Communicating ... Mindfully

This month's guest post comes to you from Mark Bertin, MD, a developmental pediatrician and author of The Family ADHD Solution: A Scientific Approach to Maximizing Your Child’s Attention and Minimizing Parental Stress. – G.P.

 


If you know you have ADHD, you’re probably aware of how distractibility, impulsiveness or difficulty “keeping track” of everyday life affects you.  But are you aware

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Adult ADHD Question-and-Answer: on ADHD and "Denial"

A few years ago, I participated in an Ask the Expert Chat on "ADHD and Relationships", sponsored by the National Resource Center on ADHD. In this free forum, the public is invited to ask questions of a top ADHD expert in a live online chat. This text-based Q&A is later stored in the CHADD Ask the Expert archive (you can view the topics at that link but access is limited to CHADD members). Among

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John and Abby: Solving the "Problem with No Name"

This July 4, my husband and I celebrated our 12th anniversary.  Compared to couples married 30, 40 or even the 50 years of my parents' marriage, 12 years is hardly remarkable unless you figure in unrecognized ADHD.


     As I joked to my friends on Facebook: "We can credit the fact that we're still married—and happily so—to equal parts brutal honesty, teeth-gnashing, affection, shared

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Adult ADHD is Real: But How to Convince the Unconvinced?

Living with unrecognized ADHD, in a loved one or in oneself, can feel like being lost in the fog—often on a roller coaster.

      “I hope others can be spared from stumbling through the fog like my husband and I did,” Edith says. “For our first 25 years together, I thought Joe was lazy or selfish or both.”

     Edith also wondered if she was failing as a wife because she had so little

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Pt. 2: When a "Good News" Diagnosis Means Bad News for the Relationship

Years ago, when my husband first agreed to be evaluated for ADHD, he did it on one condition: that I be evaluated for it, too.  Whether he simply disliked being singled out or truly thought me ADHD'ish remains lost in the mists of time and perhaps distorted perception. 


      My guess: He simply wasn't connecting the dots between his actions and my reactions, which from his

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When a "Good News" Diagnosis Means "Bad News" for the Relationship, Pt. I

 We call ADHD a "good news" diagnosis. That's because it offers not only a long-elusive rational explanation for vexing behavior but also effective treatment strategies.  So, why does diagnosis (and sometimes even treatment) mean "bad news" for some relationships? 






     The reasons run the gamut, as complex as the individuals involved and their history together. To explore this topic a

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