Dr G's ADHD Chat

Of all the ADHDers I’ve seen in my office over the years, the ones in the most distress are almost always the folks that were diagnosed or treated later in life - from their 20’s and on. They usually had significant amounts of anxiety, depression and/or anger. This is the first episode in a series of shows about the special problems of ADHDers who are diagnosed late.

It’s well known that difficulty getting to sleep is common with ADHDers. I assume it was related to dopamine depletion when my wife, from a whole family of ADHDers said that she found getting to sleep to be boring! This was a totally new concept to me, but well worth considering.

I’ve been treating and diagnosing ADHD and raising ADHD kids for almost 50 years. When I started there was no such thing as ADD of ADHD, very limited research, very limited evaluation techniques (think Tests) and not much public knowledge about ADHD. As a result, I’m trying to raise kids and didn’t know what I was dealing with, so I made all the mistakes you can make. I was too strict, too impatie...

ADHD is most treatable disorder in the Diagnostic Manual, if you include the use of medication, principally stimulants combine with therapy. In spite of the apparent ease of this approach, many are resistant to the use of medication. In fact, almost half of those diagnosed with ADHD discontinue medication within two years.

ADHD originally was seen as a childhood disorder. Now we know ADHD persists throughout life, but the diagnostic criteria is still based on children. This presents a problem for us diagnosticians. We know that the overt hyperactive tends to diminish in adulthood and primary symptoms are the so-callled inattention symptoms. The usual practice in diagnosing is to make the diagnosis with fewer symptom...

System theory posits that what effects one part of a system effects every part of that system. This means that having an ADHD child effects every other member of the family.

This is a continuation of the last episode urging ADHD parents to not feel guilty because of their child’s ADHD, but use their energy to focus on treatment and development of compensatory strategies.

Parents of ADHD kids frequently feel guilty and/or inadequate because of their child’s behavior. They feel responsible and, indeed, most of us have a helpful relative or neighbor who is more than willing to tell us that all we need to do is use a little more discipline and all our problems will be solved. First, ADHD is a neurologic disorder that is genetic, so our parenting did not cause the ADHD...

Partners first and ADHD children next have to learn to accept the difficulties and benefits of ADHD. Much like short parents are probably going to have to accept the fact that their child is unlikely to play professional basketball, parents need to base their expectations on a realistic appraisal of their child.

ADHD kids get an average of 70 critical comments per day. They are taught in a system that isn’t designed for their unique nervous system. They are taught and coached by individuals who , on the whole, don’t understand what they’re dealing with. The educational system has also fallen in love with homework and frequently think academic improvement comes from increased amounts of homework. And we’re...

In the ADHD world, especially on the internet, there are countless claims of natural plants, herbs and natural remedies that cure ADHD. As parents, most of us would prefer to give our children something natural to treat their ADHD, but what does the science say?

ADHDers get tons of criticism (on average 70 critical comments per day). Last time we started considering some of the positive strengths of ADHD. Now we’re going to continue and add even more positive strengths of ADHD.

The problems with ADHD, being ADHD, having a child with ADHD, having a spouse with ADHD are well-chronicled. The emphasis is usually on the negative aspects of ADHD. Frequently overlooked are the positives of ADHD. For every negative there is a neutral and a positive, For example, “hyper” becomes energetic, Impatient becomes quick thinking and so on. In this segment, I will focus on the more ...

ADHDers have difficulties with Executive Functioning. They will always have some difficulties in these areas, but they can learn to compensate for these deficits. Use of schedules and routines are some of the most frequently used strategies.

Adolescence is a rough time for ADHDers. They want all the trappings of Adulthood but are three years behind their peers in terms of maturity. This rises considerable concerns for parents regarding the principal signs of maturity—drinking, driving and dating. You, as the parent, have to observe and decide if your ADHDer is mature enough to handle these responsibilities.

Adolescence is a time of tremendous physical, cognitive and emotional changes. It has a significant effect on ADHDers to a greater degree than a typical teenager.

This episode is a follow-on to a previous episode in which the concept of executive functioning was introduced. We will cover the whole area of executive functioning in more detail specifically as it relates to ADHD.

ADHDers have poor executive skills because of extremely poor working memory. They forget requests, have trouble with organization and planning, have poor sense of time passage. These are all problems with executive skills that are normally done in ones mind. Because they have such poor executive skills, ADHDers rely on checklists, whiteboards and timers- external aids to executive functioning. Thi...

One of the most significant difficulties with ADHD is a significant weakness in working memory, the incidental memory of day to day information like requests for help. ADHDers constantly forget these non-significant bits of information which causes disruption and sometimes hurt feelings in the home or at work. One of the techniques for helping in these area is to make as many chores as possible pa...

Relaxation Training (Meditation) is frequently recommended to reduce stress and increase, not only for ADHDers but for neurotypical as well. There are many kinds of RT, but. he simplest to learn and explain involve focusing on diaphragmatic breathing. Sometimes repeating a word or short phrase is added.

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter associated with satisfaction. The scarcity of Dopamine in the brain is associated with the symptoms of ADHD. Stimulant medication works by increasing the presence of dopamine in the brain. There are some non-medication ways of increasing dopamine in the brain. Use of the procedures are useful when it is inconvenient to use medication. Some ADHDers have been able to a...

Most behavioral management programs insist on a combination of praise and punishment- praise for good behavior, punishment for bad behavior. This works reasonably well for behavioral issues. Unfortunately, ADHD is a neurologic condition so praise works really well because it increases dopamine. Punishment doesn’t work art all because it has no neurologic effect

ADHD is a disability that is not obvious or apparent. Therefore, ADHD kids are treated as if they have a behavioral problem, not a neurologic condition. ADHD parents are also dismissed as being too permissive and allowing their children to ride roughshod over them. As a result the whole ADHD family is frequently dealing with shame and embarrassment. The parents are embarrassed because they are see...

Virtually everything humans do is because they were trained to do it. There is very little that is related to “talent.” Research by Daniel Coyle and others indicates that so-called pockets of talent like Australia for Tennis or the Dominican Republic for baseball or Kentucky for Blue Grass musicians are not caused by in-born talent or genetic codes, but by the training and coaching they receive. T...

I came by my interest in ADHD honestly. First, I married into a family with members who were ADHD. (This was before ADD or ADHD were official diagnoses) Later we had a child who was definitely ADHD. There was a giant lack of information or research about ADHD. I had friends who had post-doctoral training in pediatrics and they were unable to provide any diagnosis or helpful information on how to h...