Driven to Distraction by Edward M. Hallowell

These diagnostic criteria are listed in chapter 12. To qualify for the diagnosis you need six. The diagnostic manual of mental problems, called the DSM-IV, defines ADD by a set of eighteen symptoms. If you take certain specific steps, then you can take advantage of the benefits ADD conveys - while avoiding the disasters it can create. Having ADD is like having a turbocharged race-car brain. 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. When it impairs their lives, then it becomes a disorder. For many people, ADD is not a disorder but a trait, a way of being in the world. ADD is a name for a collection of symptoms, some positive, some negative. For more detail and research-based answers, you can refer to the chapters of particular interest.įor 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.Ī: Attention deficit disorder, or ADD, is a misleading name for an intriguing kind of mind. You can get the skinny on ADD in these thirty questions and answers. We offer this chapter in the ADD-friendly format of Q&A.

If you want to learn more, ask someone who loves you to read the whole book and tell you about it. Reading this will give you a good idea of what ADD is all about. 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. We want to make this book accessible to people who 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. Most people who have ADD don't read books all the way through.

Ratey.Ĭhapter 1: The Skinny on ADD - Read this if you can't read the whole book From Delivered from Distraction: Getting the Most out of Life with Attention Deficit Disorder by Edward M.

Driven to Distraction by Edward M. Hallowell