(keyboard clacking) (logos whooshing) - Welcome to a new episode
of "Ask the Expert." Today we have a real treat
for you, Dr. Ned Hallowell, who is an adult and child psychiatrist and a world authority on ADHD. His unique approach has
helped thousands of adults and children live happy
and productive lives. In fact, Dr. Hallowell knows
from firsthand experience. He has ADHD and dyslexia himself. He wrote the book on ADHD,
"Driven to Distraction," and has helped educate the world on what it means to have ADHD, helping people through
his trademark approach to build upon their strengths, instead of pathologize the condition. He is a highly recognized public figure. You probably have seen him
interviewed on "Oprah," "Dr. Oz," "Good Morning
America," "Dr. Phil," or "The Today Show," just to name a few. He even has quite the
universal following on TikTok, where he makes fun educational videos on his #NedTalk series. Let's hear from Dr. Hallowell on answers to the questions he most
frequently gets about ADHD. Dr. Hallowell, thank you
so much for being here. - Oh, it's my pleasure. - So just for starters, can
you tell us, what is ADHD? - What is ADHD? It is a
way of being in the world. It is a unique way of being. It's defined in the diagnostic manual as a syndrome composed of
distractibility, impulsivity, and hyperactivity, but it's
so much more than that. People who have this
condition are the outliers, the creators, the developers,
the entrepreneurs, the visionaries, the seers, the ones who disrupt and
create and develop and grow, and struggle to stay on task
when they're not interested. Boredom is our kryptonite.
I have it myself. We can't stay put without stimulation, so we're stimulation seekers. You put all those together, trouble with planning, executive function, and you have a mishmash of
positives and negatives. And sort of my job as a professional is to maximize the positives and minimize the negatives,
and if you do that, this condition can turn into a superpower. If you don't do that, it can
really kinda ruin your life. So it's a very unique
condition in that way. - So how do you get a diagnosis if you think you might have ADHD? - The way you get a diagnosis is to consult with a professional who has a lot of experience
in diagnosing ADHD, whether you're a child or an adult. Who these people might be
could be a psychiatrist, psychologist, neurologist, pediatrician, internist, family physician, anybody in the medical
or mental health field may have experience with ADHD, but you wanna interview them carefully and make sure they do,
because a lot of people think they understand ADHD and they don't. And this makes a big difference because you won't get an
accurate and complete diagnosis unless you see a professional
who has a lot of experience, and it just makes a huge difference. So it's worth doing the legwork, the homework, and finding someone. The best way to get a
referral is to get a referral from someone else who's
already seen that person. - What are the most telling signs that a child might have ADHD? - The most telling signs
that anyone has ADHD, be it a child or an adult, the most telling sign is
unexplained underachievement. So a sixth grader who's not doing as well, emotionally, behaviorally, academically, as his or her IQ would predict, or social background would
predict or talents would predict, or an adult, same thing, not doing as well as their talents would predict, and so, unexplained underachievement. By unexplained, it means it's
not due to an obvious cause, like some kind of a hearing problem, vision problem, nutritional problem, you know, other mental conditions. So unexplained underachievement
is the tip-off. And it's a wonderful thing because often, when the answer is ADHD, that underachievement just skyrockets and becomes super-achievement. Other things you look for are problems with executive function,
planning, organizing, timeliness, tendency to procrastinate, and those issues, as well
as the positive symptoms, creativity, originality, energy, pizzazz, sparkle, ability to, you know, just light up a room
when you come into it. So, the positives and the negatives, but unexplained underachievement is the hallmark to watch out for. - So what goes into a best treatment plan for ADHD at any age? - The best treatment for ADHD at any age includes several elements. It always starts with education. Most people do not understand
what this condition is. And what they know about
it is based on rumor and hearsay and just a
lot of wrong information. So you have to kinda set 'em straight, and I use some analogies like
you have a race car brain with bicycle brakes, you're nearsighted and have
never gotten eyeglasses, so you're squinting, you're
driving on square wheels, you have to put in tremendous energy to get a short distance, those kinds of analogies,
to explain what it is. And then of course you
can refer them to books. There's a ton of literature
out there about it, but you wanna begin with
education, and I tell folks, "I don't treat disabilities,
I unwrap gifts." So you want to put it in
a positive perspective. As you develop this condition,
as you work with this, you're only gonna improve, your life is only going to get better. So it's a very good news diagnosis, because once you get the diagnosis, things can only get better! The only question is how much better, and often, it's a lot better. So you start with
education, then coaching, lifestyle revision, how to get organized, how to get up in the
morning, how to get dressed, how to be on time, how to beat
the habit of procrastination. So coaching, that can be done
by a parent, by a colleague, by somebody else, or you
can hire an ADHD coach. And then some kind of somatic treatment, the most common being medication. Most people are afraid of medication. That's too bad, because they shouldn't be. Medication, people ask me, "Do
you believe in medication?" And the answer is, it's
not a religious principle, it's a medication! And when it works, it's great. And when it doesn't work,
you shouldn't use it! It's that simple! A trial of medication is
a trial of medication. 80% of the time, you'll
get really good results. 20% of the time you won't,
so it boils down to this, if you take the medication
and it helps you and it does not cause side effects, hooray, keep taking it. If you take the medication
and it doesn't help, or it does cause side
effects, don't take it again! It's that simple, and
it's been turned into this incredibly conflicted mishmash, and ending up with most
people being afraid of it. These meds, when they work,
are an absolute godsend. Do they do the whole job? No, they don't. But they can be a tremendous asset and make coaching a lot easier,
make learning a lot easier. The analogy is, they operate
very similar to eyeglasses. - Is medication always
needed if you have ADHD? - Medication is not always needed. First of all, medication
does not always work. 20% of the time, it won't work, or causes intolerable side effects. So no, it is absolutely not necessary, if you don't believe in it,
if you don't want to take it, if you have some aversion to medication. You ought to subject that
aversion to rational analysis before you throw it out, but... I don't take medication.
It doesn't work for me. My medication is coffee, is caffeine. So in a sense, I do take medication, but not a prescription medication. And there are many
non-medication interventions that should always be used, whether or not you use medication. So medication is a tool in our toolbox, but it is neither a necessary
nor a sufficient tool. - So what are some of the newest and best non-medication treatments for ADHD? - The newest and most
interesting and promising non-medication treatments, which I write about in
my new book, "ADHD 2.0," right at the top of the list
is cerebellar stimulation. The cerebellum is a part of your brain at the back and base of your brain. It's kind of an afterthought
in medical training, but the fact is, the
cerebellum contains 70% of the neurons in your brain. It's way more important
than we used to think. And the cerebellum has rich connections to the frontal lobes, which is
where the action is in ADHD. And if you do physical exercises that stimulate the cerebellum, 10 minutes twice a day
for three to six months, you will get marked improvement
in the symptoms of ADHD. Sounds counterintuitive. How can a physical exercise
influence attention, planning, executive function? Well, it does, via the cerebellum, and the network and
involving the inner ear. These exercises are balancing exercises, primarily, standing on one leg, standing on one leg with your eyes closed. There's a fellow in
England who's developed a whole series of these exercises. Wynford Dore is his name, and he calls it the Zing method, Z-I-N-G. You can learn about it by googling that. But physical exercise that
stimulates the cerebellum is very promising and really, I think, will grow in applicability the
more people learn about it. And then of course, the standby, coaching, a very helpful non-medication treatment. The two things for adults I recommend, marry the right person,
find the right job, sounds obvious, but you'd be
amazed how many people don't, and (chuckles) you know, you wanna be careful in
what you sign up for, be it a career or a mate. And then, really trying to embrace the condition, learn
as much about it as you can, 'cause everyone's ADHD is different. And learn as much as you can about yours, particularly through
a strength-based lens. And then you want to do, and I put this right
at the top of the list, in terms of importance,
find the right difficult. We ADHDers, we need a creative outlet, and we need it to be
challenging, i.e., difficult. But it's gotta be the right difficult. When you find the right difficult, every day you can grapple with it and deal with it, and we need that. It's like we're cows,
we need to be milked. We need to have our creativity milked. And for me, it's writing. That's my right difficult,
no pun intended, but my right difficult is writing. I grapple with writing, but it's challenging and it matters to me, and so whenever I write, I get that creative offload, if you will. Yours might be building a
business, yours might be cooking, yours might be gardening. If you're a kid, it might be
starting a Kool-Aid stand. It might be a drawing, coloring, building a model airplane, whatever, but you need a creative outlet. We really need a creative outlet, so find your right difficult. Whether you're five years
old or 55 years old, or my oldest patient was 86. And with treatment, he
was able to write the book he'd wanted to write his whole life long. So find your right difficult, I'd put right at the top of the list. - Those are such, such great tips. One of my best friend's
daughter has cerebellum atrophy, so I'm familiar with
some of these exercises, 'cause for her it's kind
of for a different reason. We think about coaching
and all these things. What about physical exercise
as a creative outlet? Is that considered one? - Physical exercise is hugely important in bringing out the best in ADHD, in unwrapping your gift, as I like to say. My colleague John Ratey
wrote a whole book about it called "Spark: The
Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain." And it turns out that physical exercise is as good for your brain
as it is for your body. So yes, build physical
exercise into your day, however you do it; you
don't have to go to a gym. Walking is real good. Whatever you're able to do and you enjoy. If you have a dog, walk the dog! And by the way, everyone
should have a dog. And then also, hugging,
laughing, physical touch. And you know, we've been deficient in that because of COVID, but it's really good for you to get hugs, it's really good for you to laugh and make other people laugh. It's really good to be
silly, to let yourself go, to relax your inhibitions, and you don't have to
use alcohol to do that, if you just let yourself
go a little bit, be silly, roll around on the floor,
you know, whatever it is. And you know, I hope it's
okay to say on the podcast, but lovemaking is another
form of physical exercise, if you will, that's really
good for you at any age, and it's one of the few
things in life that's free, fun, and good for you. So don't let that to leave your daily or weekly repertoire of activities. - [Marjorie] As always, thank you for listening to our podcast. If you enjoyed the show, drop us a review. If you haven't already, subscribe to our podcast
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