ADHD: Joining a Support Group with People Who Understand Your Brain Can Be Life-Changing
Knowing there are other people out there with ADHD, many of them very successful, can be helpful.
Over the past three decades, since my first book on ADHD made the July 18, 1994 cover story of TIME magazine and went on to change the paradigm used by psychologists and therapists nationwide, I’ve spoken to support groups on four continents in probably two dozen or more countries.
Some are modeled on traditional groups like AA, others are more like social circles for sharing experiences, and some are organized to help people learn strategies and techniques for dealing with their Hunter kids or spouses.
For about two decades, in the 80s and 90s, I also ran the ADHD (then called ADD) support group on CompuServe, which is where Hugh first found me and sent me the email below (printed with his permission, first in my book ADD Success Stories.
With today’s sophisticated search and AI machines, it’s much easier to find a group, both local and virtual. If it’s run well (and not like a cult; I’ve actually visited a few like that), having a supportive group who understand how your brain works can be life-changing.
Hugh in New York writes:
When I first learned about ADHD, it was a shock. Both good and bad, if you know what I mean. Good, to learn what had been going on all my life, and bad, to learn that I probably would never become the perfect husband or employee that my wife and boss wanted.
It also raised a lot of questions in my life about what I could or couldn’t do. Should I try to get some medications? Should I consider therapy? Would my ADHD get worse? Was I doomed?
Since I’m a computer programmer, I’d been on CompuServe almost since it started, or at least it seems that way. So I went online and tried the GO word of ADHD, and, bingo, found myself in the ADHD Forum! What an amazing place: nearly 40,000 people with the same condition I have!
From the ADHD Forum, I learned about an ADHD support group here in New York. So I attended a few meetings and got to know some of the people there, and that was great for me, too.
My local group isn’t like AA, where we’re all trying to keep each other from being ADHD or something, but more like just a network of friends who understand what it’s like to be misunderstood all your life.
Knowing that there are other people out there with ADHD, many of them very successful, has been such a help to me. It gave me hope, and I’ve learned many valuable tips from the people I’ve met online and at my local support group.
Awesome. Right on, to understand yourself, hear from others, and find Your way through life.