Update:
If you saw the excellent ADD and Loving It! documentary and if you think you may have Adult ADD:
1. Take the 5 minute Harvard/NYU/W.H.O. Adult ADHD screener test on my website.
2. To get a diagnosis find a local ADHD support group near you to find a list of medical professionals who know enough about ADHD to diagnose it properly, sadly, many don’t. UBC medical school students get one hour of training on ADHD.
3. The best way to treat ADHD is multiple methods, there’s no one magic pill, you don’t “cure” it, you learn to manage it more effectively with things like Adult ADHD coaching, for practical daily skills for things like procrastination, trouble getting organized, being easily distracted, getting overloaded and overwhelmed, and time management. Also ADHD medications, exercise and meditation to help balance out the brain chemistry and increase focus etc. See Top 10 Ways to Manage Adult ADHD
4. Read the comments from other people with ADHD at the bottom of this post
You can buy the ADD and Loving It! ADHD documentary on DVD and share it with the people who think Adult ADD doesn’t exist or it’s a failure of willpower/drug company/space alien conspiracy. Here’s the trailer of the movie, and you can buy the DVD here at the great Totally ADD website that has a lot of useful videos on Adult ADD. Help pass the word around about the show, reduce the stigma.
Just a heads up. There’s a new documentary on Adult ADHD called ADD and Loving It! tonight Friday at 8pm (7 pm in Winnipeg, Regina & Saskatoon) on Global TV staring comedian and actor Patrick McKenna – Marty Stevens from the TV show Traders (who I greatly enjoyed watching) and The Red Green Show. It’s written, produced and directed by fellow comedian, Rick Green.
The film’s website is TotallyADD
Patrick Mckenna and Rick Green from ADD and Loving it Canadian Documentary
Here’s their description of their film. You may want to let others know about this.
ADD & Loving It?! is a refreshing, witty and inspiring documentary about adult Attention Deficit Disorder
ADD & Loving It?! explores and explains the disorder by following Patrick’s journey for a diagnosis so he can confirm what he’s always suspected – that he has ADD. Along the way, Patrick and his wife Janis open up about their challenges and struggles, something Janis admits “we’ve spent our whole lives trying to hide.
Patrick notes, “Some people think the diagnosis is the kiss of death, while others think there’s no such thing; it’s nothing, it’s all made up.” But after talking with the experts and with ordinary people, as well as drawing from his own experience, he confirms that ADD is real. It’s genetic, it can destroy lives, and adults with ADD have a higher rate of accidents, addictions, suicide, bankruptcy, divorce, illegal drug use and financial problems.
Patrick uses his gift of comedy to demonstrate the three characteristics of ADD – inattention, impulsivity and hyperactivity. He uncovers the 18 symptoms used to diagnose ADD in childhood, and illustrates how these traits develop by adulthood. After all, adults learn not to bounce in their chairs during meetings, while kids in grade three rarely go bankrupt.
Janis guides Patrick through several ADD quizzes and their banter sets a warm, loving tone for the film. Patrick’s high score leads ADD expert Dr. Umesh Jain to diagnose Patrick with ADD. Patrick is stunned but begins to see his life from a whole new perspective and recognizes how much his ADD has cost him and his family. And realization becomes motivation. Now that he knows he has ADD, he can deal with it.
The experts interviewed are among the top names in the field of ADD in North America – Stephen Kurtz, Kate Kelly, Edward Hallowell, Annick Vincent and Margaret Weiss to name a few. No film has ever assembled such a powerhouse team. As each expert explains the details about ADD, he or she is backed up by at least two or three others. What you will see and hear is information from the most reliable sources on the topic of adult ADD.
The film creates recognition and laughter. That in itself is healing, especially for those struggling in isolation. Research has shown that laughter does improve health. While laughter may not be the best or the only medicine, it’s certainly the easiest to swallow.
If you saw ADD and Loving It!, what did you think of it? Who else should see it and how can you let them know about it?
{ 60 comments… read them below or add one }
← Previous Comments
i just watched this documentary with my mom. i didn’t like it AT ALL. i *know* i have add. i have been diagnosed by my therapist, psychiatrist, and i have researched it plenty. however, watching this documentary, i thought it focused entirely too much on the hyperactive traits of the disorders (which are more common in males!). i started to think maybe i was wrong about even having add! i think the documentary focused too much on the host’s add. i mean, i know that was kind of the point, but people who don’t know much about add might not realize that characteristics specific to his adhd may not be the same characteristics of others with the disorder. especially because adhd in males is a lot different than adhd/add in females. some of his symptoms were pretty exaggerated and i could hardly relate. meh, i suppose it’s good to have some positivity about add out there in the mainstream. i guess it was better than nothing, but i can’t say this documentary was in any way a substitute for a book on the disorder. especially the ones mentioned in the movie! maybe i have just read too much about add in books and online and so this documentary just wasn’t as enlightening for me.
I turned on TV tonight to see what is on and was delighted to see this wonderful show that helps me understand myself, why I divorced my former husband and married a loving partner who understands me because he has ADD as well. Life is never dull.
I donated to WGBH because of this program.
Thank you,
Jan
I’m 58 years old and was just diagnosed a year ago. It was the biggest revelation in my life and has answered so many concerns. Now, I’m being treated and work is going better, I’m in gradeuate school, and I understand my self better.
I’m so happy for you Kim and hope now you will be able to help others awaken to their destiny ! x
FANTASTIC resource!! We’re dealing with our youngest and his ADHD diagnosis. He’s 10 & this is tough stuff. Thanks for ONE EXCELLENT tool here! I’m posting this site on my blog, “Charlotte’s ADHD Web,” because it’s worth passing along! Thank you. ~Charlotte
I found the information (from what I watched) very informative and very indepth and was looking forward to watching the whole program since I have been affected with ADD since childhood. However, I had to turn it off (after 15 minutes, much to my regret) because I became distracted from the facts by the poor attempt at humor by Patrick McKenna and his partner. He impressed me as a very nice,sincere and well meaning guy but I wish that he had not attempted humor…did not work…had he been more serious I would have gotten more out of it. This is not only my opinion, it was the opinion of the group of people that watched the program with me. I have found a solution that not only helps me but others who feel the same. My friend is a movie editor and has taken the film and removed the comments by McKenna via his editing software which makes the program more interesting and more informative. I hope that my friend can get permission to distribute this edited video (at no charge) to those who need help. I really enjoyed the edited version and I do intend purchasing his book as I think it might contain some valuable information and I have contributed to the educational channel here in Los Angeles. Please accept my comments as being sincere and very well intentioned and from a person who has previously worked on movies and has done movie reviews. By the way…this is the first program that really deals with ADD in a non technical way and in a way that is designed for the patient and not the physician.
I thought the documentary was good. Informative and entertaining. My single biggest reservation and what stood out for me was the loyal, dutiful, and seemingly unflappable Mrs. McKenna. Wow….what a wonderful woman. Makes the rest of us look real bad. So, help me understand. Married to virtually the same checklist layered between all the talent, love, humour and the like, she can honestly sit on a couch in front of a camera and sum it up by saying “Don’t sweat the small stuff”. How trite, simplistic and irresponsible. For as thorough as the show was to have the only voice as the loyal caregiver be that is negligent. A purple dining room indeed. Please. If they had to call the police to calm the man down in a public place, imagine the hurt, hysteria and stress at home. Hang on….I don’t have to imagine. I’m not saying it’s all doom and gloom but on behalf of the other spouses, partners and children living with someone with ADD, please. A more balanced representation of life with ADD should have been presented. Maybe that’s another show but don’t sit there and pretend it’s not a big deal. She knows it is and she should have either been scripted or have been honest enough to acknowledge that. I’m not bitter but I am damaged. There can’t help but be residual damage. Mrs. McKenna is either in denial, faking or, perhaps, possesses God like qualities. Either way, not a balanced perspective.
Well I wanted to put in my two cents!!!
Hello, my name is Ariana and I’ve been diagnosed with ADD when I was 4 or so~! I actually can’t remember haha. I’ve grown up with this, had to put up with people thinking I’m slow, or think I used my ADD as a crutch. But I will tell you wholeheartedly I don’t. I explain to all of my friends and people I meet about my ADD, what it is to me, so that when they stumble upon me forgetting something or interrupting, they can tell me about it so that I will know and I won’t be insulted if they get annoyed.
But… even being 21 now, having ADD all my life and knowing it, there were still some things I did NOT know were ADD, that is until I watched this documentary. It helped me understand that some things I thought were just me, were a problem with myself, was in fact something that other people with ADD have to deal with themselves. It was eye opening and I once again felt like I wasn’t alone.
I have also read through some comments that others have posted, and I see what some mean about it being a bit over the top. He was indeed making light and exaggerating a lot of the symptoms, but that’s because some of them are… Some people experience them to the extremes, but not all people do. I do believe, that if he hasn’t already, he should state that in the beginning of this documentary that everyone’s ADD is and can be different. Because even if it wasn’t for all of you, for me he was hitting home.
Also I found his humor entrancing. It made me chuckle and kept me staring at the screen, same with others I have shown the documentary to. But perhaps that is not for everyone, and we need different hosts for different audiences. Like I said, everyone is different.
So in the end I think it depends on the person what you get out of this. It is hard to pile everything about ADD into one documentary that doesn’t last hours… so perhaps they will make another targeting a different type of ADD, or someone else could make one. Either way, I found this informative, and several of my friends now realize that either they have ADD or understand my ADD better.
I watched this show and about felt like crying.
I was diagnosed in grade school but all I was told was “You have ADD, you just can’t focus, here’s some pills” and that’s it.
I never knew or was told how it affects my life, I just thought I was a a crazy, wild child that had focusing problems.
Later on after high school, my doctors told me I should stop taking the pills saying I’ve outgrown them, all I could think, “What?! does that mean now I’m just stupid? How did I outgrow it?”. Luckily, I found another doctor that was more understanding and made me feel was on my side, knew how it affects me, and let me know it was okay to keep taking the pills and if I wanted to stop, it was my choice of when I felt I was ready.
I kept taking the meds for a few more years until I decided to take myself off to see if I could function. I knew it might be harder to focus and started to write a to do list every day which did help.
I’ve also been doing research and talking with friends who were also diagnosed to better understand, but this documentary has been the most helpful and explained so more than I felt I ever could know.
thank you
Wow…some of you are really critical of Patrick and Rick. They have it, have struggled with it and used humor to get through it. I have ADHD, but some symptoms I don’t have at all while others are glaring symptoms. But I “got it” with this special. As one expert said, “You see one person with ADHD…you’ve see one person with ADHD.” I recommend this documentary to everyone because it helps others understand kids and adults that have struggled with this.
← Previous Comments
{ 1 trackback }