Customer Reviews

Integrative Treatment for Adult ADHD: A Practical, Easy-To-Use Guide for Clinicians

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Our society largely considers therapists to be the first line of defense when we experience personal challenges. That's great if we have garden-variety "issues." But if we have a neurocognitive condition such as ADHD, the wrong therapy can be worse than no therapy at all. And I'm not exaggerating.

Many frustrating years can be spent in talk therapy trying to discover the deep, dark, "real" reason why a person procrastinates or "sabotages" his or her own goals and plans--never knowing that a medical condition is the reason. (A treatable medical condition.) Many clients are encouraged to pin the genesis of their problems on a dysfunctional childhood, never knowing that ADHD is highly heritable. (In other words, odds are good that at least one of the client's parents was exhibiting problematic ADHD behavioral patterns, too.)

Talk therapy might provide a few epiphanies and strategies for change, albeit most of them short-lived. But for many people with ADHD, therapy with a clinician who fails to recognize ADHD or appreciate its significance is a costly proposition that can actually diminish hopes that patterns can ever change.

For some long-time therapists, all this might be hard to accept, but Dr. Tuckman gently nudges readers into these new paradigms. Partly this is due to his clear and accessible prose style. But it's also due, I think, to his knack for acknowledging situations in which a well-trained therapist might draw certain conclusions--but be perfectly wrong. And he does it tactfully and congenially. Not easy!

After years of being a support-group leader for both adults with ADHD and the partners of adults with ADHD, I'm grateful to welcome Dr. Tuckman's practical addition to my Adult ADHD library. It is thorough, practical, authoritative, and easily understood. Routinely, I recommend clinician guides like this to adults with ADHD (and their loved ones); they simply contain more substantial and helpful information than most consumer books on Adult ADHD.

If you are a non-ADHD-savvy clinician who assumes that you would surely recognize ADHD in a client or that you could simply "intuit" the right treatment path, please reconsider. You really don't want to harm your client, do you? You don't want to postpone, maybe even entirely eliminate, the client's chance for success, do you? No, of course not. You want to help your clients free the obstacles in their path. And that's exactly what this book can help you to do.

Gina Pera

This is a truly wonderful, insightful book. In my involvement with a support group for adults with AD/HD it is very clear that many therapists and psychologists don't understand this disorder very well. This creates an unfortunate situation where adults with AD/HD are seeking the appropriate therapy, but have trouble locating knowlegable professionals in their community. A frustrating scenario occurs when the client knows more about AD/HD than the specialist they are reaching out to for help. If mental health professionals read and follow the well-written, research-based material in Dr. Tuckman's book, adults with AD/HD will no longer
have to muddle through with one-size-fits-all therapists or try to patch together their own program based on knowledge they have accumulated on their own.

Although written for clinicians, if you are an adult with AD/HD seeking treatment, this book will help you determine what questions to ask of potential therapists to ensure that you are getting the most effective treatment. If you are currently seeing a therapist
and don't feel you are making progress, you may want to tactfully give them this book!

As a psychologist who sees first hand the daily struggle of persons with ADHD, I can say that Dr. Tuckman's book is a gem. It provides an excellent overview of causes and treatmnets for ADHD. Teachers, counselors, social workers, coaches, psychologists and psychiatrists can learn so many techniques that are effective in helping persons with ADHD. Also, persons with ADHD may find very practical suggestions to help themselves to cope more effectively with the often debilitating and frustrating symptoms of ADHD. I strongly recommend this book to my colleagues.

Dr. Tuckman has provided a wonderful, innovative book to anyone seeking to understand how ADHD impacts adults and how to treat it. This book could not have become available any sooner. I have read so many books on the subject and this one really stands out in a class all by itself. Dr. Tuckman has emerged as a true ADHD expert. In this exciting new resource, he provides valuable, research grounded information for all those trying to make sense out of this overwhelmingly complex disorder. Most refreshing, is that Dr. Tuckman provides his expertise in a reader friendly style. I highly recommend this book to everyone seeking to better understand ADHD.

Dr. Tuckman's comprehensive manual on adult AD/HD is engaging and accessible to professionals and laypeople alike. His clinical case studies make the material instantly relatable, and his down-to-earth suggestions provoke much thought about the way treatment has been done with this population historically and the different lenses through which it must be viewed going forward. Thank you for this wonderful tool--a must-have for all clinicians, whether we believe we work with AD/HD adults or not.

This book "covers all the bases," by including sections on aspects of ADHD that are often overlooked. For example, Tuckman describes the impact of ADHD on self-perception, romantic relationships and sexuality, family functioning and parenting. Even if you've read many articles and texts on ADHD, this book offers any something extra!

Marc J. Tannenbaum, Psy.D.

I am a psychotherapy clinician who works with a multitude of disorders, of which ADHD is one of them. My knowledge of ADHD is sufficient, but I found this book to be exceptionally informational and written tightly. The author does not rely upon much anecdote nor non-researched gibberish so common in books on adult ADHD. Nearly all points are backed by solid research evidence, yet the tone is easily accessible for clinicians and for those adults with an average-to-above-average reading level.

Dr. Tuckman has written a concise, exceptionally well-organized, and practically helpful book on the subject. I am generally quite critical with many books on ADHD, because so many blend myth with science. The book is outstanding, because it leaves the reader with general information and specific content ideas to utilize for helping adults with ADHD work through the significant challenges inherent in the condition.

It is obvious that Dr. Tuckman has a wealth of experience working firsthand with adults with ADHD, understands the science of the disorder, and blends the two with sufficient depth and expertise.

Dr. Tuckman's book Integrative Treatment for Adult ADHD is an excellent and much needed resource for clinicians as well as clients. It is informative, well-organized and written in a conversational style that is easy for all to understand, while still based on research findings. Dr. Tuckman's use of his own experiences in treating adults with ADHD adds a human touch to the complexities of this area of practice. The free online forms and other resources also are also a nice touch.

James J. Crist, Ph.D., CSAC
Clinical Psychologist
Child and Family Counseling Center
Woodbridge, VA

I was extremely impressed with this book. Dr. Tuckman lays out a thorough overview of Adult ADHD that has been invaluable to me in my work as an LPC. Though one hears a great deal about children and ADHD, finding information on adults with this problem is harder to find. Well, not any longer! This book is all I needed to give me a thorough understanding of adult ADHD. I have also gone onto his website and downloaded his handouts which he makes available to individuals. I would recommend this book to anyone who is working with adults in the mental health field.

This book lays it on the line for clinicians who may not know as much as they need to know to treat a client with ADHD. Many people are undiagnosed or miss-diagnosed and continue to struggle with a condition that isn't so difficult to manage, if they know how. If more mental health professionals would read this book more people would be helped.