The ADHD Advantage
What You Thought Was a Diagnosis May Be Your Greatest Strength
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3.9 • 7 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Why ADHD could be the key to your success
For decades physicians delivered the diagnosis of ADHD to patients as bad news and warned them about a lifelong struggle of managing symptoms. But The ADHD Advantage explodes this outlook, showing that some of the most highly successful entrepreneurs, leaders, and entertainers have reached the pinnacle of success not in spite of their ADHD but because of it.
Although the ADHD stereotype is someone who can’t sit still, in reality people with ADHD are endlessly curious, often adventurous, willing to take smart risks, and unusually resilient. They are creative, visionary, and entrepreneurial. Sharing the stories of highly successful people with ADHD, Dr. Archer offers a vitally important and inspiring new way to recognize ADHD traits in oneself or in one’s loved ones, and then leverage them to great advantage—without drugs.
As someone who not only has ADHD himself but also has never used medication to treat it, Dr. Archer understands the condition from a unique standpoint. Armed with new science and research, he hopes to generate public interest and even debate with his positive message as he guides the millions of people with ADHD worldwide toward a whole new appreciation of their many strengths and full innate potential.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This provocative book puts forward a thesis that some may find reassuring but others will find problematic: that attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) can be beneficial as well as detrimental. Psychiatrist Archer, who realized he had the condition while researching and writing his 2013 bestseller, Better Than Normal, claims that it helped him achieve success, and that he's not alone: JetBlue founder David Neelman, Cisco CEO John Chambers, Sir Richard Branson, NFL quarterback Dave Krieg, and pop vocalists Pink and Adam Levine all have ADHD. According to Archer, possible benefits include the ability to work under pressure, rebound from crises, multitask, and conceive of ideas outside the box. Part I of the book provides historical, genetic, and pathological context, Part II focuses on the so-called "ADHD advantages" in more detail, and Part III connects them to entrepreneurship, athletics, and interpersonal experiences. Part I also contains the most potentially controversial material: Archer's recommendation that ADHD sufferers and their guardians avoid managing the condition with medication and instead follow a "skills, not pills" approach. At its best, however, the book provides potentially helpful advice on how ADHD's most challenging aspects can be repurposed as strengths.
