The Queen of Distraction: How Women With ADHD Can Conquer Chaos, Find Focus, and Get More Done

This self-help manual for women with ADHD is loaded with tips for managing day-to-day hassles but uneven when it comes to incorporating psychological insight. Matlen (Survival Tips for Women with ADHD) effectively demonstrates the disorder's wide net at the start, presenting a case study she'll return to throughout the text: two seemingly opposite friends%E2%80%94one anxious and guarded, the other impulsive%E2%80%94who struggle with different kinds of ADHD. After Matlen provides some basic information concerning the condition%E2%80%94subset types, how to seek care%E2%80%94she jumps to specific tips on how to carry out everyday activities in the face of ADHD. Though perhaps many of the tasks addressed here, like cleaning and meal preparation, do commonly fall to women, readers may be surprised that gender and hormonal factors are not addressed until far into the book. Moreover, many of the daily-life management techniques suggested don't seem specific to either women or individuals with ADHD. Matlen fares better with time management and relationship maintenance, authoritatively spelling out links between ADHD and problems in these realms. Though this book has plenty of useful advice for general readers, those with ADHD may want to look elsewhere. (Oct.)