crankyisgood 's review for:

Smart But Stuck: Emotions in Teens and Adults with ADHD by Thomas E. Brown

5.0

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Introduced me to new concepts of emotions and how they work in the brain, incredibly helpful for me and my family. The case studies seem repetitive at first but each introduce different facets of ADHD challenges, from anxiety to hoarding and OCD. “Emotions don’t exist as independent abstract entities; they are always embedded in perceptions, thoughts, sensations, images, or imaginings as assessed by a given individual in a particular context at a particular moment in time.” (P23) “Blaming the Victim: Failure to understand this basic fact about ADHD—that it appears to be a lack of willpower, when it is not—commonly leads to a blaming of the victim. This manifests both in self-blaming by those with ADHD and in the many subtle or not-so-subtle reactions of family members, teachers, friends, or employers.” (P41) This recalled and reinforced my “aha moment” of how ADHD’s symptoms are seen as moral problems (and are not!) from the first chapter of “Delivered from Distraction.”