Our large city newspaper, the Detroit Free Press, ran a nice article on me and my book, Surival Tips for Women with AD/HD. I'm not sure how long the link to it will work, so I'm going to copy the article here. Yikes, I hope I don't get into trouble with the newspaper police.
The paper copy had a lot of photos but the online version did not. I think the writer, Pat Anstett did a great job, as did photographer, Regina Boone. Thanks guys! Here's the link: http://www.freep.com/news/health/adhd28e_20050428.htm
...and here's the text:
ATTENTION, PLEASE: Birmingham's Terry Matlen helps women deal with the
chaos of AD/HD, a disorder she shares
April 28, 2005
BY PATRICIA ANSTETT FREE PRESS MEDICAL WRITER
"What's wrong with me?" Terry Matlen often asked herself in her early
days of motherhood.
Terry Matlen offers AD/HD survival tips for women 7:30-9 p.m. Monday
A discussion for teens with AD/HD will take place at the same time.
Way Elementary School 765 W. Long Lake Rd. West Bloomfield
248-988-6716 www.eocc.homestead.com.cqanstett
Five tips for people with AD/HD and ADD # Learn to say no. Or say,
"Let me think about it and get back to you."
# Organize and describe outfits on 3-by-5 cards if you have the "I
can't find anything to wear" problem.
# Remember chores by assigning specific duties to a specific day of
the week.
# Stay on task by cleaning a room in clockwise, or counter-clockwise,
fashion.
# Keep a notebook at your side, even in the home, to jot messages,
names you forget easily and other details. By Patricia Anstett
GET HELP ONLINE Here are Internet resources for those with Attention-
Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder or Attention-Deficit Disorder:
# www.addconsults.com, Terry Matlen's AD/HD-ADD site.
# www.addmireablewomen.com, resources and chat groups.
# www.sarisolden.com, forums, books and resources from Ann Arbor-based
ADD author, Sari Solden.
# www.addvance.com, articles, books and resources from Dr. Patricia
Quinn and Dr. Kathleen Nadeau.
# www.ncgiadd.org/resources, from the National Center for Gender
Issues and AD/HD.
"I wanted children so badly, but I was miserable," says Matlen, now
51, recalling the overwhelming emotions she felt raising two adopted
daughters. They are now 20 and 17.
Family bills and laundry piled up. They were ignored.
Juggling her children's school, medical and recreational schedules
overwhelmed her.
Meal planning, even finding an item in the refrigerator, was a
frustrating chore.
If these problems sound familiar, you, like Matlen, may have AD/HD or
ADD, twin disorders known as Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
and Attention-Deficit Disorder.
Hyperactivity -- or a lack of inhibition -- is the hallmark symptom of
AD/HD, which is slightly more common in men.
Disorganization and inattentiveness are common symptoms of ADD --
AD/HD without hyperactivity -- which is more common in women.
Matlen, a licensed clinical social worker who runs an Internet-based
AD/HD-ADD consulting business from her Birmingham home
(www.addconsults.com), has amassed years of practical information in a
new book to help adult women with AD/HD and ADD overcome
procrastination, low self esteem, paperwork pile-up, household
malfunctions, meal planning chaos, shopping stress and more.
"Survival tips for Women with AD/HD: Beyond Piles, Palms & Post-Its"
(Specialty Press Inc., $17.95; www.addwarehouse.com) is a 336-page
resource guide. It addresses problems that too often are the undoing
of women whose brains are wired a little differently.
AD/HD-ADD experts William Barbaresi, a Mayo Clinic pediatrician in
Rochester, Minn., and Russell Barkley, a psychiatrist at the
University of Massachusetts Medical School, say at least 5 million
American women have AD/HD and ADD and millions more remain
undiagnosed. The surprise, they say, is that so many women continue to
struggle with the problem, never asking, never telling. For that
reason, women's AD/HD and ADD are often described as a "hidden
epidemic."
"I've been in this field a long time, and I can't find a better term
to describe all the women still hiding in the closet," says Matlen,
who is beginning a round of public speaking to promote her new book.
She will discuss survival tips for women with AD/HD and ADD at 7:30
p.m. Monday at Way Elementary School, 765 W. Long Lake Rd., West
Bloomfield.
She also will address the annual conference of the Attention Deficit
Disorder Association (ADDA) May 13 in Tucson, Ariz.
A life-changing moment
A talented musician and painter, Matlen has college degrees in art
education and clinical social work. But as a young mother, she was too
busy to take pride in those achievements. All she did was chide
herself for being a disorganized procrastinator.
At age 36, she acknowledged her own attention problems after her
younger daughter, Mackenzie, was diagnosed with AD/HD, one of several
problems that appeared after she developed seizures from a severe
reaction to childhood immunizations when she was 16 months old, Matlen
says.
Once Matlen owned up to her own ADD, "my whole life changed," she
says.
Helped by medicine and self-help groups, she became active in
southeast Michigan and national AD/HD-ADD groups, including the ADDA
and Children and Adults with ADD (CHADD). She now sits on the ADDA's
board of directors, is past coordinator of CHADD of Eastern Oakland
County and is busy with numerous special education groups in the
Birmingham area.
Dr. Joel Young, a Rochester Hills psychiatrist and adult-ADD
specialist, frequently refers clients to Matlen for organizational
help. He believes counseling compliments AD/HD-ADD medicines, which
now come in long-lasting doses and cause fewer side effects, such as
insomnia, he says.
"It's important to develop a support system and to delegate...," he
adds.
Matlen hires people to help her organize the chaos, as well as to help
with bigger challenges. Twice, she has hired professionals for jobs
like organizing the closet in her office. A cleaning crew arrives once
a week to pick up the piles in her household. She also employs a high
school senior as a companion for Mackenzie, a sophomore at
Birmingham's Groves High School, helping her with challenging
behavioral and cognitive problems.
Organizing and sharing
Matlen also recommends hiring one of the growing number of AD/HD-ADD
coaches who devise solutions to troublesome problems.
"It's sort of like having another brain," she says.
Her consulting business links people to these resources anywhere in
the world. She answers simple e-mails free, but charges $100 for more
in-depth consultations by telephone or e-mail. Often, one session is
enough, she says.
Part of the solution is getting family members and spouses to
understand that people with AD/HD and ADD have a brain disorder, a
delicate chemical imbalance in the brain that causes them to be the
way they are, she says.
"A lot of spouses feel angry and put out, because they feel it's
almost like having another child," she says. While men with AD/HD and
ADD sometimes hook up with detail-minded women or secretaries who
organize minutiae for them, women often are stuck with household
details that drive them crazy, she says.
"So much is expected of women in our society today," she says.
In her household, she and Jerry, her husband of nearly 27 years and an
orthopedic surgeon, divide responsibilities. He's the family's Mr. Fix
It, the breakfast maker and the one who picks up carryout meals. He's
also very organized, so he often tackles jobs such as figuring out a
better system for the home's laundry room. Other household duties fall
to her.
To cope with difficult chores, find understanding friends and barter
with them, exchanging work you loathe for chores you enjoy, Terry
Matlen says.
Also, learn to lower your expectations, she advises. She tries, for
example, to have a cleaner first floor in her house. She more readily
accepts a messy office upstairs.
Spending a few hours with her elicits other tips. She walks around her
home with a stenographer's notebook, jotting reminders about phone
messages, doctor appointments, book-related duties and other
responsibilities that might be forgotten.
She's big on calendars, chalkboards, plastic bins, index cards and
alarm clocks set as reminders to begin dinner or other chores.
A night owl, another typical ADD trait, she winds down with cable TV
shows on food and biographies.
"I'm evil in the morning," she says. "I call it morning psychosis."
Now free of self-loathing, Matlen appears wise, helpful and laid-back.
When daughter Mackenzie announces her presence with a loud, "I'm
home," Matlen only smiles.
Within minutes, spoons and two glasses are left in the once-clean
kitchen.
It's only a little clutter.
Matlen learned to live with that a long time ago.
Contact PATRICIA ANSTETT at 313-222-5021 or anstett@freepress.com.
