Taking Charge of Adult ADHD

Barkley is one of the most cited researchers in the ADHD field. He has a large share in the executive function theory in its present form.

This book is the adult guide he wrote for the general reader. His books have been translated into Turkish; how easy this title is to find varies by edition.

I did not like it

Dry. Distant. Unadorned.

There is almost no case narrative. There is not one touching sentence. It does not try to make you feel good.

While reading I never once said "this is me."

And it is the book on this list I trust most

The two do not contradict.

When Barkley says something, he writes where it comes from. If something is unknown, he says it is unknown. He states how strong a finding is and which study it rests on.

This is missing from most of the books I have read in this field, and the moment I noticed it my view of the book changed.

He also does this: he takes common misconceptions one by one and explains why they are wrong. Sugar, screens, parenting, "everyone is a bit like that."

What it covers

Roughly three parts.

What ADHD is. Diagnostic criteria, what executive functions are, how the picture forms, the role of heredity, what brain research says and what it does not say.

The most useful idea here is framing ADHD not as an "attention deficit" but as a "self-regulation" problem. The gap between knowing what to do and doing it.

Assessment and treatment. How diagnosis is made, which questions are asked, medication options, psychological approaches.

Daily life. Work, money, relationships, driving, time management, parenting.

The medication section

This is the best sign of its trustworthiness.

It neither praises nor condemns. It writes the effect, writes the side effects, writes in which situations to be careful, and says clearly that the decision is made with the physician.

It also says what medication does not solve: it does not teach skills, does not build systems, does not erase the past.

After reading I had questions to ask my physician. That is the best thing I could expect from a book.

The part I used most

The third part.

Concrete and applicable. The other parts explain what it is, this one what to do.

The money and driving chapters in particular were more useful than I expected; both are areas rarely talked about.

How I read it

I tried to read it from beginning to end and it did not work.

The density of information is high; when I read straight through nothing stayed. It is ironic that an ADHD book demands this much concentration, and Barkley does not seem aware of it.

In the end I began using it like a reference book: when I got stuck on a topic, I looked at the contents and went to that chapter.

It worked much better this way. Giving up the obligation I had laid on myself to read an ADHD book from start to finish was a relief of its own.

There are summaries at the ends of chapters; useful for someone who wants to skim the book quickly.

Do not look here

Shame, identity, the period after diagnosis, "who am I now" questions.

This book is not concerned with them, and that is not a flaw, it is a choice.

Come for information, look elsewhere for feeling.

It is around three hundred pages.