FEATURE
A Librarian’s Guide to ADHD Resources
by Anthony Aycock
“I wish monkeys could Skype. Maybe someday.”
“Do you know if the hotel is pager-friendly?”
“Tigers love pepper. They hate cinnamon.”
“Four of us wolves, running around the desert together, in Las Vegas, looking for strippers and cocaine.”
“I can’t believe my daddy is dead. I can think of so many people I would rather have died first, like my mother.”
Do you know what these sentences have in common? They’re all Alan-isms—words uttered by that unlikeliest of philosophers, Alan Garner: the bearded man-child played by Zach Galifianakis in The Hangover and its sequels. He is loyal and kind, while also being known for his outlandish behavior—and as the second and third movies confirm, Alan takes ADHD medicine. Is this an accurate portrayal of someone with ADHD? After you finish reading this article, you can be the judge.
We tend to think of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as a condition that affects children, but adults can have it too—more than 8 million of them, according to WebMD. Studies suggest that less than 20% of adults affected know they have ADHD, and only a fourth of those receive treatment for it. Most of them aren’t as off the chain as Alan, but that doesn’t mean their lives are untroubled.
October is ADHD Awareness Month, so I thought it would be a good time to look at some of the best ADHD resources on the internet.
ADHD AWARENESS MONTH
ADHD Awareness Month’s website is a great place to start for information on ADHD. This project by the ADHD Awareness Month Coalition—a trio of ADHD-involved organizations, plus other partners—goes for a low-key vibe backed by solid research. The best place to start is the topic section What Is ADHD?, which lays out the diagnostic criteria as presented in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition. There are links to videos and podcasts, as well as places to share one’s own ADHD-related art, stories, or memes.
CHADD
CHADD stands for Children and Adults With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, a national organization founded in 1987 “in response to the frustration and sense of isolation experienced by parents and their children with ADHD.” In addition to publishing its own magazine (Attention) and blog, CHADD has a library in Lanham, Maryland, that is open to the public by appointment. There are also a number of webinars that all appear to be free and available to anyone.
ATTENTION-DEFICIT/HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER
The Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder site from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) delves deeper into the symptoms and diagnosis of ADHD than most others. It also makes use of what the CDC does best: statistics. For instance, according to the site, boys are more likely to be diagnosed than girls (15% versus 8%). Also, in 2022, about 30% of children diagnosed with ADHD did not receive any treatment.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF ADHD
It seems like ADHD diagnoses have been around forever. In fact, the first person to describe the condition was Scottish physician Alexander Crichton in 1798. Other descriptions followed, and in 1937, Dr. Charles Bradley became the first to treat ADHD with medication: Benzedrine. These and other intriguing facts are available on the WebMD page called A Brief History of ADHD.
‘THE HISTORY OF ATTENTION DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER’
The history page from WebMD is an outline. An article on the National Library of Medicine’s platform called “The History of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder” from 2010 tells the full story, from the 19th-century assessment of the condition as a “moral defect” to today’s scientific viewpoint. The most fascinating part concerns Heinrich Hoffmann, a German physician who wrote and drew Struwwelpeter, a children’s book with such characters as Cruel Frederick, Shock-headed Peter, and—foreshadowing today’s depiction of kids with ADHD—Fidgety Philip.
‘WHY EVERYONE’s TALKING ABOUT ADHD RIGHT NOW (AND WHY IT’S KINDA ANNOYING)’
If you’ve ever thought ADHD is overdiagnosed or that sufferers use their status to become “trendy,” you’ll find much to agree with in “Why Everyone’s Talking About ADHD Right Now (And Why It’s Kinda Annoying)” by culture critic Jess Joho, an essay that, despite its cheeky premise, is full of excellent research and reasoned arguments.
‘ADHD SPOUSE BURNOUT: HOW TO SUPPORT YOUR SPOUSE AND YOURSELF’
Sometimes lost in the shuffle of parents who struggle to manage their children’s ADHD are the spouses of adults who have ADHD. These people often feel drained from the constant support their spouses require—a state of affairs sometimes called “excessive caretaking.” A Talkiatry article, “ADHD Spouse Burnout: How to Support Your Spouse and Yourself,” offers tips to stay strong, such as setting boundaries, getting outside help, and asking for what you need.
ADHD AND AUTISM
ADHD “and autism can look a lot like each other.” So begins the WebMD page ADHD and Autism, which nevertheless distinguishes between the two, pointing out that, for example, “[a] child with autism usually loves order and repetition. But a kid with ADHD might not, even if it helps them.” Treatments for these two conditions are very different (unlike ADHD, there is no medicine for autism spectrum disorder), which makes it crucial to get the diagnosis right.
‘WHAT IS INVOLVED IN A PRIVATE ADHD ASSESSMENT?’
Any number of websites will let you take a quick test to self-diagnose ADHD. Such tests are notoriously unreliable. The most accurate results, of course, come from a private assessment by a psychiatrist. What are such assessments like? What will the test consist of? What are examiners looking for? Augmentive’s “What Is Involved in a Private ADHD Assessment?” answers these questions and more.
HOW TO ADHD
Diagnosed with ADHD at age 12, Jessica McCabe struggled with “a brain that she didn’t understand.” Everything was a challenge. She felt untethered, unaccomplished, and a step behind the rest of the world. Finally, when she was 32, she put all of her frustration into the research and development that led to her How to ADHD brand, which became a YouTube sensation, growing to its current 1.7 million subscribers. McCabe also turned her story into a book, How to ADHD: An Insider’s Guide to Working With Your Brain (Not Against It) , and a 2017 TEDx Talk, “Failing at Normal: An ADHD Success Story,” which has garnered more than 6 million views.
‘FAMOUS PEOPLE WITH ADHD’
Dave Grohl, Emma Watson, Greta Gerwig, Lisa Ling, Michael Phelps, Trevor Noah, and will.i.am: These are a few of the celebrities profiled in ADDitude ’s “Famous People With ADHD” article for publicly sharing their ADHD diagnoses.
‘16 MOVIES & TV SHOWS THAT SHOW WHAT ADHD IS REALLY LIKE’
Unlike real-life celebrities, fictional characters can’t admit that they have ADHD unless they’re specifically written to say so. It is often left to fans to extrapolate a diagnosis from in-universe behavior, as in the SheKnows article “16 Movies & TV Shows That Show What ADHD Is Really Like.” Some, like Daniel Hillard from Mrs. Doubtfire, are questionable. (You don’t have to have ADHD to be an improv genius.) Others, like Barney Stinson in How I Met Your Mother, make more sense.
‘HOW MISREPRESENTATION OF ADDERALL IN POP CULTURE IMPACTS PEOPLE WITH ADHD’
The anonymous Re:Set article, “How Misrepresentation of Adderall in Pop Culture Impacts People With ADHD,” focuses not on representations of ADHD itself but of Adderall, one of the most famous drugs to treat the condition. By looking at movies (22 Jump Street), TV (Community), hip-hop (“Addys”), and more, the writer of this piece offers a balanced and well-researched analysis.
DANI DONOVAN
Dani Donovan is a cartoonist whose ADHD-related comics have turned her into one of the condition’s most outspoken—and beloved—influencers. One of my favorites is called Quarantine Bingo, illustrating the unique way that ADHD sufferers experienced that awful period. It’s available in the Comics section of Donovan’s website.
HOLDERNESS FAMILY
Located in Raleigh, North Carolina (where I live!), husband and wife Penn and Kim Holderness parlayed a goofing-around video filmed in their Christmas jammies into a media empire. It also didn’t hurt that they won Season 33 of CBS’s The Amazing Race . Penn is outspoken about his ADHD, making it the subjectof several original songs and the couple’s book, ADHD Is Awesome, which you can find on their Holderness Family website.
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