Driven to Distraction: Recognizing and Coping with Attention Deficit Disorder from Childhood through Adulthood — Hallowell and Ratey (1995)
Driven to Distraction is the first prominent book on ADD and is still the first reference that many ADDults (or parents of ADD children) turn to as an introduction to ADD with both its perils and promises. Although the book is dated (1995 is a long time ago in terms of increased public understanding of ADD), it’s still a good first introduction for ADDexecs new to working with ADD.
ADDexec relevance
Fifty Tips on the Management of Adult ADD (9 pp. of which ~1/3 are particularly useful for ADDexecs. For example:
“18. Acknowledge and anticipate the inevitable collapse of X percent of projects undertaken, relationships entered into, obligations incurred. Better that you anticipate these “failures” rather than be surprised by them and brood over them. Think of them as part of the cost of doing business.”
A 100-question self-diagnosis tool. Even if you already know you have ADD, many of these indicators may shock you into realizing how many different ways ADD may factor into your worklife. For example:
"4. Were you considered an underachiever in school? Now?
33. Do you feel like exploding inside when someone has trouble getting to the point?
76. Do you find you often get depressed after a success?
90. Are you much more effective when you are your own boss?"
Other good things
“Parts of the Elephant” (Chapter 6, 43 pp.) which discusses the frequent relationship of ADD with other psychological issues including anxiety, depression, substance abuse, high-risk behavior and obsessive-compulsive disorder. This one chapter may radically improve diagnoses and management for the ADDexec who doesn’t realize he has more than one neural challenge, and for whom ADD-only solutions cannot work by themselves.
Less good things
Driven to Distraction was an early book on ADD and the authors rightly felt a need to provide much background and long introductions to many issues the public was much less aware of at the time. If you’re already familiar with ADD, you may find that 50% or more of this book contains info you’ve already seen, that has been presented better in other books, or that is simply outdated (e.g., lists of pharmaceuticals and directories of helping organizations). We at the ADDexecutive recommend you be aware of these possibilities and just skip over the parts that look like you don’t need to read them. (Just because they’re leading experts doesn’t mean that their first book needs to be read like the Bible!)
I’m surprised that Driven to Distraction hasn’t been revised since 1995, though Hallowell and Ratey did follow up this book with Answers to Distraction – a volume of specific tips and answers to reader questions. Hallowell and Ratey have also written other books on ADD (and other topics) on a regular basis since then.
