Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The most sensible book on RAGE that I've read., 5 Jun 1999
By A Customer
My son, who is 13, was diagnosed with ADD, ODD, OCD, and depression about 4 years ago. As a result, I've collected a library of books on each subject. This is the first book that not only mentions all of the above, but actually shows how they are related, and how to effectively deal with the everyday problems of these disorders. This is the first book that I've read that deals with the grief that parents feel. Books like this one will make it easier for the next parent who finds himself at a loss to explain his childs behavior.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Most helpful ADD book I've read, 23 Jun 1998
By A Customer
It's been a year since I read this book and it still sticks in my mind. This book put into words some of the things I always knew in my gut about my daughter's behavior. Among other things, Dr. Lynn explains how a child's explosion of rage is often a reaction meant to ensure the child's emotional/mental safety - - - the child has well surpassed her capacity to process input and must slam on the brakes. Imagine how this changes your perspective to consider this behavior as a matter of the child's safety rather than a spoiled kid or bad parenting or .... Of course, Dr. Lynn does more than provide an explanation, he suggests some excellent approaches and exercises for helping your child and your family to deal with and change the difficult behavior. The background information on how we process different types of input, and how AD(D) people process input differently was the most meaningful - and sensible - explanation I had ever read. It appears to be medically valid (to this lay reader) and at the same time just plain fits with what I observe. I will be digging this book out tonite to read it again.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A book for parents who are at their 'whits end'., 1 Dec 1996
By A Customer
"Survival Strategies for Parenting Your ADD child: Dealing
with Obsessions, Compulsions, Depression, Explosive
Behavior & Rage" by George T. Lynn, M.A., C.M.H.C.
George Lynn is a Certified Mental Health Counselor in
Bellevue, Washington, and parent of a child with Tourette
Syndrome and ADD.
Don't let the title fool you; this book isn't exclusive to severe
ADD. If you're a parent of a child with Tourette Syndrome or
Bipolar Mood Disorder, you've come to the right place. Are
you looking for strategies for dealing with a myriad of
behaviors like obsessions, compulsions, and explosive
behavior? Welcome home. In "Survival Strategies" you'll
find information to help you unravel the complexities of how
these children feel and think, including numerous tips,
diagrams and charts to help you get out of the loop and into the
problem-solving mode.
Though Mr. Lynn is a counselor, you won't find "disorder" or
"pathological" expertise. Lynn gives the reader solid reasons
for celebrating the precious gifts these children have, while
strengthening and empowering the family. Children with these
attention different diagnoses are not easy to live with, and he
doesn't view them as "problem" kids, but uniquely different.
George Lynn takes you into their world to see the "why" of
their behavior, instead of medicating the answer away. As a
result, he uses attention difference (A.D.), instead of
"disorder," defines common stressors, skips over medication
and leads us to practical problem-solving techniques.
Astonishing in his depth and compassion, Lynn, married with a
pre-teen child diagnosed with ADHD and Tourettes, shares his
family's experiences openly and honestly.
In seventeen chapters divided into three parts, the introduction
acquaints us with a mother who describes all people as being
plants in a garden, each with different needs. In accordance,
Lynn chooses the word "Eustress" as his premise. Eustress, a
word coined by stress researcher Dr. Has Selye, means "good"
in Latin. In other words, we can lie down, curl up our toes and
let stress overcome us, or we can look squarely at our children,
count their strengths and resources, and meet the challenge
head-on in a positive way (Eustress).
Part I, Understand the Nature of the Challenge, shows how
your child views his world and the resulting pressures,
describes how you can help him and shares ways you can help
yourself in order to help him.
Part II, Strategies for Successful Management of Individual
Problems, relates methods that help children manage their own
attention differences. Among the behaviors Lynn covers are
oppositionality, emotional wildness, dangerous behavior and
obsessions.
Part III, Strategies for Changing Family Distress Cycles to
Family Eustress Cycles, discusses family patterns and how to
change them. He has chapters on grief, single parenting and
blended families. Chapter fifteen, one of his largest chapters,
deals with a major stressor universal among special needs
families: school.
For readers interested in a diet/behavior relationship to
attention differences, George Lynn includes an interesting
article in the Appendix, "Nutritional Alternatives to Ritalin -
Treating the Causes as Well as the Symptoms" by Walter J.
Crinnion, N.D., an authority in environmental toxicity.
At the conclusion, the author returns us to the mother and her
garden metaphor:
"You and I are the ones who parent the strangest little plants in
the garden. Culture would make all children corn stalks in a
row, but some plants are hardier than this and have a job to do
on the windswept outskirts of the garden. This is where our
kids live. Those who enjoy the symmetry of corn fields define
our kids are "weird" and we all know what that label means:
dysfunctional, crazy, repugnant, different.
"But strong cross-cultural wisdom argues the opposite view:
that our A.D. children are a precious resource, an enormous
cultural asset...
"It makes sense that at this time in our evolution when all the
conventional answers seem to be failing that we would see the
emergence of so many Attention Different kids with their
strange abilities and excesses of character. Just as A.D. kids
have "little anarchist" temperament challenges, they also
possess rare gifts in their weirdness - we need them as a culture
to renew ourselves and avoid stagnation."
The old methods of "behavior modification" may work for the
plants sitting row-by-row in the middle of the cornfield. But
families like ours are searching for new and innovative ways to
deal with our "weird" children. First, however, we have to
redefine the behaviors, and the only way to do that is to see
things the way our children see things. This requires a radical
paradigm shift. George Lynn gives us this shift, step-by-step.
"Survival Strategies" will grab your attention and endure as a
reference book when you've reached your "Wits End."
Janie Bowman
72662.3716@compuserve.com
Ms. Bowman is a writer and parent of two children with ADD.
This review was originally written for the ADD Forum on
CompuServe.
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