First let me say that I do not have Adult ADHD, so I cannot absolutely confirm that this book and the exercises therein will be 100% helpful. But I do have two friends with ADHD, and I thought of them multiple times reading this book and thought that the things I was reading would likely be helpful to them. This book, like many other self-help books, will be most useful if you take your time and slowly do each and every exercise. And if you are a therapist, this book will give you several really good exercises to try with your clients depending on what they are struggling with.
Boissiere starts by defining what he means by executive functions or core skills and why each of these is different for people with ADHD. He also supplies a very readable description of what is going on in the brain for people with ADHD. The first chapter, then, has descriptions and a quiz so you can readily figure out what core skills you really need the most help with, since no two people with ADHD have exactly the same issues.
Then there is a chapter on each core skill: Memory & Attention; Organizing & Planning; Mental Flexibility; Emotion Regulation and Impulse Control. One of the things that I really like is that he does also show how people with ADHD are unique in good ways, not just the ways they struggle. A common theme throughout the book is awareness and the ability to take a pause. Which, in a way, is the core issue of ADHD and gee, if you could already do that, you wouldn’t need this book! But, I think he does a good job with the exercises of helping you learn and cultivate this important ability.
Because I haven’t read an inordinate amount of books on adult ADHD (I’ve only read “You Mean I’m not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy”, which I liked), I can’t tell you how this stacks up with all of the other books on the topic. But I liked the simple layout, the positivity and the many exercises that I think are really good for practice.
Disclaimer: the link above is an Amazon affiliate link, for which I receive a small compensation. My summaries are NOT intended to replace purchasing the book; they are only intended to save you time if you do not currently have time to read the whole book.