The Add Myth: How to Cultivate the Unique Gifts of Intense Personalities (Attention Deficit Disorder & Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder)

by Martha Burge, Allen Frances MD (Foreword by)

Overview

An Alternative Approach to Addressing ADD

Despite the millions of people taking medication for attention deficit disorders, there remains no objective method of diagnosis for ADHD. In The ADD Myth, Martha Burge proposes a different understanding and solution for those diagnosed.

ADD isn’t what we think it is. Author and ADHD coach Martha Burge introduces a different way of looking at the disorder often associated with boredom and impulsivity in young people. She argues that what is commonly understood as ADHD is actually five intense personality traits: sensual, psychomotor, intellectual, creative, and emotional. Once the supposed ADD symptoms are properly understood for what they are, people with these intense personality traits can develop them into gifts.

Finding an alternative solution. After having two sons diagnosed with ADHD, and witnessing their serious reaction to drug treatments, Martha began a search for a different approach and a more natural treatment for ADHD. By looking at all personalities as part of the neurodiversity spectrum, she shows us how we can see where those with “intense” personality traits fit on the spectrum. Once we understand that, we are better able to help people embrace their traits and develop one’s intense nature rather than try to stifle it.

This book will change the way you look at ADD for the better—open it up and learn more about:

• The five intense personality traits and how they apply to individuals diagnosed with ADHD
• Why the medical profession should seek alternative explanations for ADHD
• Stories, practical steps, and daily practices for developing one's intense nature with the least amount of suffering

Readers of books such as Driven to Distraction, Healing ADD, Delivered from Distraction, or ADHD: Non-Medication Treatments and Skills for Children and Teens will enjoy The ADD Myth.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781573245821
Publisher:	Mango Media
Publication date:	09/01/2012
Pages:	230
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Martha Burge is an ADHD coach, mother to two sons diagnosed with ADHD, and a very intense person. She holds a BA in Psychology and an MA in Organizational Development. She provides educational and coaching support for self-defined intense people, adults with ADD/ADHD, and parents of children with ADD/ADHD. She speaks to groups such as the Celebrate Your Life conference in Chicago. Martha is active in the Mensa community and is a trusted coach to Mensa members. She lives in Orange County, CA.

Table of Contents

Foreword Allen Frances xi

A Note to Readers xvii

Introduction xix

1 There Is No Such Thing as ADHD 1

The DSM and a Culture of Disorder

Medication Goes in Search of Patients

Why Schools and Parents Seek Diagnosis

Not All Distress or Difference Is Mental Disorder

The DSM Is Fallible

Too Common to Be a Disorder

There Is No Proof of Disorder

If Not Disorder, Then What?

2 What Is Intensity? 25

Kazimierz Dabrowski Identifies "Super-Stimulatability"

The Five Intensities

Intensity: Gift or Disorder?

3 Practice Foundations 43

The Body as the Subconscious Mind

The Gatekeeper Between the Subconscious and Conscious Minds

The Internal Map of Reality

Everything Is Related to Everything

The Drug to End All Drugs

The Witness

4 Sensual Intensity 61

The Intense Senses

How Sensual Intensity Affects Us

5 Sensual Practices: Make Me Safe and Warm 71

Practice 1: Protecting Your Sensually Intense Self

Practice 2: Creating a Safe and Hospitable World

6 Psychomotor Intensity 81

You Are an Open Energy System

Psychomotor Effects on the Physical Domain

Psychomotor Effects on the Emotional Domain

Psychomotor Effects on the Mental Domain

Being in the Flow

7 Psychomotor Practices: It's My Energy, Dammit! 95

Practice 3: Walk a Mile in My Shoes

Practice 4: Being Still and Creating Flow

Practice 5: Exercise and Body Dispositions

8 Intellectual Intensity 103

Different Brains

Intellectual Intensity and Intelligence

Learning and Thinking Patterns

Key Traits of Intellectual Intensity

Challenges of Intellectual Intensity

Intensity and Value Systems

Value Levels of Development

9 Intellectual Practices: Building Intellectual Muscle 125

Practice 6: The Magic Word

Practice 7: Concentration on a Subject

Practice 8: The Lost Art of Contemplation

Practice 9: Value Development and Growth

A Note on the Practices So Far

10 Creative Intensity 135

Imagination

Overactive Imagination

Inspiration

Creativity as Therapy

Thought as the Ultimate Creative Medium

Creating Meaning, Purpose, and Ideals

Dreaming Too Much

11 Creative Practices: Becoming a Creator 151

Practice 10: Taming the Imagination Creature

Practice 11: Living Backward and Forward in Time

Practice 12: Seducing the Muse

Practice 13: Creativity Is Imagination in Action

12 Understanding Moods 165

Understanding Moods

Mood Animals and Making Change Naturally

13 Emotional Intensity 177

The Inner Experience of Emotional Intensity

The Outward Expression of Emotional Intensity

Dabrowski's Theory of Emotional Development

Cartography: Becoming a Master Mapmaker

14 Emotional Practices: Emotional

Growth and Power 195

Practice 14: Mapmaking at Level 2

Practice 15: Mapmaking at Level 3

Practice 16: Mapmaking at Level 4

15 The Ghosts of Intensity Past, Present, and Future 209

The Ghost of Intensity Past: Seriousness

The Ghost of Intensity Present: Perfectionism

The Ghost of Intensity Future: Anxiety

How to Be the Leader of the Ghosts

16 Living an Intense Life 217

Understand Your Nature

Find Support from Others

Take Action

Conclusion

Epilogue 223

Acknowledgments 225

Notes 227

Editorial Reviews

About 10% of American children (and 5% of adults) have been diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADD/ADHD), and a multibillion-dollar industry has grown up around the diagnosis, with potentially dangerous stimulants, writes “ADD coach” Burge. In her sure-to-be controversial book debunking the disorder, she asserts that those branded with ADHD experience stimuli—physical, sensory, emotional—more intensely than others. There is no such thing as ADD, she asserts. Instead, the problem for those who are distracted, disorganized, fidgety, and impulsive is to learn how to turn their intensity into a strength. Burge bashes the forthcoming edition of the psychiatric bible, the DSM-V, with its broader ADHD criteria, as well as a drug industry profiting from the label. She then offers “practices”—many based on meditation techniques—to calm, soothe, and sharpen the mind. Hers is a bold stand, and Burge is partly backed by Frances, who was task force chairman for the current DSM-IV. Still, Burge’s guidance is more suited for adults who understand their difficulties than struggling school kids. Still, her assertions should at least spur scrutiny of an “epidemic” that continues to stymie its sufferers and their families. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly