Dear Friends,

That’s what we’re all doing now in the corona era, isn’t it?, figuring out a system. Trying to take care of ourselves while making sure our loved ones are taking care of themselves or being well taken care of, wherever they may be. Applying for a loan. Asking landlords for temporary rent reduction. Trying to stay sane and not buy out the store on toilet paper.

Here’s my update from the front.

We’re all on the front, so no matter where you are or where I am, we’re all engaging on the front in this war against an enemy we can’t even see. We’re all trying to figure out a system that works for us and our group, whatever that group, team, family, business, or community may be.

How are you doing on your front? Are you home? Alone? With kids? With dog (I hope!)? I’m still coming into my office, but “seeing” all my patients via phone, face time, or Zoom. Pretty soon I will stop coming into the office altogether and work entirely from home once we figure out a system for how to manage the logistics of scheduling, writing prescriptions, communicating with each other, billing, and making what-if-this-happens contingency plans.

How about this freakin’ contingency? Was the corona virus on anyone’s list of contingencies to plan for last Thanksgiving? It’s like the old joke, How do you make God laugh? Tell him your plans.

Time to Give Thanks

But this is a time to thank God for lots of things, for the Internet, social media, the telephone, and television to name a few. As much as we complain about how these devices preoccupy our children and us, during this crisis they are true life-savers. One piece of advice though: do not over-dose on news. It can poison your system, not as badly as the virus, but it just is not good for you to O.D. on negative energy, which is what too much news does.

But we do need facts, hence some access to news is essential. Then, based on the news, we figure out a plan, a proverbial system.

Here are some tips on figuring out a plan:

• Consult with others.
• Be open to all suggestions.
• Get creative.
• Prioritize what matters most.

Financial Concerns

In terms of prioritizing, next to our health, the biggest worry most of us share is financial. Whatever out jobs might be, we’re all trying to figure this one out, not just for ourselves, but the people we care about as well as our businesses. My work as a writer can be done anywhere, thank goodness.

But my work as a doctor, and the work all the clinicians who work in my office do, depend upon contact with our patients. Fortunately, 90% of this contact can be gained off-site, remotely, so we’re “figuring out a system” for how to do that most efficiently, but also with the warmth we believe is so important in our work. Right now I am saying, Thank God for Zoom.

Always do what my mother and likely yours taught me and you and look for the blessings.

You are much more productive, useful, and energetic if you stoke up on positive energy. Yes, we are living in a crisis, facing potential disaster, the world temporarily falling into shambles. But we are not without power, resources, and wit. If we keep those wits about us, we will, every day, solve one problem after another and come up with, you got it, a system!

Your system will not appear instantly. It will evolve day by day, minute by minute. We’re forced to grope in the dark these days, bearing with the inner churning uncertainty creates, looking for whatever flashlights or matches we can find to light our way. But the lights are there, paltry though they may be, and every inch of progress we can make makes us feel better, more confident. And feeling more confident—whether the feeling matches up with reality or not—is a super-power these days.

Build Confidence and Maintain a Positive Attitude

Confidence—informed confidence, not ignorant bravado—works wonders in times of crisis and distress. Hand-wringing, moping, and foretelling doom is not only counterproductive, it is bad for you in myriad ways.

So, to build confidence and maintain a positive attitude in these ominous and upsetting times, try the following

• reach for each other, from a distance;
• stay in touch with your friends and people you love;
• call people often, just to buck each other up and hopefully laugh;
• bake a cake or cook up some goody you really like;
• remember, we’re all in this together;
• call whomever you call to get a loan or get food or inquire about a new
• mortgage now that rates are so low;
• find humor wherever you can; it’s impossible to worry and laugh at the same time
• start a new project you can do at home, like start that novel or memoir you’ve been meaning to write or at long last straighten up the basement or attic or both!;
• read entertaining books of all kinds;
• don’t read or watch upsetting stuff;
• watch your favorite movies on TV;
• try popcorn; it’s a good, low-cal comfort anti-anxiety food
• play with your dog if you’re lucky enough to have one; if you don’t, remember dogs you’ve known and loved, and if there aren’t any, get a box of Kleenex and read Old Yeller; or rent on Amazon to watch.
• most people are going to be kinder these days, believe it or not; try to be one of those
• lend a hand where you can; it is a proven fact that in giving we receive
• stay in touch

I can promise you, better days await. But, and I can promise you this as well, we can find hidden treasures and make unexpected gains during this time, especially if we buck each other up.

Warm regards,

Edward (Ned) Hallowell, M.D.

Resources

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Coronavirus: Myth vs. Fact

How the Hallowell Centers Can Help You: We are all concerned about safety with COVID-19, which is why The Hallowell Centers are closely monitoring the current situation regarding the coronavirus (COVID-19.) We will remain open, but all sessions will be conducted remotely.

Dear Clients,

Our staff at The Hallowell Center SFO  are concerned, just as you likely are, about the possible spread of the Covid-19 virus. We continue to closely monitor the situation regarding the coronavirus (COVID-19). We want to do all we can on our end to minimize and to slow the spread of the virus.

We are open to meet your needs, but all of the services will be provided remotely for the foreseeable future.

All of our clinicians are geared up to work with clients through virtual platforms, or even just the telephone, although having a visual does enhance the experience. Call our office to get instructions to set this up (it’s WAY simple if I can do it, believe me!) so we can remain connected and provide the hope and help we’re in the business of providing.

To reach our front desk for additional information or further assistance, please call 415-967-0061 or email  frontdesk@hallowellcenter.org.   If you wish to inquire about being a new patient, please see below.

We are here for you. Keep in touch.

Warm Regards,

Gabrielle Anderson, Ph.D.
Director of Psychology

and

Edward Hallowell, M.D., Founder
The Hallowell Center

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Dear Clients,

Our staff at The Hallowell Center Boston MetroWest  are concerned, just as you likely are, about the possible spread of the Covid-19 virus. We are closely monitoring the current situation regarding the coronavirus (COVID-19). We want to do all we can on our end to minimize and to slow the spread of the virus.

At this time, the Hallowell Center Boston MetroWest remains open to meet your needs. We are still doing TESTING in the office and following CDC safety guidelines to keep you safe. Now would be a good time to schedule Neuropsychological Testing for  your child.

A neuropsychological assessment can help you understand your child’s needs, how much progress he or she has made, and how best to help them learn and make progress over the next 4 months so they are ready for the new school year.

All other services will be provided remotely for the foreseeable future. All of our clinicians are geared up to work with clients through virtual platforms, or even just the telephone, although having a visual does enhance the experience.

Call our office to get instructions to set this up (it’s WAY simple if I can do it, believe me!) so we can remain connected and provide the hope and help we’re in the business of providing.

To reach our front desk to schedule an appointment, change an appointment or other information please call us, 978-287-0810.

You may also email them at @ hallowellreferralssudbury@gmail.com.

Prescriptions

If you need a prescription or prior authorization, please contact your clinician.

New Patients

If you wish to inquire about being a new patient and we are accepting new patients you can email hallowellreferralssudbury@gmail.com

To help achieve the shared goal of not getting sick, let us offer the following suggestions: 

• wash hands with soap and water for 20 seconds each time you come into a new space (or use Purell);
• notice when you touch your face, and wash your hands after doing so;
• cough or sneeze into your elbow;
• use tissues and throw them away right after using them; and
• avoid shaking hands or having other unnecessary physical contact.

If you do get sick, please call your primary care doctor for instructions before going to their office or to an urgent care or ER. If there is a real risk that you have COVID-19, they will order that test and direct you to a specialized testing site. This will protect you and others from unnecessary exposure.

We are here for you. Keep in touch.

Warm Regards,

Edward Hallowell, M.D., Founder
The Hallowell Center

P.S. Remember my motto, “Never worry alone.”

LINKS TO MISCELLANEOUS RESOURCES

Massachusetts Department of Public Health

Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines.

World Health Organization

COVID-19 MENTAL HEALTH CHECK-IN

Your mental health is important during these uncertain times. In this week’s podcast, Dr. Hallowell checks-in regarding the Coronavirus pandemic, and reminds listeners of ways to deal with the stress and anxiety.

Listen NOW!

Working From Home? If you don’t want the Corona Virus to Infect Your Productivity, then CoreCoaching is the antidote! Learn more HERE.

Dr. Hallowell shares some basic facts about COVID-19 and practical advice on prevention and reducing anxiety in his podcast. LISTEN HERE!

Remember to stay safe, be careful and never worry alone!

How to talk to kids about the coronavirus, Hallowell Todaro blog post.

March 18, 2020

Dear Clients,

Yesterday, Ireland’s Prime Minster, Leo Varadkar, said, in his St. Patrick’s Day address, “Let us come together by staying apart.” Indeed.

To that end, during this crisis, we at the Hallowell Center NYC will remain open to meet your needs, but all of the services will be provided remotely for the foreseeable future.

All of our clinicians are geared up to work with clients through virtual platforms, or even just the telephone, although having a visual does enhance the experience. Call our office to get instructions to set this up (it’s WAY simple if I can do it, believe me!) so we can remain connected and provide the hope and help we’re in the business of providing.

To reach our front desk to schedule an appointment, change an appointment or other information please call us, 212-799-7777, and press “0.” Our front desk is monitoring voicemail during business hours.

You may also email them at frontdesk@hallowellcenter.org.

NOTE: During this time appointment confirmations will be exclusively by email.

Prescriptions

If you need a prescription or prior authorization you can press “6” or email Erica at pratt@hallowellcenter.org.

New Patients

If you wish to inquire about being a new patient and we are accepting new patients you can email Carey at carey@hallowellcenter.org.

We’re all in this together, so let’s indeed stay together, only off site.

And remember my motto, “Never worry alone.”

We are here for you. Keep in touch.

Warm Regards,

Edward Hallowell, M.D., Founder
Sue Hallowell, LICSW, Clinical Director
The Hallowell Center

LINKS TO MISCELLANEOUS RESOURCES

I want to take a moment in these uncertain times to tell you what we are doing in my centers in Sudbury, MA and in Manhattan to address the issues created by the threat of Covid-19, as well as what my wife, Sue, and I are doing at home.

First of all, we are following my first rule, “Never worry alone.”

We are all talking with each other, and listening to what our friends and various experts are reporting, day by day, even hour by hour.

Second, we are trying our best to get the facts.

Most of toxic worry is rooted in lack of information, wrong information, or both. As, as we worry together, we are pooling what we each judge to be the most reliable and pertinent facts, a pool that expands and changes not just hour to hour but minute to minute. Thank God for the Internet and television.

Coronavirus Myth vs Fact

Third, based on the facts that we share, we make a plan.

Toxic worry—and all the bad decisions it foments—subsides when you have a plan. Toxic worry results from a heightened feeling of vulnerability combined with a diminished feeling of power and control. When you have a plan you automatically feel less vulnerable and more in control. If the plan doesn’t work well—and all plans have flaws—you revise it. That’s what life is all about—revising plans. So we are constantly reviewing and considering revising our plan.

The Hallowell Centers Update

As of now, 9:45 a.m. on Monday, March 16, 2020, the plan in both my MA and NY office is to remain open. We rarely have more than 15 people—clinicians and patients combined—in either office at any one time. And the offices are large enough that we can keep 4-6 feet between people, obeying the command to keep social distance.

We have hand sanitizers on the counters and good liquid soap in the rest rooms. We have signs summarizing best practices during this pandemic, and we ask all who enter the offices about fever, headache, respiratory distress, sniffles, and any other illness, as well as recent travel.

Offering Remote Appointments

Furthermore, we offer remote appointments, conducted via the HIPPA compliant platform VSee, for all our clients and patients. Since, with the exception of testing, all our work can be conducted remotely, this provides an excellent and totally safe option which many are taking us up on. However, for those who do want to see us in person, we remain open and available as of now.

Personal Update

Personally, Sue and I have semi-quarantined ourselves. We do go out to buy food, and we have resisted the temptation to buy out the store. While we do have enough food to last us 2 weeks if the absolute need arose, that is not the most tasty food—canned goods like canned beef stew, which Sue deems “nasty” and canned veggies, which no one much likes—and since there are only 2 of us we do not need nor do we have much toilet paper!

Our three children all live elsewhere. Our 30 year old daughter works for the National Football League, whose offices in Manhattan, where she works, have closed for the time being, so our daughter works from home. Our youngest, who is 24, also works in Manhattan for Inkhouse, a p.r. firm, who is requiring all employees to work from home. And our middle child, our 27 year old son, lives near us outside of Boston. He works as a carpenter, out of doors, but his projects are temporarily on hold. His dog, Max, is not a carrier, but does stay inside.

There you have it. We are all living in the midst of uncertainty, and like most uncertainty, this uncertainty feels ominous, dangerous, and possibly lethal. It already has proved itself to be all that, so we have good reason to worry.

But passive worrying soon becomes toxic. I outlined above the best way I know of to turn toxic worry into active problem solving. In the active mode, you are at your best and you reach the smartest decisions.

Remember, we are all in this together.

This virus knows no race, creed, color, or class. It does target older, weaker people over younger stronger people, and it does preferentially target people who choose ignorance and denial over gaining knowledge and acting upon it.

So, let’s band together.

#1Never worry alone.

#2 Get the facts.

#3 And make, and revise, plans.

Our most powerful allies are the positive connections between us, and knowledge. By using those tools, and replenishing them all the time, we will survive, and thrive. Yes, the danger is real and can be lethal, but the solutions are equally real, time-tested, and life-saving.

My heartfelt and most loving wishes go out to you all. Let this crisis bring us all closer together through cooperative action, and shared reflections.

Edward (Ned) Hallowell, M.D.

P.S. If you’re feeling stressed, listen to my podcast on How to Feel Less Stressed.

One of the bright and shining lights in the current dismal viral fog is the beam of human altruism. Read more in my blog post, Altruism Lives.

Now that you’re working on your own time from home, DISTRACTION looms large and  that can spell TROUBLE. If you’re having difficulty staying focused and productive, then CoreCoaching is the antidote to keep the barrage of Corona Virus news and these uncertain times from infecting your productivity.

How CoreCoaching Can Help

CoreCoaching with Rebecca Shafir, M.A., C.C.C. can help by providing effective, practical and non-medication solutions. Rebecca will help you get things done, done well and done on time. Rebecca’s coaching and training approach builds the core skills and routines that enable success at home, at the workplace and in one’s personal life.

Sessions can be conducted by phone, Skype or FaceTime.  You can do this. It’s easy – just call Rebecca to set up a structure for managing distractions and getting your work done, done well and on time.

You may only need a one session consultation that includes a follow up session, or weekly support to sustain a streak of productivity.

Whatever it takes to get you on track, Rebecca will make it happen.

Schedule your complimentary chat.

Contact Rebecca Shafir, executive function coach at the Hallowell Center Metrowest at 978-255-1817 or email her at: RebeccaShafir@gmail.com.

See www.MindfulCommunication.com

CLICK HERE to learn about other Coaching Services available at The Hallowell Center Boston MetroWest.

Testimonials

Amy P., a college junior writes, “Rebecca ,I’m freaking out. I’ve worked so hard this semester and now that I’m home, gone is the structure that was making things work for me. My parents are meddling in my work and that’s making me anxious! I feel like I’m back in high school. I need your help!”

Ari Y., an attorney at a large law firm writes, “The transition to working from home is not going well. My willpower to stick to a schedule and get work done here is daunting. How do I manage the distractions, the panic all around me and stay on track? It’s just Day 3 and I’ve got four big documents to send in next week. The virus is a bad thing, but losing clients will really make me ill! Would coaching help? “

We are all concerned about safety with COVID-19, which is why the Hallowell Centers are closely monitoring the current situation regarding the coronavirus (COVID-19.)

Since the health and safety of our clients and employees is of utmost importance to us, The Hallowell Centers will remain open to meet your needs, but during this crisis and for your safety, all of the services will be provided remotely for the foreseeable future.

Please note that all of our clinicians in Boston MetroWest, NYC, SFO, Palo Alto and Seattle are geared up to work with clients through virtual platforms, or even just the telephone, although having a visual does enhance the experience.

Call your center to get instructions to set this up (it’s WAY simple if I can do it, believe me!) so we can remain connected and provide the hope and help we’re in the business of providing. Learn more about Therapy in the Age of Quarantine.

For the most up-to-date news that relates to the center you visit, click their link below:

BostonMetroWest

New York City

San Francisco

Hallowell Todaro – Palo Alto and Seattle

Our staff and all clients are highly encouraged to follow the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) safety for Covid-19 guidelines (see below) to appropriately respond to the potential public health threat posed by the virus.

Steps to take:

• Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom; before eating; and after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing.
• If soap and water are not readily available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol. Always wash hands with soap and water if hands are visibly dirty.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth.
• Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash immediately.
• Avoid close contact with people who are sick.

If you do get sick, please call your primary care doctor for instructions before going to their office or to an urgent care or ER. If there is a real risk that you have COVID-19, they will order that test and direct you to a specialized testing site. This will protect you and others from unnecessary exposure.

I left church today, bid my wife, Sue, farewell as she headed off to a brunch, while I headed to Whole Foods to buy flowers (we buy flowers for our hallway table every Sunday when we’re in town), and started walking to my car. It was a chilly but sunny day in Cambridge, MA. We’ve been going to Christ Church Cambridge, an Episcopal church, since our first child, Lucy, was born in 1989. The service almost always puts me in a reflective, positive mood. But not today. I could feel it the moment I said goodbye to Sue. A chill of sadness was gathering around me. This was not good news because, aside from the discomfort of feeling the sadness, I had a book to work on and the free hours of a Sunday afternoon were precious to me.

But first, I did the shopping. I picked out four bunches of 20 daffodils, 80 daffodils in all, because they were on sale for $4 a bunch, and because they looked so un-sad, so happy, so full of yellow promise. 80 daffodils may sound like a lot, but because at least half had not yet opened, it didn’t look like that many. I probably should have bought twice as many, because daffodils push a special button in me, reminding me of D.C. in spring when my sister was falling in love there with the man she married. But I settled for 80.

Then I pushed my cart down different aisles, picking out the ingredients with which I’d make my crock-pot dinner Tuesday; I make dinner Tuesdays because Sue works late that night. I picked out four cans of beans—red kidney; black; great northern; and pinto—along with a green pepper, a zucchini, two cans of diced tomatoes, one can of tomato paste, and a head of garlic, as well as a dozen eggs and a bag of coffee beans. The eggs and coffee were not for my recipe; we just needed them. And we had the rest of the ingredients for my vegetarian chili already at home. We’re not vegetarians, but we try to eat healthy, at least most of the time.

When I got home, I found my 27-year old son, Jack, working on repairing our front porch. He’s a carpenter, and I was most grateful to find him doing this, which we’d been hoping he’d do for some time. Jack and I greeted, in the usual minimalist male fashion, while I went inside to put the daffodils in vases and unpack the rest of the groceries.

Trying to Write

Once all that was completed, I tried to sit down and write. I said “tried” because I couldn’t. I’m a pretty disciplined writer, a more-or-less believer in what Samuel Johnson said: “Any person can write if he will set himself to it doggedly enough.” But I wasn’t able to be dogged enough. The words just wouldn’t come. Even though I’d had a few ideas in church and had jotted them down, I just could not bring myself to sit down at my laptop and write.

It was that sadness I’d felt after church rushing in. Or maybe I was entering into the sadness. Either way, we met, and entwined. Not the way lovers entwine, more the way you entwine with a spell or a fever. It comes over you and try as you might, you can’t get rid of it.

I had to lie down. We have a large, comfortable couch in our living room, the upholstery rather torn up by the dogs we’ve had over the years, but to my eyes that only makes it more inviting. So the couch took me in and gave me a place to lie with my sadness.

I don’t know why I was sad.

I can always find reasons—I should lose weight, spend less money, finish my book, complete this project or that, or deeper reasons, like what have I not done that I ought to have done or what have I done that I ought not to have done, or the obvious reasons that come with being human and getting older, the death of friends and loved ones, the feelings of my own aging now that I am 70—but today no one reason stood out. The sadness just took me over without tentacles of reason.

I closed my eyes and hoped to sleep. No such luck. I thought of calling my best friends, but I didn’t want to burden them (the exact opposite of what I urge my patients to do; call your friends, I say; never worry alone). I let my mind wander, and simply let the sadness have its way, as I had no choice.

It was not the excruciating sadness of depression or suicidal despair. But neither was it fun. It was keeping me from doing work I needed to do. It was causing me to look bad in my own eyes. I should be able to shake this, I said to myself, as I lay there, unable to shake it.

Feeling the Sadness Subside

By the time Sue got home, I was back at my laptop, giving writing another try. But once again, I couldn’t do it. Sue said, “Honey, you’re probably just tired. Why don’t you take a rest?” This is one of the many reasons I love Sue. Always armed with sympathy and an apt solution. I tried to nap but I couldn’t sleep. However, lying on my bed, I felt the sadness begin to subside, like a fever breaking. I began to have ideas again as to what to write. I still didn’t feel like I could do the writing, but the confidence started to return that the time would come, before too long, when I would be able to do it.

Such is sadness for me. I enter it, or it overcomes me, fairly often. I am never far from it. Even when I am at my happiest—and I am in general a positive, upbeat man—I am also aware that sadness is usually just around the bend. Most of the time it does not prevent me from doing my work, as it did this afternoon. But when I do get working, the sadness subsides.

It’s not depression. But it’s more than “ordinary sadness,” or at least I think it is, based upon others’ accounts of ordinary sadness as well as my own experience of such sadness.

I write about it here in case any of you experience the same thing. My advice is see this sadness for what it is: a passing state of mind, a temporary fever. And to take Sue’s advice. Don’t fight it. Take a rest. And don’t mistake it for a permanent state.

After all, this is still Sunday, and here I am writing this piece. The sadness subsided enough for me to be able to write now. It is in the nature of moods: like the weather, they change.

Resources:

If you’re sad, worried or not feeling quite right, remember to “Never Worry Alone” and read my blog post on “What To Do When You’re Not Having A Very Okay Day.”

If you feeling depressed, it’s important to remember that you are not alone! There is a tremendous community to support and help you.  Below are a few links to Mental Health Resources, depending upon your needs:

• National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI)
• Families for Depression Awareness
• MentalHealth.gov
• How Can The Hallowell Centers Help?

Dr. Hallowell on Attending A Teacher’s Service

Humorous though it may seem, disorganization can plague your soul and wreak havoc in your life. Disorganization is especially pronounced in people with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD.) People with ADHD have trouble organizing things. They have trouble organizing time, their thoughts, and data.

Adults with ADHD

Adults with ADHD tend to “organize” by putting things into piles that, over time, grow and proliferate like weeds. Living in such a disorganized environment, whether in the workplace or at home, is like having cobwebs in the brain. Fortunately, there are some useful devices and new habits you can employ to restore a measure of order and clarity.

Because the ADHD brain is low on filing cabinets, you need to set up more filing cabinets outside the brain. In other words, you need to replace the piles with files, so to speak. You need to establish some structure in your daily life that will allow you to make up for what’s missing internally in your mind.

Children with ADHD

Some of the most common occurrences of disorganization in children with ADHD, manifests itself in:

• messy backpacks,
• missing homework assignments and
• lost school supplies, or
• their phone to name a few of the most common occurrences.

Parents of children with ADHD devote a good deal of time to helping them get organized, but the effort need not feel oppressive in any way. Daily routines and chores are easier to remember (and can even be fun) when written out on a color-coded checklist.

Furthermore, by breaking down all the steps, even the simple ones like “brush teeth” and “make the bed,” can make the morning less stressful for the whole family.

Organizational Tools

An alarm clock is an example of structure. So is a key chain, as well as a basket to put the key chain in every day when you get home.  If you’re always losing your phone, keys or other items, then the Tile Pro is a helpful tool in locating misplaced items.

Preset alarms serve as helpful, handy reminders for everything from time to do chores to time to take daily medications. While, weekly planners are indispensable tools for organizing and prioritizing homework assignments. In addition, they serve as helpful reminders, for example, to bring a special t-shirt or snack to school or pick up your dry cleaning on the way home.

In the world of ADHD, there is NOW and NOT NOW, which is why a Time Timer is a helpful  tool for managing homework.  Feeling the passage of time helps to develop time management skills.  Begin by setting it for 20 minutes to begin every study session or whatever project it is you’re working on. Then break for 5 and reset for another 20.

And thank heavens for Post-It Notes, which serve to remind your ADHD child, partner or yourself about a myriad of tasks. Setting up these tools helps provide a critical structure so that over time they’ll learn to initiate and use these tools on their own.

Get Well Enough Organized

Most people will counsel you to get super-organized. I urge you to ignore that advice. There’s no need to go overboard with any of these organizing tips. People with ADHD need not become super-organized neat freaks – a goal that is usually out of their reach anyway. They just need to become well enough organized to achieve their goals.

It’s all about mastering basic tools of organization like:

• making lists;
• keeping important things all in one easy-to-access place;
• creating flash cards and other memory aids to help remember important information; and,
• knowing where to find things quickly without going on a massive treasure hunt every day.

Books on getting Organized

There are some good books on getting organized written specifically for people with ADHD. A good one is ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life, by Judith Kolberg and Kathleen Nadeau. It has many specific tips and methods that will help people with ADHD.

Although not a book on organizing, Superparenting for ADD: An Innovative Approach to Raising Your Distracted Child  gives parents an upbeat and encouraging new approach to living with and helping their ADHD child. The practical strength-based techniques Drs. Hallowell and Jensen present put the talents, charms, and positive essence of the child ahead of any presumed shortcomings.

ADHD Coaching

If you’re unable to get “well enough” organized on your own, have an ADHD coach can help. At The HALLOWELL  Centers we recognize that even the best treatment plans can get sidetracked without the proper “follow through” tools and mechanisms. Our Coaching services utilize the latest in applied psychology,  organizational theory and brain science to help get you on track and keep you on track. Learn more HERE.

Or you can learn more about coaching by listening to Dr. Hallowell’s podcast: Learn all about ADHD and Coaching.

* This post may contain affiliate links. Thanks for your support!

I’ve been treating ADHD in the elderly, let’s say people over 60 for decades, which is why this Wall Street Journal,  article on An Unexpected New Diagnosis in Older Adults: ADHD caught my attention.

ADHD in the Elderly

It’s a myth that Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) only occurs in children.  A myth perpetuated by unwarranted requirements in the diagnostic manual that symptoms must appear prior to the age of 11.  The fact is that the symptoms of ADHD can appear at any age, and when they do, they deserve to be treated.

The oldest person I ever treated for ADHD was 86.  Once he discovered that what had been holding him back his entire life was not the depression he and his doctors had ascribed it to for decades but rather ADHD; once he got off the anti-depressants he’d been talking, without benefit for decades; and once he comprehended the magnitude of ADHD and how it impacted all elements of his life, this new knowledge filled him up with hope.  No longer did he see himself as incapable of achieving his lifelong dream of writing a novel.

Luckily, the stimulant medication I prescribed for him worked, and worked brilliantly.  It caused no side effects, other than appetite suppression, which he was able to deal with simply by eating even when he wasn’t very hungry.

A New Lease on Life

With the new lease on the life that the diagnosis of, education about, and medication for ADHD provided, this man was able, at last, to write the novel he’d been wanting to write for 50 years.  He was able to die with his dream fulfilled.

This is just one of many stories I could tell about diagnosing ADHD for the first time in a person over 60, and treating it with stimulant medication.  The most overlooked group is women.  But older men routinely get missed as well.

As long as the doctor monitors possible side effects, like weight loss, elevated heart rate or elevated blood pressure, as well as insomnia, agitation, or general unpleasant feelings, it is entirely safe to prescribe stimulants to people of any age.   More than safe, 80% of the time it is hugely beneficial.

Making Sure The Diagnosis is Accurate

You just want to be sure the diagnosis is accurate.  It takes a careful and experienced doctor to tell ADHD in the elderly from early Alzheimer’s or other dementing process; depression; anxiety disorders; anemia; hypothyroidism; or other medical conditions that can confuse the picture.

But if you have a good doctor, keep in mind the possibility of ADHD before you accept far more dire diagnoses like dementia, depression, or encephalopathy.

As I’ve said many times. ADHD is a good news diagnosis.  Once you find out you have it—no matter what you age might be—you life can only improve.

Learn More

ADHD in the Elderly: Diagnosis and Treatment – What You Should Know

Think you might have ADHD? Click here to learn How The Hallowell Centers Can Help You.  Getting started is easy.  Book a free 15-minute patient care consult at one of our Hallowell Center locations.

If you’re an adult who thinks you may have ADHD, read here to learn why it’s important to get a diagnosis.