Treating a complicated and disordered condition like ADHD is no simple matter. There are so many aspects to the condition that any mono-therapy is rendered pretty much useless.
I have created a multidisciplinary programme that provides significantly improved life outcomes for most people most of the time. Everyone has their opinion, and a product or service to sell, and it is usually touted as the only one to produce a result. So how do you distinguish between the offerings of profiteers and what is genuine help?
Firstly, there is no magic or silver bullet. Read that short sentence again and embed it deep in your ADHD brain. There is no one thing that works.
Secondly, ADHD is optimally treated when more than a single therapy and/or treatment is used at the appropriate time, which is normally over the same time period.
Thirdly, the treatment takes place over years, not months or days. It is an ongoing way of planning, living sustainably, and achieving carefully thought-out goals. There is no cure for the condition, you can only manage it.
The ‟Multi-modal Treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder” - MTA Study published in 1999 was the largest study ever done on ADHD. It tracked 4 different styles or modes of treatment over a 14 month period. In my mind, the most important result produced in that study is that it showed clearly that a multi-modal is the best treatment.
We have devised our Basic ADHD Basic Treatment Wheel in the spirit of this landmark study - that a multi-disciplinary treatment program is best for all people with ADHD. The results will vary sometimes - no two people are alike, and each environment is different. The components of our basic program were selected after analysing our own data over many years.
Our Basic Treatment Wheel has eight different components which are all underpinned by PAL - Powerful Affirming Love. These components consistently deliver the best results over time. Four of these components, in other words half of the treatments are family-based treatments. There are of course other therapies and treatments that can be added to the program when required. These could include things like play therapy, addiction treatment, etc.
Nobody has just ADHD! There are always other conditions along for the journey. I call these conditions `co-occurring´ conditions. Medical professionals call them `comorbid´ conditions. The word morbid means unpleasant, gruesome, to do with death, there is no positive or nice meaning to the word. Treatments for the most common co-occurring conditions are implemented when needed and apparent. These must of necessity, be applied to suit each individual case. These are discussed in some depth in the next section; co-occurring conditions.
You can read more about each component by clicking on the following links. The Treatment Wheel is a circular shape because no one component is more important than the other, and you can start with any component, just don't choose one!
Powerful Affirming Love
Medication
ADHD Coaching
Focus on Strengths
Occupational Therapy
Track Record Of Success
Family Involvement
Pragmatic Lifestyle
Exercise
Gold Silver & Bronze Exercises anhd Sports for ADHD
Print Edition is long since sold out, the revised pdf version available soon
I have been coaching people with ADHD for 20-plus years, and I know that they either have lots of money or hardly any.
