by guest blogger Stephanie Sarkis, PhD, author of 10 Simple Solutions to Adult ADD, Making the Grade with ADD, ADD & Your Money and Adult ADD: A Guide for the Newly Diagnosed

So is attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADD/ADHD) a real thing, or is it just a byproduct of the times we live in? We have overcommitted, over-scheduled and overextended ourselves. We have to answer our emails right now. We have to check Facebook as soon as we wake up in the morning. Television shows have quick edits and short sound bites, and we have 800 channels to choose from. Have we been conditioned to be an ADHD/ADD society?

Not exactly.

by guest blogger Stephanie Sarkis, PhD, author of 10 Simple Solutions to Adult ADD, Making the Grade with ADD, ADD & Your Money and Adult ADD: A Guide for the Newly Diagnosed

Many people ask me what the difference is between attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Both ADHD and OCD seem to be highly heritable: if you have it, it's likely that at least one of your parents also has it. When you have ADHD, one of the issues is that your brain has a low level of a chemical called dopamine. When you have OCD, one of the issues is that your brain has too much of a chemical called serotonin. Sometimes people have both ADHD and OCD. This means that you have the inattention and/or hyperactivity of ADHD, along with the compulsions and/or obsessions of OCD.

by guest blogger Stephanie Moulton Sarkis PhD, NCC, LMHC , author of Adult ADHD: A Guide for the Newly Diagnosed , ADD and Your Money, Making the Grade with ADD, and 10 Simple Solutions to Adult ADD .

Approximately 4 percent of the U.S. population has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) – that’s 13 million people. If you find out you are one of these 13 million people (welcome to our exclusive club, by the way!), here are the top 5 things that you need to know about your ADD diagnosis:

by guest blogger Stephanie Sarkis Ph.D., author of Adult ADD: A Guide for the Newly Diagnosed

People often ask me, "How have you been able to write 4 books on adult ADD?" I tell them this:

1. I have a passion for writing.
2. I have a passion for helping others.
3. By writing books on ADD and by disclosing I have ADHD, I can let people know that they are not alone.
4. I can help people on a global scale.

excerpt from The Gift of ADHD Activity Book

The focus here is to help you juggle the competing demands any parent feels. You want to hold high standards, but you can see how the competition and pressure these standards can produce take their toll on your child. You know it’s best to stay positive, but you want your child to deal with life’s realities and be able to tolerate frustration. You’re committed to advocating for your child, but you worry that being his champion means he won’t take responsibility. This chapter will help you balance all of these competing demands and others.

I’m now going to begin challenging you to start asking a new question. Instead of either high standards or connecting to your child, you will begin to ask, “How can I have both?” Each time you are confronted with one of these dilemmas, push yourself to look for a solution that honors both sides of the tension. In doing so, you will learn the art and science of flexible thinking. Flexible thinking means you realize that in some cases you don’t have to put your chips down on one value over another. Flexible thinking means that you have the ability to find a way to honor seemingly competing demands.

How can you connect deeply with your child and yet still set strict limits? Some of the activities below will guide you toward answers to this question. One of the answers is that the more deeply connected to your child you become, the more you see his side, the more leverage you have to enforce standards and limits. Another piece of the puzzle is that your child will push limits just to get the much-needed attention he is seeking. If you give him what he really wants—someone trying to see from his perspective—he won’t need to push limits to get your attention.

by guest blogger M. Susan Roberts, co-author of Living with ADD

It is now 20 years since Attention Deficit Disorder first appeared in the 1980 version of the psychiatric diagnostic manual. In these two decades, much has been learned and much has stayed the same in our understanding and treatment of ADD. ADD is still defined by variability in three characteristics: attention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. Agreement is beyond reach on the many different forms of ADD —although there is recognition that not all ADD is alike. What has changed is a vast new understanding of brain’s contribution to these characteristics and how these characteristics appear in daily life, as well as how to live and work with them.

excerpt from 10 Simple Solutions to Adult ADD

People with ADD have a higher rate of changing jobs and being fired. In many jobs, ADD works against you rather than serving as a strength. Not all jobs are created equal—at least not for people with ADD. People with ADD do best in jobs that are:

• fast paced
• include different tasks each day allow you to move around during your work day
• include support from an assistant
• are intellectually stimulating
• take advantage of your ability to multitask
• have firm due dates for projects
• offer frequent feed back
• have clear expectations
• have a flexible schedule
• include interactions with various people
• offer immediate rewards for a job well done (for example, getting a big tip at a restaurant when you have provided good service)

by guest blogger Lara Honos-Webb, Ph.D.

What if you defined yourself by what you are good at rather than by what you are not good at? What if you asked “What went right?” What if you believed that those talents that came as easily to you as falling off a log were your greatest gifts? Can you imagine the momentum you would generate if you called yourself or your child “innovative problem solver” rather than “stinks at math.” It seems easy to believe that the motivation and confidence you gained by defining your child by his or her gifts would make it easy for your child to plow through weaknesses – lack of focus, difficulty paying attention to details, impulsiveness, lack of stick-to-it-iveness.

I’ve always been amazed that though the word “ADD” and “ADHD” are bandied about like the latest fad in some circles or alternatively, as a life sentence in other circles, few have asked a deeper question fundamental to a disorder defined by an attention deficit.

New Harbinger's second piece on Huffington Post.

By Stephanie Sarkis, Ph.D., author of 10 Simple Solutions to Adult ADD

Approximately 4 percent of the general population has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). You may be wondering if you have ADD - you have difficulties staying on task, and tend to interrupt others, among other difficulties. Here are some ways that may help you find out if ADHD is an issue for you:

read the rest of the piece here.

by guest blogger Lara Honos-Webb, Ph.D., author of The Gift of ADHD, The Gift of ADHD Activity Book and The Gift of Adult ADD, and Listening to Depression

The quickest way to transform your child’s problem into strengths is to ask yourself repeatedly “What is right with my child?” This will force you to find your child’s gifts. One parent whose child didn’t do as well as other children in school, was able to tell herself that her child was creative and artistic and she could foster those qualities. When she was tempted to sink into despair when she compared her own son with other kids who seemed to easily do well in school she asked herself “What’s right with my child?” It will be normal to compare your child to others. There is no way to avoid doing so in our competitive culture. I think that there is no freedom from worry when you are a parent, but you can find freedom IN your worry. That means that you recognize that worry is the work of being a parent and you channel it into productive action and stay positive.