Duan MD - Managing ADHD Workbook for Women: Exercises and Strategies to Improve Focus, Motivation, and Confidence

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First Rockridge Press trade paperback edition April 2022.

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Paperback ISBN: 978-1-63878-303-9 | eBook ISBN: 978-1-63878-245-2

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We dedicate this book to our patients, who are our best teachers. It is through their stories that we have learned the most. We strive to share lessons from their experiences with others so they can find healing and strength.

Contents

W elcome to Managing ADHD Workbook for Women ! If youve picked up this book, you may be experiencing challenges with focus, organization, and efficiency. Everyone deals with difficulties like these from time to time, but people with ADHD struggle with these issues more often. The good news is that there are countless strategies and techniques that you can learn to manage these challenges and live a richer, more fulfilling life.

As mental health clinicians with decades of combined experience working with women who have ADHD, we have come to understand the unique challenges they face. You are not alone, and weve got you! We are excited to share our knowledge, and we feel honored to embark on this journey with you.

But before we get too ahead of ourselves, well give you a little introduction of who we are:

Hi! Im Dr. Christy Duan, a psychiatrist based in New York City who treats children, adolescents, and adults. I also have specialized training in womens mental health, which includes issues around puberty, periods, pregnancy, and menopause. I really enjoy working with women who have ADHD. They are some of the most creative, daring, and energetic people I know.

I am Kathleen Fentress Tripp, a psychiatric nurse practitioner. I have worked for a decade with children and adults who struggle with a variety of mental health concerns and learning differences, including ADHD. I meet with kids and their families to evaluate, diagnose, and treat these concerns.

My name is Dr. Beata Lewis, founder of Mind Body Seven, a Brooklyn, New York, outpatient psychiatric practice. I am a child and adolescent psychiatrist who has been working with children and teens with ADHD since 2006. I experienced ADHD myself, especially when I was younger, and I figured out over time how to minimize the negative aspects of ADHD and leverage the positive aspect of hyperfocus in my own life (well talk about hyperfocus and how you can use it to your advantage as well).

We work together, and now we have written this book together, with the goal of creating a safe space for you to explore and embrace who you are, ADHD and all! This book is designed to help you understand how ADHD impacts you, reflect on yourself and your needs, find effective ways to work around your challenges, and celebrate your unique strengths.

B efore we dive in, well explain how this workbook is organized so you can get the most value out of it. It is best for most women to work through the workbook in order, but feel free to adapt it to your unique style of learning. You may even choose to skim the book first or make a beeline to the section that is most exciting to you.

This workbook is divided into six chapters, which contain affirmations, patient stories, exercises, and key takeaways. Each chapter is designed to deepen your understanding of ADHD, help you appreciate the role of ADHD in your life, and learn valuable skills for managing ADHD symptoms. Please note that the affirmations in each chapter may not always feel like they apply to you. Feel free to adapt the affirmations so they are helpful for your unique situation.

explains how ADHD affects women. Youll gain a better understanding of how ADHD plays a role in your work and commitments, family and relationships, time management, decision-making, and emotion regulation.

presents research about underlying causes of ADHD, as well as how ADHD is diagnosed. You will learn about the three types of ADHDinattentive, hyperactive/impulsive, and combinedand how the same diagnosis can look very different in two women. Finally, well do some myth-busting to help you differentiate between ADHD fact and fiction.

introduces the concept of neurodiversity, which recognizes that people have neurological differences resulting in a wide range of strengths and weaknesses that are neither good nor bad. Neurodivergence can be accommodated and celebrated rather than shunned; in fact, well explore how neurological diversity is essential to a healthy, thriving community. In this chapter, youll learn how ADHD brings unique assets to your life that you can embrace and leverage.

provides quick skill-building exercises that you can start using immediately. Youll learn and practice helpful strategies around procrastination, time management, organization, indecision, motivation, and emotional volatility or impulsivity. As you explore these skills, you will start building your own strategy tool kit that you can bring with you to any situation.

takes you beyond self-reliance and explores how to ask for help and create a system of support to be your best self. Your network can include friends, family, and people in your workplace.

discusses how you can determine whether its time to seek professional help for your ADHD symptoms. Well discuss therapy, medication, and lifestyle changes.

Although the exercises included in this workbook are designed to help you get started right away, this book is not intended to be a replacement for medical treatment. has more information on seeking professional care. If you need more guidance on how to seek out care sooner rather than later, feel free to skip ahead to that final chapter.

A Note for Transgender and Gender-Diverse Women

Whether you are a cisgender, transgender, or gender-diverse woman, this book is meant for you. All women with ADHD face similar social and behavioral challenges, regardless of sex assigned at birth. This is because there has been a significant history of sexism and ableism that continues to affect women with ADHD to this day. These challenges can include navigating gender roles and expectations at home, school, and work, as well as socially.

Pushing past narrow definitions of how women should appear, think, feel, and behave is hard work! Fortunately, our society is shifting away from the denigration of people with disabilities and the myopic view of gender as binary (male or female), thanks to the radical work of disabled, neurodivergent, LGBTQIA+, and BIPOC groups, among others.