FIFTY TIPS ON THE MANAGEMENT OF ADULT ADD
                         Mood Management
     30. Have structured "blow-out" time. Set aside some time in every
week for just letting go. Whatever you like to do -- blasting yourself
with loud music, taking a trip to the racetrack, having a feast -- pick
some kind of activity from time to time where you can let loose in a
safe way.
     31. Recharge you batteries. Related to number 30, most adults with
ADD need, on a daily basis, some time to waste without feeling guilty
about it. One guilt-free way to conceptualize it is to call it time to
recharge your batteries. Take a nap, watch TV, meditate. Something calm,
restful, at ease.
     32. Choose "good", helpful addictions, such as exercise. Many
adults with ADD have an addictive or compulsive personality that keeps
them hooked on something. Try to make this something positive.
     33. Understand mood changes and ways to manage these. Know that
your moods will change willy-nilly, independent of what's going on in
the external world. Don't waste your time looking for someone to blame.
Focus rather on learning to tolerate a bad mood, knowing that it will
pass, and learning strategies to make it pass sooner. Change sets, i.e.,
get involved with some new activity (preferably interactive), such as
conversation with a friend, or a tennis game, or reading a book.
     34. related to number 33, recognize the following cycle which is
very common among adults with ADD:
        a. Something "startles" your psychological system, a change or
        transition, a disappointment or even a success. The precipitant
        may be quite trivial, nothing more than an everyday event.
        b. This "startle" is followed by a minipanic with a sudden loss
        of perspective, the world being set topsy-turvy.
        c. You try to deal with this panic by falling into a mode of
        obsessing and rumination over one or another aspect of the
        situation. This can last for hours, days, even months.
To break the negative obsessing, have a list of friends to call. Have a
few videos that will engross you and get your mind off things. Have
ready access to exercise. Have a punching bag or pillow handy if there's
extra angry energy. Rehearse a few pep talks you can give yourself,
like, "You've been here before. These are the ADD blues. They will soon
pass. You are OK."
     35. Learn how to name your feeling. Many people with ADD,
particularly men, get frustrated and angry because they cannot put their
feeling into words. With practice and coaching, this is a skill that can
be learned.
     36. Expect depression after success. People with ADD commonly
complain of feeling depressed, paradoxically, after a big success. This
is because the high stimulus of the chase or the challenge or the
preparation is over. The deed is done. Win or lose, the adult with ADD
misses the conflict, the high stimulus, and feels depressed.
     37. Learn symbols, slogans, sayings as shorthand ways of labeling
and quickly putting into perspective slip-ups, mistakes, or mood swings.
When you turn left instead of right and take your family on a twenty
minute detour, it is better to be able to say, "There goes my ADD
again," than to have a six-hour fight over your unconscious desire to
sabotage the whole trip. These are not excuses. You still have to take
responsibility for your actions. It is just good to know where your
actions are coming from and where they're not.
     38. Use "time-outs" as with children. When you are upset or
overstimulated, take a time-out. Go away. Calm down.
     39. Learn how to advocate for yourself. Adults with ADD are so used
to being criticized, they are often unnecessarily defensive in putting
their own case forward. Learn to get off the defensive.
     40. Avoid premature closure of a project, a conflict, a deal, or a
conversation. Don't "cut to the chase" too soon, even though you're
itching to.
     41. Try to let a successful moment last and be remembered and
become sustaining over time. You'll have to train yourself consciously
and deliberately to do this because you'll naturally tend to forget your
successes as you brood over your shortcomings or pessimistically
anticipate the worst.
     42. Remember that ADD usually includes a tendency to overfocus or
hyperfocus at times. This hyperfocusing can be used constructively or
destructively. Be aware of its destructive use: a tendency to obsess or
ruminate over some imagined problems without being able to let it go.
     43. Exercise vigorously and regularly. You should schedule exercise
into your life and stick with it. It helps work off excess energy and
aggression in a positive way, it allows for noise reduction within the
mind, it stimulates the hormonal and neurochemical system in a most
therapeutic way, and it soothes and calms the body. When you add all
that to the well-known health benefits of exercise, you can see how
important exercise is. Make it something fun so you can stick with it
over the long haul, i.e., the rest of your life. One particular form of
exercise, sexual activity, is very good for ADD.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
copyright 1992 by Edward H Hallowell and John J Ratey
 * SLMR 2.1a * I've got a mind like a... a... what's that thing called?
--- I killed my WildCAT!
---------------