Book Review: Transforming ADHD

ADHD is not as it sounds — an attention deficit disorder. According to the authors of Transforming ADHD: Simple, Effective Attention & Action Regulation Skills To Help You Focus & Succeed, Greg Crosby, MA, LPC, and Tonya K. Lippert, PhD, ADHD is a difficulty regulating and adjusting attention to fit the situation you are in. Guided by the interdisciplinary approach known as interpersonal neurobiology, Crosby and Lippert show that ADHD is about much more than simply learning to pay attention. It is about successfully navigating and recognizing the external and internal environments that influence attention. “The biggest confusion about ADHD seems to stem from its reference to a ‘deficit.’ As ADHD scholar Hallowell and Ratey (2005) said to refer to an attention deficit when speaking of the experience of ADHD ‘completely misses the point’,” write Crosby and Lippert. According to the authors, attention is biased — that is, it moves toward some things and away from others. For those with ADHD, it’s not that attention itself but the flexibility or control of attention that is lacking. The result of this low attention regulation, is not just over-focusing and under-focusing; it also effects how we sustain effort and manage emotions. One biochemical reason people with ADHD may have difficulty paying attention to what is not exciting is because they have lower levels of dopamine. Low dopamine function in turn leads to behaviors that...
Source: Psych Central - Category: Psychiatry Authors: Tags: Attention Deficit Disorder Book Reviews Children and Teens Education Memory and Perception School Issues Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder transforming ADHD Source Type: news