Advocating for ADHD

My work as an ADHD advocate has much in common with climate change experts. The news is bad, getting worse, and there is concern if we can turn it around. A recent study showed that ADHD predicted suicide more than depression in elementary school children.  All of my work and books on The Gift of ADHD is based on the premise that expectations create reality. A person’s life is a reflection of their self-concept (a positive self-concept is different from narcissism or entitlement). The label of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder acts like a computer virus, changing and erasing memories as a child or adult sees themselves as a deficit disorder. The label itself is damaging and I am not surprised by the shocking new finding that ADHD predicts suicide more than depression does. 

The over-diagnosis and over-medication of ADHD has been well documented for example in a series of articles in the New York Times. While many benefit from the diagnosis and medication, the skyrocketing rates, 11% of school age children is a national epidemic fueled by an intersection of discrimination against neurodiversity in the school and medical irresponsibility.  The current standard of care is a lifelong regimen of schedule II medications (meaning that the DEA has determined it has as high a risk of abuse). There is very little research on the impact of these medications on developing brains, it is a known fact that they stunt growth, literally in terms of height. It is exceedingly well documented that these medications create habituation and that higher and higher doses are required for the same effects over time. 

My four books on the gift of ADHD are meant to create a positive strength based self-concept for kids and adults who have this brain difference that I agree it is in part genetically determined. It’s time to call stigma what it is – discrimination and to my mind a new front for a civil rights movement. ADHD is a civil rights issue with parents having to go broke suing school systems to get a curriculum their child can access with their neurodiversity.  No one loses if a child is evaluated in ways that don't punish executive dysfunction.


Dr. Lara Honos-Webb PhD is a clinical psychologist, worldwide ADHD expert, and author of The Gift of ADHD, The Gift of ADHD Activity Book, The Gift of Adult ADD and The ADHD Workbook for Teens. She champions a revolutionary approach to ADHD, that focuses on leveraging our gifts, and transforming our “symptoms” into strengths. Learn more about her work at www.addisagift.com