Review of Attention
Deficit Disorder: Unfocused Mind In Children And Adults
By Merri
Rosenberg
Attention Deficit Disorder:
The Unfocused Mind In Children And Adults
by Thomas E. Brown, Ph.D.
Published by Yale University Press: New Haven & London. 2005: 360
pp.
Here’s a useful reference book that would certainly be helpful
to parents and teachers who struggle to understand why their children and
students have difficulties. Although it’s sometimes a little jargon-driven for
the lay reader (and in places seems to be targeted more to psychologists,
counselors and physicians) this comprehensive exploration of the sometimes
baffling expressions of attention deficit disorder makes a significant
contribution.
Using real-life examples and case studies, Dr. Thomas E. Brown
elucidates the various ways ADD (and ADHD) may appear on a spectrum. There are
those with the disorder who simply can’t get themselves started on a project,
procrastinating for hours on end until time runs out. There are others whose
executive function is suppressed by the disorder, so they are unable to
establish meaningful priorities for the tasks that need to be accomplished.
Still others may manage just fine in the highly structured and supervised
environment of an elementary school classroom, with the ADD/ADHD only becoming
a problem during secondary school, when they’re require to deal not only with
changing classes, but extra-curricular activities, more homework, even a more
complex social scene.
And unlike many other books that focus only on the child and
adolescent, Brown addresses the challenges young adults and older adults confront at college, the
workplace, and at home. For example, a student with ADD who’s functioned well
enough at high school, under the watchful eye of her parents, may fall to
pieces at college–skipping needed medications, not managing assignments
or readings appropriately, or being cut adrift from a familiar social network.
Or someone may succumb to what Brown calls “omnipotentiality”–“ all
things are possible, all choices are open.”
Similarly, in the workplace individuals with ADD may find it
impossible to meet deadlines–or to make it to work on time. Nor are the
middle-aged immune: consider the plight of an adult who knows he has an
important meeting the following morning, yet doesn’t finish his preparation for
that presentation, and stays up late playing video games or watching
television.
Before the reader
decides that, “wait, I’ve got those symptoms–maybe I’ve been walking
around with undiagnosed ADD all these years,” relax. Brown provides a very
helpful chapter (# 7, “How ADD Syndrome Differs from Normal Inattention”) that
clarifies the distinction. One key question to consider, he suggests, is how
much the behavior interferes–or not–with a person’s daily life.
In its scope, ambition and execution, this is a definitive work
that should be of great benefit to many readers.#
