Drawn into a vortex of underachievement? Tossed about by impulse and distraction? Drowning in chaos and gasping for control?
You may need help to navigate the power and tumult of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), also known as ADD.
ADHD coaching is a relatively new strengths-based practice that combines knowledge of ADHD with action-promoting support. This form of coaching can guide you through the stirred waters of ADHD and help you find the currents to follow not fight.
Do you need a strategy that helps you read more effectively? I offer one that is all about the questions.
First, why are you reading? PLEASURE? WORK? SCHOOL? TO LEARN?
Second, before you pick up the book, what do you think it will tell you? What are your questions? What are the categories of information (if non-fiction)? Write them down. Go hunting for them. Make a drawing to fill in the pieces. Keep a pen going in the margins (or on stickies) if you have questions, thoughts, tangents.
Third, if an article, what is the first paragraph about? What is the last paragraph about? Now go read the details if you need to. If a book, what are the contents, what is the first chapter about, last ? Now go read the rest of the chapters if you need to.
Fourth, who wrote this? What is their angle? Why should you listen to them? What might be a problem in their point of view? Can you find a weak point? What is their strength in perspective? Do you agree? Do you think you will agree? If so, why? Why not?
Fifth, what is the story? Who are the players? What is the conflict? What stage are they playing on? And where is the climax?
More to come….
Coaches approach clients holistically. Thankfully, some psychiatrists also provide the big picture consideration to those they treat.
Most recently, I read the book “The Breakthrough Depression Solution: A personalized 9-Step Method for Beating the Physical Causes of Your Depression” by Boston area psychiatrist, Dr. James Greenblatt. He offers an integrated and personalized approach to depression that he describes in his book and uses with patients.
Greenblatt offers the acronym THEZEEBrA to encapsulate nine variables to the depression dilemma for an individual. For each variable, Greenblatt provides information about research and his experience identifying seeds of depression relief.
- T- Take care of yourself physically (sleep, nutrition)
- H- Hormones
- E- Exclude food items that may be toxic to your own system (If you have Celiac Disease for example, excluding gluten may improve depression symptoms)
- Z- Zinc and other trace minerals
- E- Essential fatty acids
- E- Exercise and energy
- B- B vitamins and other vitamins
- r- referenced-EEG
- A- Amino acids and proteins
Within these possibilities, there may be several adjustments that can improve and even eradicate symptoms of depression. Greenblatt emphasizes, however, that though there are standard good practices such as exercise and reducing sugar intake, no one formula is the silver bullet for everyone. Individuals need an assessment that helps identify the needs. Those needs can then be addressed in a tailored health plan for best success.
I recommend this book for anyone dealing with depression professionally or personally. It can be a stepping stone to a more expansive understanding of the pockets of information relevant to alleviating the debilitating force of the clouds familiar to far too many.
If someone asks me what I do for a living, in a way I can say I go to school. And school brings me to the edge in ways that remind me of the broader world and humanity in it.
I am a coach. My goal is to partner with clients to help them access their own inner and outer resources strategically for better productivity and fulfillment in life. College students are especially interesting as they make sense of their own life in connection with the macro and microcosm of this life and everything in it. Their viewpoint and experiences as shared offer me a channel to the past and future – through their perspective. I take in what they have learned or are wondering about – as if next to them in mind and feeling.
Today I traveled by skype to the ravages of the Great Chinese Famine. By one young man’s description of what people do across all cultures when desperately hungry, I was shaken. In conversation I traversed to where and when people eat dirt and babies or sell children for money enough to eat. It is intense, it is raw, it is human.
Next stop after desperation was the reminder of the power of imagination. I learned all about dungeons and dragons. Not well-informed about this pastime, I discovered that players can channel their passions into characters that work together to slay the dragon. Without the threat of competition – dungeons and dragons is a social channel in which feelings and frustrations can find expression in character nuances. Participants can tread out of comfort zones and take risks in relationships and adventure that offer thrill and release.
Mindful reading was also discussed. For example, this student reminded me that when reading something it is useful to consider why you are reading it. Imposing a filter on your scan of the words focuses the attention and make the words come alive. In his case, he decided it was more useful to read the texts after the professor spouted his disparaging disagreement of a certain point of view. That way, the reading of it would be to hunt for clues to the tough stance against the author’s point of view.
Finally, this student inspired me by his initiative to form a study group that mimics a professional round table. This young man organized a group that meets regularly to share gleanings from the readings in one text-heavy class. According to his direction, each student should read a portion of the full reading list- brutally long. The members take notes and share the salient elements and understanding from what they read. In exchange for participation, these students benefit by sharing the knowledge. They speak about it so it lives in their mind (and heart). And as a result they are the most knowledgeable and articulate about this material in the class.
