Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Adult ADHD: Targeting Executive Dysfunction

Abstract

Adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) experience significant difficulties with time management, organization, and planning, which medication alone cannot remediate. Meeting a crucial need, this highly practical book presents an evidence-based approach for teaching patients to improve these key executive functions. Leading clinician and researcher Mary V. Solanto and her colleagues describe effective cognitive-behavioral strategies—developed and tested over a decade of therapeutic work—that can enable adults with ADHD to lead more organized and productive lives. The book begins with an overview of adult ADHD, its associated impairments, and the author's treatment approach. Clear guidelines for diagnostic evaluation are detailed. Explaining the nuts and bolts of setting up treatment groups and selecting participants, Solanto discusses frequently encountered therapeutic obstacles and how to overcome them. Each of the 12 group sessions—which can also be adapted for individual therapy—is reviewed step by step. Sessions delve into fundamental principles of scheduling, prioritizing, self-activation, persistence, and organization, with a focus on essential real-world activities like planning a week's schedule or organizing paperwork. Solanto also addresses the anxiety and depression that can be caused by ADHD symptoms, showing how to help patients identify and challenge cognitive distortions. Engaging in-session exercises and homework assignments guide patients to practice and master new skills; special features include numerous reproducible handouts and forms. Written in an extremely accessible style, this is the first treatment manual to target executive function deficits in adults. It provides invaluable tools for clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, counselors, and social workers who treat adults with ADHD in any clinical setting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)(jacket)