ADHD and Marriage Blog

A quote in the New York Times on November 21 misled some people into believing that Dr. Ned Hallowell thinks that using marijuana to treat ADHD is a good idea.  Just the opposite, he thinks it is a very bad idea and has said so for many years.  Here is his response to those who had questions about this:

As I've mentioned in many of my posts, I am by nature an impatient, angry person, not at all shy of conflict.  I've always felt that there was so much that I needed and wanted to do with my life, and nowhere near enough time to do it.  I like people and having a  good time, but to enjoy myself and fulfill my life responsibilities, I needed everyday life to move right along.  I had a fairly short fuse, and anybody who got in my way or made it more difficult made me mad.

One comment I hear over and over again from non-ADHD spouses is their frustration that "we go through the same problems over and over again.  Nothing ever seems to change!"  There is a reason for this, as well as a way to interrupt this pattern.

How to help couples understand the destructiveness and intertwined nature of many of their interactions?  I was reading a novel the other day about civil war (an apt analogy for many ADHD marriages!) and came across some ideas that I think can help describe why couples get into negative patterns even when neither one of them wants to.

What does it look like when you effectively treat ADHD and your life starts to turn around?  Here I've reprinted a recent post that says so much about the hardships of the ADHD experience and what can happen when things start to change.  Thank you, ptc909294, for your contribution.

I’m spending quite a bit of time these days thinking about how to get men with ADHD to realize that their ADHD affects those around them more than they think.  At least two men I can think of who have ADHD say they wish someone (other than their wives) had “hit them upside the head” with information that would convince them that their ADHD was causing real problems.

The terrific film ADD & Loving It was aired in Canada and briefly available on the web – enough people clamored to see it that it’s been reposted by Global TV at this link.  It’s unclear how long it will be available, so I urge you all to go watch it sooner rather than later (it’s 42 minutes long).  The program is fast-paced, fun and easy to watch (the host, Patrick McKenna, is a comedian, after all!), but it’s also very informative and well produced

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