Sari Solden's "Journeys Through Addulthood"

Sari Solden is a therapist who specialises in writing about ADD in women. Journey’s Through Adulthood is her first book that is written for both men and women with ADHD.

The book is well written and will appeal to the kind of people who get a lot out of counselling therapy. It takes a realistic look at the various challenges posed by ADHD and follows the lives of a small group of people struggling with ADD over an extended period of time and the up and downs they go through after treatment.

An interesting idea put forward in the book is that people with ADHD need an optimum amount of stress to function well. Too little stress can be just as undesirable as too little.

The main problem I have with book is that the author does not make a clear distinction between ADHD and inattentive ADHD. Although one person described in the book clearly has inattentive ADHD, this is not clearly pointed out by the author.

Furthermore, since there is only one person in the book who has the inattentive type of ADHD, there is only a limited amount of advice in the book that is relevant for people with this type of ADHD. For example, it is pointed out that lack of assertiveness is a major problem for some people with ADHD, yet this is only mentioned once in the book.

People with inattentive ADHD have major problems with assertiveness and would benefit from an in-depth discussion of this issue. Conversely, people with ADHD, who are often bossy and over-assertive, don’t need advice on being too quiet and unassertive.

This failure to distinguish between different types of ADHD is a common problem with many books on ADHD. In Driven to Distraction for example, it is states that people with ADHD tend to be risk takers, but this rarely applies to people with inattentive ADHD, who are more likely to take too few risks.

By contrast, in Barbara Fisher’s ADD: Practical coping methods, a book that deal specifically with ADHD inattentive type, it is clearly pointed out that people with inattentive ADD have problems with taking necessary risks, and that this an area that they need to work on.

Another thing about Journey’s Through Adulthood is that is won’t appeal to a lot of male readers who prefer a drier, more matter-of-fact style of writing, or who have a strong aversion to counselling therapy.

Overall though, a good read for those interested in exploring counselling as an option for dealing with ADHD.

A Review of "ADD: Practical Coping Methods" by Barbara Fisher

Although a lot of books have been written on ADHD there are very few books that focus on Inattentive ADHD.

Best sellers like Driven to Distraction usually devote a few pages to discussing this disorder and often leave the reader confused about which type of ADD the author is referring to.

In ADD: Practical Coping Methods, Barbara Fisher, a neuropsychologist, takes an in-depth look at the differences between ADHD Inattentive type and the impulsive/hyperactive type of ADHD.

A summary of Fisher's desricption of the two types of ADD can be found here.

According to Fisher, Inattentive ADHD is an anxiety driven disorder. People with inattentive ADD tend to have introverted personalities and are physically restless because they have high levels of anxiety. This helps explain why many people with ADHD Inattentive type have a poorer response to stimulant medications than those with classic ADHD. The boost in concentration that stimulants provide is often undermined by increased anxiety and muscle tension.

Fisher claims those with ADHD have a profound problem with impulse control, which is not shared by those with inattentive ADD. Genuine hyperactivity in ADHD is caused not by anxiety, but by problems with the frontal lobes of the brain, which encourages people who are impulsive and hyperactive to seek out novel, dramatic or dangerous situations.

Fisher claims that many people with inattentive ADD are being misdiagnosed because their restless anxiety is being mistaken for impulsive hyperactivity.

From the perspective of someone with inattentive ADHD, Fisher's book is the best on the market, simply because there aren’t any other books which devote as many pages to discussing this type of ADD. The only book which comes close is Sari Solden’s Journey’s Through Addulthood.

Fisher’s book does have some shortcomings. For example, she suggests that people with inattentive ADD should take calcium with stimulants to reduce anxiety, despite the fact there are no scientific studies (as far as I know) that support this idea. Fisher is no English major and her prose is pretty stiff and awkward at times. She is also unable to explain why some people with inattentive ADD appear hypoactive and don’t seem to have significant problems with anxiety.

However, Fisher’s book is clear and well reasoned and unless someone comes up with something better it will remain the best book on inattentive ADD for some time to come.