that
therapy can help them revise. The ADHD adult can understand that the
history they have created of themselves is flawed and inaccurate.
There are other explanations for themselves which do not condemn them
for not "trying harder."

Much of Solden's book revolves around how to reclaim an authentic
self in the face of this distorted history. And from that, one can
recreate a life which has gone off course. The ADHD adult has to
separate themselves and their self-worth from the symptoms of ADHD.
Solden emphasizes reconnecting with the dreams that unexplained ADHD
symptoms may have prematurely cut off. With the spark of discovering
who one really is, and recognizing one's strengths again, in the
context of their challenges, Solden envisages a new life for ADHD
adults which goes way beyond discovering how many milligrams of this
or that one must take.

Solden's narrative includes both stories of others who have been on
these journeys before and short exercises for self-exploration around
the same issues. Perhaps the hidden gem is in the appendices, where
she lays out in a more linear form all of the issue areas, approaches
that may work, pitfalls, and suggestions about how to more forward.
Some of this is detailed in the form of advice to a potential
therapist, but we know that every ADHD adult is going to read this
part of the book as well!

Solden somehow conveys the sense that she will be by your elbow as
you move along these journeys. She also advocates that you find
warm-blooded versions of her support in the people around you.

No doubt, some readers will be tempted to concretely measure
themselves against Solden's mileposts. It will be tempting to ask
whether they are finished with "Journey Two", or halfway through
"Journey Three." The answers will only be partly discernible from
this book. So much about these journeys is about how an ADHD adult
connects with others in the world, giving the gift of their authentic
self and receiving back the appreciation of others. The answer as to
whether the journey is working will inevitably have to come from
those connections themselves. Part of the journey may be testing out
where one is on these excellent maps. But the map is not the
territory, and only the journey will reveal the destinations.

===== Please Tell Us! =====

We thank members for their responses to the Newsletter. Any comments,
suggestions, or criticisms will be greatly appreciated. Please
continue to help us make this newsletter more beneficial to you all.

We also invite readers to share their experiences with us and other
members. Please feel free to write to us about anything that you
would like to see published.

You can e-mail your comments to us at CHADD_Dimples@....
Simply replying to this e-mail will also send your message to the
right place.