I’m proud to have The Missing Piece featured in New Zealand Listener’s Book Takes.
It was a wonderful opportunity to share what interesting things readers will learn and what I learnt during the writing process.
It was an interesting exercise to pick out just a handful of things that I thought readers may be intrigued to learn! Fascinating facts and titillating trivia are entwined throughout the book, along with my personal experience and those of others, following an ADHD diagnosis.
READ the full Book Takes article in this link or click on the image below (note, must be a subscriber to read full article):
In brief, I cover in this article:
ADHD isn’t a new disorder, but it comes with a fresh perspective
“While you would be correct in thinking that ADHD diagnoses are soaring in numbers today, ADHD-like traits have been acknowledged and recorded for more than two hundred years.”
I write about why it has only been in the past few decades that diagnoses have skyrocketed.
You don’t have to ‘bounce off the walls’ to be hyperactive
“Hyperactivity is not the sole definer of ADHD, and even if hyperactivity was the predominant presentation type, it may not always present itself in stereotypical ways.”
For the general public ADHD is still a bit of a mystery. Myths and misunderstandings about the disorder often gravitate back to the 1980s when hyperactive little boys were more likely to be diagnosed – but this is no longer the case.
An adult ADHD diagnosis isn’t the end, it’s a new beginning
“After navigating their way through many years of life an ADHD diagnosis for women can be validating. But it doesn’t, or shouldn’t, end there.”
I write about how ADHD traits are likely to have had a huge impact on life choices and one’s view on the world. Understanding ourselves is the key to learning to love our authentic selves.
What I learnt when writing the book
“In researching answers to my very many ADHD questions, even the obscure ones, I had so many light-bulb moments, the house was positively a-glow for months.”
I discuss how study findings and emerging scientific breakthroughs fed my brain, and the personal life stories shared with me by more than thirty New Zealand women, also diagnosed as adults, fed my heart.