The Management of Adult Attention Deficit Disorder - ADHD Mood Managent

Written by Edward M. Hallowell, M.D. and John J. Ratey, M.D.

Mood Management:

1. Have structured "blow-out" time. Set aside some time in every week for just letting go. Whatever you like to do -- blasting yourself with loud music, taking a trip to the race track, having a feast -- pick some kind of activity from time to time where you can let loose in a safe way.

2. Recharge your batteries. Related to #30 most adults with ADD need feeling guilty about it. One guilt-free way to conceptualize it is to call it time to recharge your batteries. Take a nap, watch TV, meditate. Some-thing calm, restful, at ease.

3. Choose "good," helpful addictions such as exercise. Many adults with ADD have an addictive or compulsive personality such that they are always hooked on something. Try to make this something positive.

4. Understand mood changes and ways to manage these. Know that your moods will change willy-nilly, independent of what's going on in the external world. Don't waste your time ferreting out the reason why or looking for someone to blame. Focus rather on learning to tolerate a bad mood, knowing that it will pass, and learning strategies to make it pass sooner. Changing sets, i.e. getting involved with some new activity (preferably interactive) such as a conversation with a friend or a tennis game or reading a book will often help.

5. Related to #33, recognize the following cycle which is very common among adults with ADD: Something "startles" your psychological system, a change or transition, a disappointment or even a success. The precipitant may be quite trivia. b. This "startle" is followed by a mini-panic with a sudden loss of perspective, the world being set topsy-turvy. c. You try to deal with this panic by falling into a mode of obsessing and ruminating over one or another aspect of the situation. This can last for hours, days, even months.

6. Plan scenarios to deal with the inevitable blahs. Have a list of friends to call. Have a few videos that always engross you and get your mind off things. Have ready access to exercise. Have a punching bag or pillow handy if there's extra angry energy. Rehearse a few pep talks you can give yourself, like, ''You've been here before. These are the ADD blues. They will soon pass. You are OK."

7. Expect depression after success. People with ADD commonly complain of feeling depressed, paradoxically, after a big success. This is because the high stimulus of the chase or the challenge or the preparation is over. The deed is done. Win or lose, the adult with ADD misses the conflict, the high stimulus, and feels depressed.

8. Learn symbols, slogans, sayings as shorthand ways of labeling and quickly putting into perspective slip ups, mistakes, or mood swings. When you turn left instead of right and take your family on a 20-minute detour, it is better to be able to say, "There goes my ADD again," than to have a 6-hour fight over your unconscious desire to sabotage the whole trip. These are not excuses. You still have to take responsibility for your actions. It is just good to know where your actions are coming from and where they're not.

9. Use "time-outs" as with children. When you are upset or over stimulated, take a time-out. Go away. Calm down.

10. Learn how to advocate for yourself. Adults with ADD are so used to being criticized, they are often unnecessarily defensive in putting their own case forward. Learn to get off the defensive.

11. Avoid premature closure of a project, a conflict, a deal, or a conversation. Don't "cut to the chase'' too soon, even though you're itching to.

12. Try to let the successful moment last and be remembered, become sustaining over time. You'll have to consciously and deliberately train yourself to do this because you'll just as soon forget.

13. Remember that ADD usually includes a tendency to over focus or hyper focus at times. This hyper focusing can be used constructively or destructively. Be aware of its destructive use: a tendency to obsess or ruminate over some imagined problem without being able to let it go.

14. Exercise vigorously and regularly. You should schedule this into Your life and stick with it. Exercise is positively one of the best treatments for ADD. It helps work off excess energy and aggression in a positive way, it allows for noise-reduction within the mind, it stimulates the hormonal and neurochemical system in a most therapeutic way, and it soothes and calms the body. When you add all that to the well-known health bene- fits of exercise, you can see how important exercise is. Make it something fun so you can stick with it over the long haul, i.e. the rest of you life.