A New Understanding of ADHD in Children and Adults

by Thomas E. Brown

For over 100 years, ADHD has been seen as essentially a behavior disorder. Recent scientific research has developed a new paradigm which recognizes ADHD as a developmental disorder of the cognitive management system of the brain, its executive functions. This cutting-edge book pulls together key ideas of this new understanding of ADHD, explaining them and describing in understandable language scientific research that supports this new model. It addresses questions - Why can those with ADHD focus very well on some tasks while having great difficulty in focusing on other tasks they recognize as important? - How does brain development and functioning of persons with ADHD differ from others? - How do impairments of ADHD change from childhood through adolescence and in adulthood? - What treatments help to improve ADHD impairments? How do they work? Are they safe? - Why do those with ADHD have additional emotional, cognitive, and learning disorders more often than most others? - What commonly-held assumptions about ADHD have now been proven wrong by scientific research? Psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and other medical and mental health professionals, as well as those affected by ADHD and their families, will find this to be am insightful and invaluable resource.

Genres: Adhd, Nonfiction, Psychology, Parenting, Health, Mental Health, Brain

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thomas Brown has been one of the lead researchers on ADHD for many years. He currently has his own clinic in southern California, where he's now affiliated with USC. Before that, he was at Yale Medical school for twenty years or so.

So, definitely an expert.

That said, this book (like his slightly older one) is a little unclear on who the audience is. If you think you have ADHD, or have just been diagnosed, or have a friend or loved one with it, and you want to know what this is about, this might not be the best book. It doesn't really spend time on what it feels like to be inside that mind, although of course that can be inferred from the text. I haven't read it, but I'm told one highly-thought-of book like that is Driven to Distraction: Recognizing and Coping with Attention Deficit Disorder from Childhood Through Adulthood. Since I haven't read it, I can't say much more — but I wanted to know the science behind the disorder, and Brown seemed a better candidate.

(I'll add this note: Russell Barkley is even more renowned, but came a little late to the ADHD-in-adults party, and I wasn't interested in his "slow cognitive tempo" work, so I stuck with Brown. But Barkley has got a lot of books to peruse as well.)

And as far as a scientific overview, this is a very good book. So I'd say a good target audience might be a healthcare worker (or even psychologist) who doesn't deal directly with ADHD, but wants to understand it better from the professional perspective.

It would be fine for teachers who have an appetite for the behind-the-scenes details, but there have to be better books for folks working the special ed angle.

As far as the science goes, it was pretty okay. The problem is that there's a huge amount of effort ongoing in psychological research, and a book just a few years old might miss something important.
I've been using Google Scholar and Academia.edu to hunt down that kind of stuff, although that creates a bit of a chaotic picture, with no structured overview. I suspect there are specialized textbooks, but my curiosity is adequately sated with respect to ADHD.

[Abby Schwartz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this through in one sitting. I appreciated the emphasis on debunking the persistent myths of ADHD, and looking at it as an impairment of executive functioning rather than behaviors to overcome. It was grounded in extensively studying the research, so I felt it presented a truthful look. I found it helpful in expanding my understanding of the complexities of the disorder, the shift in thinking that has occurred over time, what to look for/expect from treatment and the safety, mechanisms, and efficacy of drug treatments and/or behavioral therapy.

[Emilie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this is like my third of forth book from the publishing company "Studentlitteratur" (yep, I read it in Swedish). And I must say, I've been lucky not having read more after five years of studying since this publishing company is great at publishing dry texts. Okay, I'm not sure it is due to them being that way or the fact that none of the books have had anything to do with my major. Mostly generic books about why science and competence is good and how it can be used, you know, something every student can read no matter what. This book was sort of in-between.

I did not read it for school, my friend who is a newly examined psychologist was reading it and recommended it to me. It is more of a book for people studying and working with ADHD than for those who have it (if you are not both of course) but since I am used to the academic language and read a lot, she figured I could handle it.

A lot of terms related to epidemiology, although the difference is that I have an advanced degree in Infectious disease epidemiology and this, being ADHD, was non-communicable. But it is quite similar, at least in terms of terminology.

So, a lot of chapters were pretty dry, just citing science and research. But I kind of still liked it. Especially the chapter of comorbidity (having another diagnosis besides ADHD). He brought up depression and anxiety, and how that can sometimes hide the ADHD in you, proloning diagnosis, which is EXACTLY what happened to me. Also, he brought up trichotillomania!! Which I also have, and once I finally dared to say so to my doctors, I can get help with. He also brough up how text that is not interesting can be almost impossible to understand. People rarely see my love for reading as a problem. Until I tell them that I read about 7 books at once, can switch books in the middle of a sentence, give up on books that do not capture my attention after 20 pages, cannot read recipies or instructions etc.

I am also grateful for books (especially books meant for professionals) sticking up for us ADHD-people and saying that this is indeed real and deserves attention. If you don't believe ADHD is real, I don't believe you are real.

[Desi A · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was technically a skim. It has a lot of info about recent studies, etc. For me, it has a framing of how the science and model of ADHD is evolving to include and even emphasize executive function disorder and it’s highly variable impacts on people who suffer from it.

What I hope to find, one day, are possibly some legitimate answers (or at least consideration of) the intersection between the brain I’ve had all my life and the ways in which the tumor then impacted it.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

A new understanding of ADHD lays out a clear and concise new understanding of ADHD as primarily related to and defined by executive function impairments. Being new to reading books about ADHD this one was probably the most scientifically literate one i have read, there are many references to studies which validate what the author is expressing. Some things i learnt from this book, 4% of adults have ADHD, Stimulant medication works by normalizing the brain of ADHD sufferers, And is remarkably effective works on 85% of children who have the disorder. Having ADHD makes you as likely to abuse substances as someone who has a substance abusing parent. ADHD has many comorbidities. Also that ADHD executive impairments are over largely unconscious automaticities which non ADHD people take for granted and for the ADHD person its not a matter of will power as there executive impairments are likened to erectile dysfunction of the mind. Also ADHD is marked by situationally variable impairments - meaning that the ADHD person is likely to have some things they are naturally good at and can do without their ADHD getting in the way, though most areas of there life and things to do with planning, self regulation, will be sufficiently impaired to give reason for a diagnosis. A good book, i would recommend it to mental health professionals who want to know more about the condition and how to deal with the people with it.

[Kate Hinkle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book may be of limited interest to those who are do not deal regularly with people with ADHD, but if you happen to fall to the category of someone who has to interact with persons with ADHD, whether professionally as an educator or therapist, or as a parent, I will just say that this is the best book I have ver read on the subject.
The book summarizes the research on ADHD that has been undertaken in the last decade and posits that the condition (at least in children) should be viewed as developmental delay in the executive functioning capacity of the brain (organization, memory, impulse control, attention, focus, etc).
The book also reviews the success rate of various treatment regimens and concludes (no doubt to the horror of many parents) that the single most effective treatment for ADHD is medication.
Apart from the wealth of knowledge the book imparts, the approach and viewpoint of the author regarding children with ADHD is extraordinarily empathetic. You feel like he "gets" these kids and doesn't blame them for behavior resulting from a developmental delay that they are unable to control regardless of how hard they might be trying.
I wish this book had been around 15 years ago and someone had given it to me. It would have saved myself and my son a lot of heartache.

[Kris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stumbled upon Thomas Brown's "A New Understanding of ADHD in Children and Adults" while trying to research more about my son's inattentive ADD.

While this book tends to concentrate on ADHD as a whole, there are bits and pieces of the book that concentrate on the issues particular to inattentive ADD that I have never seen before. I was particularly drawn to discussions of brain differentiation between typically developing children and ADHD individuals -- there are defined and measurable differences in the prefrontal cortex (and many other) areas of the brain. Also, Brown describes ADHD as a developmental difference, in that often there is a delay in brain maturation when compared to typically developing individuals. He verified what I have been reading lately, that inattentive ADD individuals may struggle a lot with middle school, high school, and college ... but in later years they are sometimes able to come back to school and do academically what they could not do in their younger years. This brings a lot of hope to many people dealing with inattentive ADD.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who has ADHD -- but especially to those who struggle with inattentive ADD. Brown seems to provide more information about that "type" than many other experts.

[Ilana · Rating 4 out of 5]

While very much a text book, easy to understand ideas and well laid out format. Interested to learn more from Thomas E. Brown on ADHD and executive functioning.

[BookBec · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was so, so dry. Granted, I'm a lay reader, but I'm well read and interested in the subject. I found the author's Outside the Box to cover much of the same information in much more accessible ways.

[Claire Westfall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazingly well presented and informative look at ADHD

[Anne Jordan-Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good, dense little book summarizing the most recent research and thinking on adhd.

[Backle]

Partial

[Ka Ming Wong]

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