The book, You Mean I’m Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy, is interesting because the Authors use personas to describe various aspects of ADHD. For example, there are different types of inattention – Workaholism, single-mindedness, procrastination and boredom. Workaholics have a hard time deciding which task to focus on, so they end up so engrossed in one task that they forget the rest. Procrastinators have too many tasks to focus on that they cannot decide which one to start on – they end up not doing anything.
The Authors also introduced the Wandering Mind Syndrome where the mind is flying off in different directions, a One-Channel Operational System, where ADHDers can only do one task at a time and the Locking-In and Blocking-Out Phenomena which describes the hyperfocus of ADHDers. Many ADHDers also have the “I Hate Details” Dynamic, where poor working memory makes it a challenge to remember a list of instructions. The “Don’t Do Today What You Can Put Off Till Tomorrow” Dynamic makes it challenging for ADHDers to begin a task at any moment. It might seem that they are holding back or don’t want to do something, but it takes a lot of strength to start a task.
I found this book a fun read because the Authors did a good job of capturing the symptoms that many ADHDers struggle with, in a gentle and light hearted manner.
(Reviewed by Sabrina Lim for Unlocking ADHD on You Mean I’m Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy)
