ADHD

A newly revised and updated edition of the classic guide to reframing our view of ADHD and embracing its benefits

• Explains that people with ADHD are not disordered or dysfunctional, but simply "hunters in a farmer's world"--possessing a unique mental skill set that would have allowed them to thrive in a hunter-gatherer society

• Offers concrete non-drug methods and practices to help hunters--and their parents, teachers, and managers--embrace their differences, nurture creativity, and find success in school, at work, and at home

• Reveals how some of the world's most successful people can be labeled as ADHD hunters, including Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison, and Andrew Carnegie

With 10 percent of the Western world's children suspected of having Attention Deficit Disorder, or ADHD, and a growing number of adults self-diagnosing after decades of struggle, the question must be raised: How could Nature make such a "mistake"?

In this updated edition of his groundbreaking classic, Thom Hartmann explains that people with ADHD are not abnormal, disordered, or dysfunctional, but simply "hunters in a farmer's world." Often highly creative and single-minded in pursuit of a self-chosen goal, those with ADHD symptoms possess a unique mental skill set that would have allowed them to thrive in a hunter-gatherer society. As hunters, they would have been constantly scanning their environment, looking for food or threats (distractibility); they'd have to act without hesitation (impulsivity); and they'd have to love the high-stimulation and risk-filled environment of the hunting field. With our structured public schools, office workplaces, and factories those who inherit a surplus of "hunter skills" are often left frustrated in a world that doesn't understand or support them.

As Hartmann shows, by reframing our view of ADHD, we can begin to see it not as a disorder, but as simply a difference and, in some ways, an advantage. He reveals how some of the world's most successful people can be labeled as ADHD hunters and offers concrete non-drug methods and practices to help hunters--and their parents, teachers, and managers--embrace their differences, nurture creativity, and find success in school, at work, and at home. Providing a supportive "survival" guide to help fine tune your natural skill set, rather than suppress it, Hartmann shows that each mind--whether hunter, farmer, or somewhere in between--has value and great potential waiting to be tapped.

FOREWORD
Re-affirming the Value of All Human Beings by Michael Popkin

PREFACE
From Minimal Brain Damage to Hyperactivity to ADHD

INTRODUCTION
Hunters and Farmers Twenty Years Later

PART ONE
UNDERSTANDING HUNTERS AND FARMERS

ONE
ADHD as a State of Mind

TWO
How to Recognize Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

THREE
Hunters in Our Schools and Offices: The Origin of ADHD

FOUR
"Normal" People: The Origins of Agriculture

FIVE
Baseline States of Consciousness

SIX
Could Someone with ADHD Have Survivedin a Primitive Hunting Society?

SEVEN
Hunters and Farmers Vindicated by Science

EIGHT
What Maslow Overlooked: The Need to Feel Alive

NINE
Can Parents' Smoking Cause Childhood Behavior Problems?

PART TWO
LIVING AND THRIVING IN THE FARMER'S WORLD

TEN
How to Turn a "Disorder" Back into a Skill: A Survival Guide for ADHD Adults

ELEVEN
The Hunter's Struggle: Impulse and Its Control

TWELVE
How to Work with a Hunter: Practical Advice for Managers, Parents, and Teachers

THIRTEEN
Studying and Paying Attention

FOURTEEN
Creativity and ADHD: A Brilliant and Flexible Mind

FIFTEEN
ADHD and Sleep

SIXTEEN
Hunters on Drugs

SEVENTEEN
Halfway to the Stars:How Unrealized ADHD Can Limit an Apparently Successful Life

EIGHTEEN
A Disorganized Collection of "Hunter in a Farmer's World" Anecdotes

NINETEEN
The Edison Trait: Hunters Who Have Changed the World

EPILOGUE
Older and Younger Cultures: Further Thoughts on Cultural Anthropology and Our Future Acknowledgments

AFTERWORD
A Legacy of Hope
by Ellen B. Littman

About the Author
by Dave deBronkart

Also by Thom Hartmann

Bibliography

Index