So self-acceptance does not mean self-admiration or even self-liking at every moment of our lives, but tolerance for all our emotions, including those that make us feel uncomfortable.

The Ritalin soon made me depressed. Dexedrine, the stimulant I was next prescribed, made me more alert and helped me become a more efficient workaholic. Since being diagnosed myself, I have seen hundreds of

Almost all parents with an ADD child report that their son or daughter has an uncanny power to dictate what the emotional atmosphere of the family will be.

“Quite right,” he agreed. “How could you know?” I was spending all my waking hours, as he pointed out, stimulating myself with ceaseless activity, working overtime to keep my brain spinning, gorging it with mind candy—what exactly was I expecting to feel? Where did I leave even a small crack for feeling to seep through?

The adult with attention deficit disorder needs to know that the physical space she occupies can help to either harmonize or disorganize her mind. Although many ADD adults assert that they function well in the midst of the

A child free of anxiety about a break in the relationship with her parent can gradually become more conscious of other priorities, such as being on time for school. She feels accepted even with her faults.

was not only fatigued from the whirlwind week, but I did not know what to do with myself. Without the weekday adrenaline rush, I felt a lack of focus, purpose, energy. I was depleted and irritable, neither active nor able to rest.

family, but from what had not happened. He found that he had been living a memory each time anxiety gripped him when a woman seemed to cool toward him or even when she tried to end a late-night telephone call.

of food into myself every evening.... I want to live!f Characteristically, what this man did not think to write was I want to learn to accept myself.