Celebrate your ADHD Child

ADHD 2.0

Dear Friends,
I'm so excited to tell you about a project I am just launching. If you want to join me in taking our understanding of ADHD to a new level check out my new project at

addisagift.com

After getting frustrated with seeing a constant stream of misdiagnosis of ADHD and then poor treatment options for those who are appropriately diagnosed with ADHD I decided to do something about it.

I created a bunch of recordings that I know can stop the tide of obsessing on "What's wrong with our children?" or for adults “What’s wrong with me?” and provoke all of us to start asking "What's right with our children?" and “What’s right with me?”

check out addisagift.com

here's just a sample of some of the material I created:

How Hagen The Horrible Became Hagen The Dynamo - A true life example of a successful ADHDer. His trial, tribulations and his triumph!

When the teacher calls - This audio prepares you mentally for the emotional onslaught that happens when your teacher utters those stomach churning words...

Before you see the doc - Think walking in to a doctors appointment is a walk in the park? Find out how many patients have been literally gotten the short end of the stick simply because they were not prepared.

Tips and Tools you can use to turn around symptoms and prevent a misdiagnosis. Did you know that almost everyone has some of the symptoms of ADD some of the time. A diagnosis requires an “impairment in functioning”. Once you turn the impairment around, there is no need for diagnosis – or medication.

Once you get a diagnosis – learn what you can do to find and focus on gifts. Building on the work of America’s leading psychiatrists and authors – Dr. Larry Diller and Dr. Scott Shannon, you can learn about starting medications with an exit plan in mind - An unbelievably powerful strategy that is hardly even considered.

learn more at addisagift.com

Overcoming Limited Beliefs

Encouraging Words for Those With ADHD

Positive Stories About Children With ADHD

ADHD Gifted People - Interview with Dr Lara Honos-Webb

Top Ten New Year's Resolutions

Top Ten New Year’s Resolutions

1. Give my self permission to lose control (in non-destructive ways).

2. Spend my time building on my strengths rather than patching up my weaknesses.

3. Ask myself every day “What do I need?” and then take a step to meet that need.

4. Make myself right instead of wrong.

5. Honor my sadness and know that living with great vibrancy is the greatest tribute to those we love.

6. Make a list of activities that are delightful and do one every week.

7. Honor pleasure over performance demands, some of the time.

8. Admit that I don’t know.

9. Slow Down.

10. Say “NO” to myself on occasion and to others on many more occasions.

Whereas most New Year’s resolutions impose rigid demands for self-reform, Dr. Lara Honos-Webb’s, Listening to Depression: How Understanding Your Pain Can Heal Your Life gives the healing message that the search for perfection can backfire. Learn how aiming for pleasure, permission, power and presence can offer so much more than losing those last 10 pounds. And how pleasure, permission, power and presence will make it so much easier to lose those last 10 pounds.

For more tips and tools about depression visit http://www.visionarysoul.com. Sign up for Dr. Lara Honos-Webb’s free newsletter at http://www.visionarysoul.com/newsletter.html.  Learn how to translate your pain into your purpose with individual sessions http://www.visionarysoul.com/sessions.html Dr. Lara Honos-Webb is a clinical psychologist and author of The Gift of ADHD and Listening to Depression: How Understanding Your Pain Can Heal Your Life. 

What's Wrong with A Child?

On November 11 the NYT prominently featured an article that prominently featured ADHD and depression the title was "What's Wrong with A Child? Psychiatrists Often Disagree" by Benedict Carey.

While this article raises the problem and raises an eyebrow about the escalation of diagnoses in children and the phenomenon of children with multiple diagnoses, it doesn't answer the question of why, or attempt to solve the problem. Dr. Lara Honos-Webb in The Gift of ADHD and Listening to Depression vehemently articulates that what you focus on you get more of. If you tell a child he has a deficit disorder is it a suprise that that child continues to get worse? Her approach not only explains the phenomenon of escalating diagnoses (epidemiologically and additional diagnoses for one child) but also offers an alternative. Translate symptoms into gifts and create a positive self-fulfilling prophesy rather than a negative one.

Here's the link.
(http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/11/health/psychology/11kids.html?

what do you think? Post your comments here.

www.visionarysoul.com

ADHD Treatment: Find Your Strength Now

     The label of ADHD may keep you focused on the bad things in your life and prevent you from seeing the positive things in your life. You may have ADHD, but that is not all that you are. Ask yourself “What else am I?” What strengths do you have that the ADHD has not overshadowed? For example, you might write that “I have ADHD, but I am also a mother”, or “I am a professional”. In reflecting on your strengths, you might write that “I still am a wonderful cook,” or “I have overcome many difficulties in my life and therefore am strong and courageous.”

Sometimes it can be helpful simply to accept the reality of your ADHD. The strategies people use to self-medicate or deny their struggles often cause more problems complicating the existing ADHD. So you might want to answer the following questions to help face your ADHD while realizing that you are bigger than it.

• “I have ADHD, but one resource for helping me to cope is __________________________” (Answer this as many times as possible).
• “I have ADHD but I can reach out for help. The following people can support me through this:” (List as many people as possible)
• “I may have ADHD but one quality about myself that will help me to succeed in spite of ADHD is:” (Answer as many times as possible).
• “Even though I have ADHD it is not an excuse to fall back on the self-destructive habit of ______________ for coping with this ADHD”
• “I have ADHD but there are many professionals who are trained to help people who are struggling like I am. The following professionals can guide me through this difficult time: (list as many as possible, it might be a psychotherapist, a psychiatrist, a primary care doctor, an energy healer, a naturopath etc.)”
• “The family members that will be the most useful in helping me cope with ADHD are:”
• “The family members that will be least helpful in coping with ADHD are: (List family members) and I might want to consider setting strong boundaries.”
• “The things I can do that will help me cope with this ADHD are:” (list as many activities as possible.”

After completing these sentence stems you can also write free form reflections on resources you have available to you to help cope with your ADHD.

For more tips and tools about ADHD visit http://www.visionarysoul.com. Sign up for Dr. Lara Honos-Webb’s free newsletter at http://www.visionarysoul.com/newsletter.html. Learn how to translate problems into strengths with individual sessions http://www.visionarysoul.com/sessions.html Dr. Lara Honos-Webb is a clinical psychologist and author of The Gift of ADHD and Listening to Depression: How Understanding Your Pain Can Heal Your Life.

Coach Your ADHD Child

There is a story about a convicted felon who said that the best time of his life was his criminal trial because he received so much special attention from the judge, lawyers and jurors. This demonstrates that even highly negative attention can be highly rewarding. Part of being a coach to your child is understanding what may be motivating bad behavior and poor performance. In some cases negative attention that singles him out may in fact be meeting this basic need for being unique and special. One way to prevent this problem is to plan an activity that highlights how special your child is. This means something that only your child gets, and it involves a treat and extra positive attention. Sometimes if you take away treats, attention or a sense of uniqueness from from your child in response to bad behavior, you set up a vicious cycle. He desperately needs the special feeling so he acts bad – both out of frustration and as a strategy to get the special but bad attention. For this activity, make sure it involves only your child. If you have other children you can emphasize to your child that only he gets this activity and NOT his brothers and sisters (of course you’ll want to make sure each child gets a special attention activity). Use your creativity in planning this activity, but it could be as simple as taking him out to dinner just you and him with no siblings. Emphasize to your child that this activity is just to show him how special he is and he doesn’t have to do anything to earn it. www.visionarysoul.com

Using Your Passion As Springboard to Marketing Your Book

MP3 File Length- 36 minutes, 21 seconds

Dr. Lara Honos-Webb is interviewed by Deborah Harper, President of Psychjourney about how to use your passion for subject as a springboard for marketing your book. Websites, podcasts, blogging, and social networking are highlighted as tools for developing a cross-platform for attracting media attention and increasing sales of your books.

Visit Dr. Lara Honos-Webb's website Visionary Soul.

Listen to all of Dr. Lara's podcasts on Psychjourney Podcasts.