Lately I have been reading a lot about the strength based approach to managing, coping and, more importantly, striving and thriving with ADHD! It’s a contagious, positive and wonderful new movement and I like to think I have been a small part of helping push this movement into the forefront by writing my blog, my books and eBooks.

David A Crenshaw recently wrote on facebook:
A—adventurous
D—determined
H—hardy
D—dynamic
©David A. Crenshaw, 2011, all rights reserved.

I really like his use of ADHD! It’s a new way of looking at ADHD. We can talk about the difficulties, the challenges and the disadvantages of ADHD all day long. We can read about and study what the science tells us and what the statistics show us, but there’s one thing I have noticed, and that is that those who believe in and live by their strengths, whereby one uses what they can do well to their advantage seem to be happier and live more fulfilling lives.

How do you define success with ADHD? When I hear the word success I wonder what each person defines it as. I have always said success is what you define it. Here are 6 things I now have the opportunity to define as success with ADHD for me:

1. Paid the monthly bills on time. I have automatic payments, so I don’t have to worry about most of them. There are other payments I have the opportunity to pay on time by making it to the bank on time, and I do for the most part.
2. Made it to most of my appointments on time. It’s awesome when I am there 5 minutes early and have the opportunity to unwind first. The key is using my appointment calendar on my Smartphone and setting multiple alarms and not making appointments I may not need.

I am not like everyone else, I have ADHD and my childhood wasn’t normal either.

Quite frankly, I don’t want to be like everyone else. I don’t want to conform to be someone better than anyone else or to be ‘normal’ and I certainly don’t want to be average. I have no such desire. I used to and it would drive me crazy. I like being me. I have some hard luck stories, I can tell you of all the mistakes I have made and the challenges that overwhelmed me, but sometimes the point is missed. I still have ADHD and many of the issues that come with it, but that is not my point.

There’s a new study out that shows what I have known and has already been proven in my life already. And that is psychotherapy or, more specifically, cognitive behavioral therapy helps people with ADHD improve and cope.

The study was conducted by: Steven A. Safren, PhD, ABPP; Susan Sprich, PhD; Matthew J. Mimiaga, ScD, MPH; Craig Surman, MD; Laura Knouse, PhD; Meghan Groves; Michael W. Otto, PhD and is published in Journal of the American Medical Assn. Author Affiliations: Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston (Drs Safren, Sprich, Mimiaga, Surman, Knouse, and Otto and Ms Groves); Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts (Drs Safren, Sprich, Mimiaga, Surman, and Knouse); and Department of Psychology, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts (Dr Otto).

I have been in a lot of battles in my life, some were life threatening, some were tug of wars with myself for things I simply did not understand and some were just me trying to be confrontational with, well, me, myself and I.

ADHD can suck so bad that nothing else matters, it leads to a life of constant struggle, going nowhere, unless backwards is a place you want to go. When an adult discovers he has ADHD (or she) I think it is natural to want to find treatment to improve the symptoms, to counter them as soon as possible. The quickest way to do that is with medication, the more profound and life enhancing way, I believe, is through professional physciatric therapy to actually go in and take stock of what we are thinking and why. The suddenly new possibilities of living an improved, aware life are the brightest ‘ohh shiny’ of all, but can also be the most damning.

It’s not something we want to talk about, it’s not something we want to admit and it is clearly something we are ashamed of. And yet, as much as we already understand our mistakes, our failures and our impulsive mishaps we do it more and more, to the point from which we see no return.

ADHD are symptoms of a magnitude and force which no one, and I mean, no one, who does not have ADHD can truly empathize with, because, no matter how well they understand our symptoms and can explain them with detailed clarity, they do not live with them as part of their self-internal life force. And, as much as each of us relates so well with each other that have ADHD, there are even differences between us that elude our recognition – no matter how familiar we are with each other, and, we are, remarkably, naturally familiar with each other. This is the reason that our personal stories and our personal insights help each other so much.