Taking Charge of Adult ADHD: Proven Strategies to Succeed at Work, at Home, and in Relationships Second Edition

It took me 30 years of life to figure out that ADHD had been plaguing me my whole life.7 years to scrape by with an engineering degree, thousands lost to school debt, countless failed romantic relationships, endless impulsive major life decisions. Why why why am I like this? How am I aware and yet feel like I'm not & out of control? So many lofty goals and interests, completely left by the wayside to whatever form of entertainment or momentary pleasure or distraction comes up in the day.It wasn't until a good friend (who also happened to be a psychologist) to tell me, "I think you have ADHD" for it to actually stick..."Wait. That's like an actual thing? I thought that was like a mood or feeling or something"...No. ADHD is a very real neurological, and incredibly genetic disorder–and this book is the one stop shop you need to understand the subject. Dr. Barkely has dedicated his research to understanding ADHD, and is one, if not the leading expert on the subject. The book is intended to be a workbook for Adults who have ADHD, you need to understand that it's not trying to be pedantic, but rather engaging for us ADHD-er's. So there are lots of headings and summaries etc. I find it incredibly useful, allowing you to easily skip to chapters you think are relevant.There are countless useful tips in this book to help understand ADHD and much much more:How to manage and exist with ADHD in our modern world, the DSM-5 understanding, his current research, neurological deficits & genetic components, the different medications available to you, and the list goes on.He also explains that ADHD is a disorder that has a high rate of comorbidity IE: likely paired with some other disorder else (anxiety disorder, major depression, autism, sensory/learning etc.) so there's a lot to cover as you can imagine.He talks about treatment–Treatments for ADHD are usually centered around shaping our environments to suite our needs. I took a couple pictures of the kind of tips that you'll find in the book. Everyone is different and your struggles may differ from mine, as your deficits might be different and situations as well.At the end of the day, ADHD is a deficit in executive function, our brains are wired different, and it's nothing to be ashamed of. It's only a problem if it's a problem; and unfortunately our Western modern digital world often makes it so.As a person of color, I'm writing this review at 1am in hopes that it encourages the adults who are in denial or maybe suspect that they have ADHD, to help you understand yourself and help you grow and take the chance and buy this book! (Probably one of the better impulse purchases I've made in my opinion)Because you can feel better about yourself too. Don't listen to that guy who impulsively returned this book because he didn't like that it was "childish". That was a very ADHD thing to do, and he would've known that had he took the time to read the book.Cheers,

I thought this book was great. It was like I was reading my biography. Nearly everything Dr. Barkley writes resonated with me.ADHD is a misleading name. Dr. Barkley suggests that people think of it as "executive functioning defecit disorder."Of course, merely because one recognizes the struggles that the book identifies does not mean that one can easily overcome them. If your brain is built differently, it's built differently. Reading this book does not remake one's brain.However, it gives you comfort that the struggles you face are not character defects or laziness. Your brain is built differently. It gives you many suggestions to achieve a better life notwithstanding those handicaps.Each person's brain is unique. You're not the only person who must adapt to overcome genetic limitations. Buy the book and join the fight. Good luck.

This is a great book for someone recently diagnosed with ADHD! Really enjoying it!

The book immediately appealed to my survival instincts as a potential patient and actual parent. At the same time, the syntax and diction seemed at times overly professional, suggestive of a specialist from one community perhaps defending himself (or special-pleading his case) against another specialist in the same professional community. Several paragraphs indulged in double negatives that had me re-reading a sentence several times to clarify its meaning (or my understanding). Elsewhere, words like "compensation" and "impairment" sprang up with little to no preparation--no doubt familiar to those in a particular psychiatric field. There were also instances of mixed diction--e.g. popular argot ("figure out") alternating with more formal language ( "diagnostic criteria").The above are minor style considerations that might be addressed through simple proofing of the text by a lay reader. What seems important if not obvious is acknowledging the reader's choice of this text as influenced by his understanding that someone--the reader's self or some other adult--has a problem answering to the description "ADHD" and seeks information promising to treat the condition. The defense of writing a book about the problem is best left to another book with a different audience..One symptom that's not mentioned in the opening chapters is the lack of "empathy" in the person affected by ADHD. Empathy requires much more than pitying, or "feeling sorry for," someone. it's the capacity to set aside immediate distractions and to think and feel like that other person. Good teaching as well as good doctoring requires the ability to set aside one's own preoccupations and to shoulder the strains and stresses of a sick patient or struggling student. Successful actors are required to place themselves in the mental-emotional framework of characters they play on stage and in film. For that matter, "close reading" of a literary text--by Shakespeare, Homer, Dostoevsky, Faulkner, etc.--exacts the same requirement--however formidable--upon the easily distracted, self-serving reader. "Normal" readers have enough difficulty experiencing genuine empathy with each of the characters in a complex literary text. Is it too great a leap to imagine empathy attainable to a reader suffering from ADHD? Can he feel the pain of others--sufficiently to be shaken down to his very core?