Thursday, December 11, 2008

ARE YOU EMBARRASSED ABOUT HAVING AD(H)D?

I hope not. I just treated a young adult who is ashamed of being AD(H)D, particularly since her friends are constantly picking on her about it. I told her to tell her friends to get more information about AD(H)D, and they will find that it’s a brain style with positives and negatives…not a disability
per se.

However, many ADDers ultimately are embarrassed because they excuse many of their actions as just being an ADDer. For example” I’m sorry I’m late again, it’s because of my ADD time management problems” Instead, they need to set their watches 30 minutes early for the appointment, or be in time for classes by keeping their alarm clocks 5 or 10 minutes ahead of the actual time. Another example is failing to look at bills and not signing checks. As an ADDer, I used to say” attending to detail is a large part of being ADD”. Now, with important financial matters I mentally rehearse what I have to do (which is a cognitive strategy) before I read bills or make out checks.

What strategies do you to ensure you attend to important details and manage your time, so you don’t lose friends or deal with creditors a lot?


2 comments:

Siladitya Banerjee said...

pls give me more details.
BPO work from home

Dr. June Kaufman said...

Thank you for your comment Siladitya. Please feel free to ask any specific questions on my blog and I will respond, or contact me directly via my website if you prefer.