Thom Hartmann's Complete Guide to ADHD: Help for Your Family at Home, School and Work [Paperback]

Thom Hartmann (Author), Peter Jaksa (Afterword), Lucy Jo Palladino (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 31, 2000

In this volume, the acknowledged pioneer in attention deficit disorder research combines the best of his previous books with important new information. In the new chapters (about 25 percent of the book), Hartmann looks at how and why America's school system fails to assist children diagnosed with ADHD and urges parents to find alternative means of educating their children when this happens.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Underwood Books (August 31, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1887424520
• ISBN-13: 978-1887424523
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 0.9 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #577,749 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Thom Hartmann, who started in radio in 1968, is also an internationally known speaker on culture and communications, an author, and an innovator in the fields of psychiatry, ecology, and economics. The co-founder (with his wife, Louise) of The New England Salem Children's Village (1978) and The Hunter School (1997), he has led national innovations in the areas of residential treatment for abused children and private/public education for learning-disabled children. Hartmann is the four-time Project Censored Award-winning, New York Times best-selling author of 23 books currently in print in over a dozen languages on five continents. He is the former executive director of a residential treatment program for emotionally disturbed and abused children, and has helped set up hospitals, famine relief programs, schools, and refugee centers in India, Uganda, Australia, Colombia, Russia, and the United States through the German-based Salem International program. Formerly rostered with the State of Vermont as a psychotherapist, founder of The Michigan Healing Arts Center, and licensed as an NLP Trainer by Richard Bandler (who wrote the foreword to one of Thom's books), he was the originator of the revolutionary "Hunter/Farmer Hypothesis" to understand the psychiatric condition known as Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). A guest faculty member at Goddard College in Vermont, he also synthesized the "Younger/Older Culture model" for describing the underpinnings - and possible solutions - to the world's ecological and socio-political crises, suggesting that many of our problems are grounded in cultural "stories" which go back thousands of years.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 39 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Book on ADD Attention Deficit Disorder March 27, 2001

By Robert Kall VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

This is a wonderful book.
As an adult ADD'er, and a parent of a child with ADD, it was great to discover Thom Hartmann's writings. He, unlike most authors of books on ADD, takes a much more positive perspective, so you don't feel like you have a brain disease. Some of the other authors' aproaches can really lead to low self esteem. My daughter, now finishing her sophomore year in college, with a 3.5 average, found Hartmann's ideas liberating, compared to the brain disease model. This book pulls together Thom Hartmanns latest and classic thoughts on ADD, using his Hunter in a Farmer's World point perspective on people with ADD.

It offers views on school and work-- how to succeed, how to make them better.

In a world where diversity is diminishing and uniformity is being ramrodded down our throats, Thom Hartmann's books make us take another look at some mainstream assumptions.

My daughter and I are happy withour ADD-ness. We wouldn't want it any other way, and there are plenty of other people out there who have adapted successfully to being ADD-- entrepreneurs, researchers, surgeons, reporters, programmers, detectives, salesmen, mechanics-- a lot of the people who are at the cutting edge of making a difference in this world.

Thom Hartmann's book helps parents and adults understand what's going on with ADDD and offers strategies to cope so ADDers can be successful and happy.

Before you take or put a child on Ritalin or some other drug, read this book. You may still choose to use the medication, but you'll understand the biology, anthropology and politics better and also become aware of other, non-drug options.

Others who give a reasonable picture on ADD include Lynn Weiss, Joel Sears and Lynda Thompson, John Ratey, and Ed Hallowell.

Check out his website at thom hartmann dot com to find out more about him.

42 of 44 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Thom Hartmann's Complete Guide to ADHD:Help for Your Family January 7, 2001

By William Oster

Format:Paperback

I have thoroughly enjoyed Thom Hartmann's newest book the"Complete Guide to ADHD". It has been several years since I last read some of Thom Hartmann's work. Although some themes have been reiterated from earlier books in this new book, there are good new insights into old concepts and new issues which I find interesting and helpful. Hartmann always comes across as a thoughtful coach and teacher rather than as a Doctor or a victim telling their story of ADD misery. As I read the "Guide" I realize how lucky I am to have stumbled into his writing and how far I have come utilizing many of his suggestions from earlier books.

Five years ago I became aware that there was a name for my chronic disorganization that had created years of negativity and apprehension. I am in my 50's and was considered a goof-off in school.There was no concept for ADD at the time.It was more or less considered weak character or low horsepower. A lousy self image and poor organization skills followed me into business .Though I have managed to do well by by having great coworkers, I had alway lived in ADD terror that I could not manage my business as it got bigger. Once aware of the nature of ADD ;I looked for possible solutions, I tried prescription medications but found I could not tolerate them well.

I sought alternatives and I stumbled into Hartmann's books at the library. I was ideally seeking an instant fix .Instead I discovered combination of medium and many small fixes over time and practice.I discovered most of the fixes in Hartmann's books and on his Compuserve ADD Forum . I adopted many of his tips ;one of the best was a mindfulness technique called "original awareness" which is reviewed in "Guide". I also discovered the magic of EEG Neurofeedback which proved to be a godsend for me and my teenage daughter who also had attention problems. Hartmann was one of the first ADD writers to conservatively endorse Neurofeedback for attention training.This gave me the confidence to try it and fortunately it was effective.

I was initially skeptical of some of Hartmann's concepts from earlier books especially the concept that ADD has many plusses. As I read the "Guide" I realize how on target he was and is ;once you get some control over your impulses you have often the energy and craziness to go out of the box and try new things.This with discipline can give you a competitive advantage.. The Hunter gene may account for some of our prowess as an innovative nation.

Hard-core ADD is considered is small percent of the population but many more of the population have some occasional traits of ADD, so Hartmann's self management tips have common sense value for many more people, especially in business .I found most interesting Hartmann's theories on poor listening skills, reading, and too much passive visual stimulation from TV and computers. This theory plus the theory of how the brain is sculpted by our environments at earlier ages is also fascinating; these theories should interest parents of young children or grandparents of young children. Finally, Hartmann's explanation of how modern mass education evolved was a startling insight. Times change so mass education will probably have to change to adapt to our visually over stimulated new student populations.

Once again Hartmann has presented helpful practical insights and strategies for dealing and managing ADD or ADDH in an optimistic spirit .He always inspires me to try new things and to do better.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars OLD content worth the price of the book alone August 13, 2000

By Madelyn Griffith-Haynie

Format:Paperback

I can't give the content of this book ENOUGH stars! The "Guide" is divided into three parts: Home, School, and Work. The "at Work" section is a complete reprint of one of Hartmann's prior books, "Focus Your Energy: Hunting for Success in Business with Attention Deficit Disorder," with a few updates and corrections and additions (nothing taken out).

I am the founder & CEO of The Optimal Functioning Institute™, which trains ADD Coaches in a comprehensive 2-year training; "Focus" has been one of five ADD books that are REQUIRED reading for my students since 1994. I mourned the fact that it was taken out of print. Even though my students could still get it through a special agreement with the author, I rejoice that it is back so that everyone can read it. The "Guide" has now replaced "Focus" on our required reading list.

Hartmann is knowledgeable, imminently readable, and never pathologizes ADD. His use of the "hunter/farmer" metaphor to differentiate the ADD brain wiring from non-ADD, allows those of us with that kind of brain to focus on what is GOOD about us rather than trying to "fix" what's "bad."

I have always recommended FOCUS as a "first read" for certain individuals, and will now recommend the Guide in its stead. In my experience with thousands of ADDers, entrepreneurs, people who are fearful of "labels" yet searching for help, those who have been prescribed medication but no practical help to support them, and those who have read the sensationalist press primarily and are looking at ADD with a jaundiced eye as a result, have all responded positively to FOCUS. Because Hartmann writes so clearly and economically, it has always been my choice for ADDers who have trouble reading because they just can't concentrate long enough to get through a paragraph, much less a book.

This is a "feel good" book -- buy it and read it for the afterglow as much as the information.

Sincerely, Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CTP, A.C.T., MCC The Optimal Functioning Institute™ founder & CEO