Smart but Stuck by Thomas E. Brown

Dr.  Brown is a clinician and Professor with Yale University who specializes in the treatment of people with attention and related disorders. He is an insightful, highly creative and patient healer. In Smart but Stuck Emotions in Teens and Adults with ADHD, he offers portraits of 11 people suffering because of an overlooked, underappreciated facet of the effects of ADD/ADHD: ADD/ADHD often contributes to and exacerbates emotional challenges, in particular with anxiety and depression, but also sociability, empathy and intimacy.

Dr. Brown’s subjects are limited: ages 15 – 50, all of them with very high IQs, and all of them also affected by other complications, for example unusually delayed physical growth, functioning in the autism spectrum, having hoarding disorder, and/or harmed by extreme circumstances like witnessing the unexpected death of a family member.

I found this book of narrow value: I don’t know how many readers will “see” themselves in it. But I would suggest that anyone with ADD/ADHD read it to try to see themselves : if any of the conversations feel familiar, that recognition might lead to successful new focuses for their treatment.