A Radical Guide for Women with ADHD

While this isn't a badly written book, I do wish it had more constructive coping mechanisms and skills for dealing with adhd. It is excellent knowing we're not alone and learning to live authentically and as ourselves, but as someone trying very hard to live with adhd, I'd really hoped for more concrete skills, which I guess the authors would classify as ‘fixing' myself, which is heavily frowned upon throughout the book. And I get it, nothing is really ‘wrong' with those of us with adhd, but existing in an ever-more-capitalistic society requires some level of function and wanting to find that isn't wrong either. 

That said, this is a good book for accepting yourself and finding joy in knowing you aren't alone in your struggles. It is well written, hence my rating. I only wish it had some additional skill-based chapters for coping with adhd. 

I have such mixed feelings about this book.

While there was some good information in it and the exercises / journaling prompts were useful, much of it was just not what I was looking for.

The authors' voice sometimes comes across as condescending and the book really leans more toward an approach that pathologizes ADHD, which is neither particularly useful nor up to date. Books that take this approach can often leave the person with ADHD feeling terrible about themselves rather than empowering them to understand the unique way their brain works so they can work with that and thrive as the powerhouse creatives they often are!

The book is more reflective than instructive in that much of the benefit you will get from reading it will be found in actually completing the workbook sections. There is not much strategy provided.

I found the information therein to be very “light.” If you're looking for a book that includes strategies for improving executive functioning, learning how to thrive with your ADHD, or appreciate the more positive neurodiversity approach to ADHD, you will probably not like this book.

If you have recently been diagnosed with ADHD as an adult and think that some prompted self reflection about how ADHD could have been manifesting in different aspects of your life could be useful for you, you might find some value in it. I do recommend, however, that you also read other books alongside this one that focus more on a positive neurodiversity message and on strategies for improving executive functioning.

One quote I did like:

“As psychologist Abraham Maslow is reported to have said, ‘One can choose to go back toward safety or forward toward growth. Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again.' Personal growth doesn't emerge from a comfortable space; creation is messy, and discomfort accompanies everything worth birthing. When you remember this, you will be erecting the internal scaffolding on which to build future confidence and successes.”