This book explains, in engaging language, the emotional experience and possible behavioural patterns of ADHD on the bases of its neurobiological function, with a focus on the opportunities and obstacles faced by those with ADHD in professional education as well as in the course of a professional career.
A number of conceptualization concerning the central traits of ADHD such as negative hyperfocus, unusual learning curve, questions of selfesteem and emergency-benefits are unfolded for the first time in detail, combined with actionable explanations on how to deal successfully with these traits.
In consideration of readers with ADHD, the text is carefully written in a way that grabs your attention with: short sections, numerous illustrations, mini case histories and additional facts as extras.
The book is meant for persons with ADHD and their families, for employers and HR responsibles and last but not least for physicians, psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers and other professionals who want to understand in depth the functioning and emotional experiencing of ADHD and how to deal with it in practice.
Author(s): Heiner Lachenmeier
Publisher: Springer
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 176
City: Cham
Preface for the English Edition
Preface
Contents
About the Author
Contents
1: Introduction
References
2: One Person’s ADHD Is Not the Same as Another’s
2.1 ADHD Can Make Work More Difficult and Make It Easier
2.2 “Unusual Management of Information and Functions”
2.3 Personality
2.4 Environment
2.4.1 Focus on People
2.4.2 Focus on Structures
References
3: The Functional System of ADHD
3.1 Information: Weighting and Filtering—The Filter Model
3.2 Functions: Controlling and Dosing—The Control Model
3.2.1 Reduced Control in the Area of Focussing Functions: Concentration
3.2.1.1 Concentration and Distraction
3.2.1.2 Hyperfocus: Positive and Negative is Possible
3.2.1.3 Negative Hyperfocus (Tunnel Vision): Quantitative
3.2.1.4 Negative Hyperfocus (Tunnel Vision): Qualitative
3.2.1.5 Alleged Compulsion Problem
3.2.2 Reduced Regulation in the Area of Input Functions: Perception
3.2.3 Reduced Regulation in the Area of Output Functions: Impulse Control
3.2.4 Reduced Control in the Area of Organisational Functions
3.3 Coping: Profit, Side Effects and Misunderstandings
References
4: Fundamentals of ADHD in the World of Work
4.1 To Come Out or Not?
4.1.1 Don’t Be Over Hasty: Beware of Prejudices
4.1.2 Functional Pattern: Problem-Free Coming Out—Initially Without “ADHD” Label
4.1.3 Honesty Is Not the Same as Oversharing
4.2 ADHD: Who Am I at Work?
4.2.1 Be Careful with One-Sided Generalisations About ADHD
4.2.1.1 Distracted by External Stimuli
4.2.1.2 Distracted by Internal Stimuli
4.2.2 How Does My ADHD Function and How Do I Myself Handle It
4.2.3 Hierarchy, Office Politics and Apparent Naivety
4.2.4 Are There Questions to Be Answered Here?
4.2.4.1 As a Rough Guide
4.2.4.2 About the Differentiated Assessment
4.2.4.3 Choosing a Possible Reaction
4.2.5 Social Life and Small Talk at Work
4.2.5.1 First Step: Emotional
4.2.5.2 Second Step: Cognitive
4.2.6 Sleepless “Offside” at Work
4.2.6.1 Exciting and/or Annoying Chains of Association When Falling Asleep
4.2.6.2 Non-pharmaceutical Stimulation for Falling Asleep
4.2.6.3 ADHD-Independent Tips on Sleeping
4.2.7 A Top Career Is Not Compulsory
4.3 A Person Is Not Only ADHD
References
5: Directly Job-Related: ADHD Works!
5.1 Starting a New Job: The Special ADHD Learning Curve
5.1.1 Important to Know: An Advantage in the Long-Term but Limiting in the Short-Term
5.1.2 Suggested Solutions When Changing Jobs
5.1.2.1 Before Changing Jobs
5.1.2.2 Starting in a New Place: Dealing with Yourself
5.1.2.3 Starting in a New Place: Dealing with Your Superiors and Colleagues
5.1.2.4 A Banal but Important Distinction
5.2 ADHD and Chronic Stress: Burnout
5.2.1 Overload Owing to Unchecked Thinking
5.2.2 Uncertainty in the Flood of Data: “Fog of Anxiety”
5.2.3 Coping and Its Possible Stress Side Effects
5.2.3.1 Contrasting Pair: “Overcompensating” Versus “Intuitive-Figurative Pattern”
5.2.3.2 Contrasting Pair: “Overcompensating” Versus “Doing Nothing”
5.2.4 More ADHD-Typical Behaviour That Can Wear You Down
5.2.5 Suggested Solutions for Chronic Stress
5.2.5.1 Job Description and List of Duties
5.2.5.2 Using a Routine to Stop Thinking
5.2.5.3 General Orientation in Situations
5.2.5.4 Overview of the Relevance of the Tasks to Be Completed
5.2.5.5 A Budget for Work Projects with Passion
5.2.5.6 “Guilt-Free Time Pockets”
5.2.5.7 Cultivating Relationships Consciously (Without Bootlicking)
5.2.6 Burnout-Protective Factors of ADHD?
5.2.6.1 Capacity for Enthusiasm
5.2.6.2 Jobs That You Can Highly Identify with, and Those with a Strong Structure
5.2.6.3 Shorter Perception Duration
5.3 Acute Stress: Emergency Benefit with ADHD
5.3.1 Advantage
5.3.1.1 Short Version
5.3.1.2 Detailed Version
5.3.2 Possible Side Effects of the Emergency Benefit
5.3.2.1 Emotional Rollercoaster Leads to Self-Doubt and Professional Resignation
5.3.2.2 Adrenaline Junkie at Work
5.3.2.3 Adrenaline Junkie in Private Life
5.3.2.4 Private Passivity and Resignation
5.3.3 Suggested Solutions for the Side Effects of the Emergency Benefit
5.4 Innovation Advantage of People with ADHD: With Possible Side Effects
5.4.1 Factor 1: Positive Effect of the ADHD Learning Mode (Learning Curve)
5.4.2 Factor 2: Highly Trained Ability to Extrapolate
5.4.3 Factor 3: Positive Hyperfocus (Positive Tunnel Vision)
5.4.4 Which Prerequisites Intensify the Risk Potential?
5.4.5 Suggested Solutions for the Side Effects of the Innovation Advantage
References
6: The Curse of Negative Hyperfocus (Negative Tunnel Vision)
6.1 The Absolutely Worst ADHD Cowpats
6.2 First and Second Wave of Negative Hyperfocus
6.3 Suggested Solutions: Preventing Negative Hyperfocus (Negative Tunnel Vision)
6.3.1 Percentage of Own Self-Regulation
6.3.2 Percentage of Pharmaceutically Supported Self-Regulation
6.4 Suggested Solutions: What Do I Do if I Get into Negative Hyperfocus?
6.4.1 First Step: Learn to Recognise Negative Hyperfocus Yourself
6.4.2 Second Step: Actively Get Out or Sit It Out?
6.4.3 Third Step: Methods to Get Out of Negative Hyperfocus Actively
6.4.3.1 Active, Unspecific: Maintaining Cognitive Orientation
6.4.3.2 Active Unspecific: Distraction
6.4.3.3 Active Unspecific: Restoring Emotional Orientation (Contact to a Sense of Your Own Worth)
The Short Version to Internalise the Idea
Detailed Version to Understand the Implementation of the Idea
How Much, and Why Only a Few Things?
What and How to Distribute?
What to Bear in Mind and How to Practise?
Putting It “Into Action”
References
7: The Self-Worth Issue
7.1 Career Sabotage: ADHD-Specific Self-Perception Falsification
7.1.1 Development of ADHD-Specific Self-Perception Falsification
7.1.2 Suggested Solutions for ADHD-Specific Self-Perception Falsification (Self-Underestimation)
7.1.2.1 Compare Yourself Consciously with Others!
7.1.2.2 My External Sensor Is a Person I Trust
7.1.2.3 Unnecessary Fear: Reality Doesn’t Make You Arrogant
7.2 “One-Two-Three-Too Much” or the Mount Everest Syndrome
7.2.1 Suggested Solutions for the Mount Everest Syndrome
7.2.1.1 Stopping Misperception of an Alleged Sense of Inferiority
7.2.1.2 Simple Tactics to Prevent Trigger Situations
7.3 My Personal No-Goes
7.3.1 What Am I Sure I Won’t Do, Even if I Could?
7.3.2 No-Goes and Professional Self-Employment
7.3.3 Suggested Solutions in Respect of Personal No-Goes
References
8: ADHD Medication and Job
8.1 Purpose of Possible Medication
8.2 Clarify Possible Career Restrictions!
8.3 You Should Demand Detailed, Plausible Information About Possible Medication
8.4 ADHD Medication on Business Trips
8.5 Major Occupational Impact of a Common Medication Error
References
9: Transition: Growing Up with ADHD
9.1 Often Forgotten: What ADHD Also Means in Adolescents
9.1.1 Delayed Maturing of the Brain
9.1.2 Importance for Social and Emotional Development (Growing Up)
9.1.3 ♂—Male ADHDers in Puberty/Adolescence
9.1.3.1 The Rather Extrovert Proactive Daredevil
9.1.3.2 The Rather Introverted Idealising Romantic
9.1.4 ♀—Female ADHDers in Puberty/Adolescence
9.1.5 Significance for School and Education
9.2 Career Choice
9.2.1 Take a Gap Year to Mature, if Necessary
9.2.2 Take Time and Develop a System to Aid Clarification
9.2.3 Trial Working (Taster Day) Is Doubly Important: Tangible Rather Than Theoretical
9.2.4 Own Choice or in the Slipstream of a Friend?
9.2.5 How Much Should I Say When Applying for an Apprenticeship/Trainee Position?
9.2.5.1 Disclosing at an Early Stage
9.2.5.2 Disclosing at a Late Stage or Not at All
9.2.6 Are There Legal Limitations Regarding ADHD in Particular Professions?
9.3 Education and Further Training
9.3.1 Summarised Overview of Apprenticeships and Higher Education Studies
9.3.2 Learning and Swotting for Exams with ADHD
9.3.2.1 The Brutal Truth Is: Learning to Understand Is Not the Same as Learning for Exams
9.3.2.2 Realistic Learn Planning
9.3.2.3 Learning Curve
9.3.2.4 Table of Contents as a Structure
9.3.2.5 Personal Experiences and Specific Examples as Orientation Structure
9.3.2.6 Group Learning as Structure
9.3.2.7 Technical Aids
9.3.3 Possibilities, Boundaries and Pitfalls of a Compensation for Disadvantage Status
9.3.3.1 Fundamental Comments on Compensation for Disadvantage Status
9.3.3.2 Compensation for Disadvantage Status for Everyday Situations During Apprenticeship and Higher Education Study
9.3.3.3 Exam-Related Compensation for Disadvantage Status
9.3.4 ADHD-Basics for Surviving the Day of Your Exam and Passing It
9.3.5 Planning and Completing Written Work on Time
9.3.5.1 Purpose of the Paper to Be Written
9.3.5.2 Type, Scope and Structure of the Paper to Be Written
9.3.5.3 Overview of Time Available
9.3.5.4 People as Important Aids for Orientation and Organisation
9.4 Procrastination in Further Training, Career Planning and Other Occupational Projects
9.4.1 Living Appointment Calendar
References
10: Quintessence
Index
