Читать книгу Women With Attention Deficit Disorder: Embrace Your Differences and Transform Your Life - Sari Boone's Solden - Страница 3

Sari Solden opened up the field of women who have ADD almost single-handedly when the first version of this book appeared a decade ago. I remember how enthusiastic I was to read it back then, and I am equally enthusiastic to read this new, updated version.

Women with ADD had an immediate impact upon the many readers who were eager to know about the particulars of female life with ADD. Sari’s book filled a large void and it did so beautifully. Before Women with ADD, many people thought that no woman could have ADD. The many who did were misdiagnosed as depressed, anxious, or just “ditsy.” I have had the pleasure of treating many women, and seeing their lives change dramatically for the better, who came to see me because they had read Women with ADD.

What I love about Sari’s approach is that it is personal, humble, funny, and real. She avoids the stilted prose one so often reads in dry journals and instead provides warm and supple words, words that capture the spirit of ADD from a woman’s perspective and offer positive and practical approaches to making life better.

I am always skeptical about the women vs. men dichotomy. After all, we are each human, more alike than not alike, and it can be misleading to suggest that women lead an entirely different life from men. And yet, in some ways, they do. Sari captures the unique female experience without overly generalizing the separation between men and women with ADD.

I love her humor, her sensitivity, and her warmth as she details the trials and tribulations in life with ADD, as well as how she celebrates the potential triumphs of this interesting kind of mind. Sari knows from firsthand experience how embarrassing and difficult ADD can make life, but she also knows from personal experience what an advantage ADD can be if it is managed properly. She captures the fun, the pizzazz, as well as the fizzle and disappointments. But above all she captures the reality of the experience of being a woman who has ADD.

What is it like to be embarrassed to look into your pocketbook for fear of others seeing what a mess it is inside? What is it like to feel so ashamed of your living room that you don’t invite people over? What is it like to feel stupid even if you “know” you are smart? What is it like to worry that you can’t be a good enough mother because you have ADD? What is it like to get distracted at just the wrong moment . . . like in the middle of making a presentation, or when trying to remember an important number, or even in the middle of making love? Sari will tell you about all this and much, much more.

It is wonderful to see this classic book in its new incarnation. I trust it will help as many thousands of readers as the first book did.

Edward Hallowell, M.D.

Edward (Ned) Hallowell, M.D. is a child and adult psychiatrist and the founder of The Hallowell Center for Cognitive and Emotional Health in Sudbury, MA. He was a member of the faculty of the Harvard Medical School from 1983 to 2004.

A graduate of Harvard College and the Tulane School of Medicine, Dr. Hallowell is an expert at offering practical ways to approach some of life’s most difficult challenges. He is the co-author of the national best sellers, Driven to Distraction (Pantheon, 1994) and Answers to Distraction (Pantheon, 1995) and Delivered from Distraction (Ballantine Books 2005), all of which discuss attention deficit disorder in children and in adults.