The Queen of Distraction cover art

The Queen of Distraction

How Women with ADHD Can Conquer Chaos, Find Focus, and Get More Done

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The Queen of Distraction

By: Terry Matlen MSW
Narrated by: Randye Kaye
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About this listen

Do you rule the realm of disorganization, clutter, and chaos? Are you constantly battling to get things done? Are you ready to give up and toss your day planner into the dungeon (otherwise known as your closet)? If so, you might just be The Queen of Distraction. And whether or not you've been formally diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), you probably already know that something's got to give.

The Queen of Distraction presents practical skills to help women with ADHD achieve focus and balance in all areas of life, whether it's at home, at work, or in relationships. Psychotherapist Terry Matlen delves into the feminine side of ADHD, discussing the elements of this condition that are particular to women, such as relationships, skin sensitivities, meal planning, parenting, and dealing with out-of-control hormones. In addition this audiobook offers helpful tips and strategies to get your symptoms under control and outlines a number of effective treatment options for you to pursue.

©2014 Terry Matlen (P)2015 Tantor Attention Deficit Disorders Mental Health Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Special Need Health Decluttering Add For Woman

Critic Reviews

"[T]his work is helpful for regaining focus and control over the events of everyday." ( Library Journal)
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This read like a collection of blogs, quick and easy, not a lot of depth. There were some good tips though. Narrator was highly irritating, she sounded like she was smirking the whole time!!

Very basic but lots of good simple tips

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The intention behind the book is good and I am sure for some a lot of the information would be useful. However, as a woman in her 50s with grown children and grandchildren I did not need this kind of tutorial. I found it almost dumbing. But I am also aware everyone is affected differently. I did find a few useful tips and some great identifying of issues or sensitivities. I don't think the repetitiveness of placing her website was necessary and in fact found it ultra annoying to the point I will probably never go to the website as part of my natural rebellion. But that is me and I'm probably going to miss out by not going there but that is part of my problem. Index cards are a thing of the past and you still need to remember to look at them. But you did reaffirm the diagnosis that I have chosen to ignore until now when my hormone changes have made it too hard to ignore. Thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge.

Good for younger ADHD mums

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Helpful content except I was annoyed and incensed by the reading out loud of endless web addresses, nobody wants to hear ‘double you double you double you back slash back slash’ etc etc

Worth reading

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Wonderful book. Insightful and great eye opener to how ADHD affects women across their lifetime. Some references were dated, but still worth it.
Read quickly and without much nuance so i had to slow down to 0.9 speed to really understand.

Great information

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I was recently diagnosed (at 40yo) with ADHD and this book has lots of relevant info, tips and case studies to help me not only become aware of my behaviour and accept it's a significant medical disorder that NEEDS interventions and accommodations just as much as other conditions like diabetes or athsma, but also acknowledge the strengths it brings: our creative and passionate tendencies that shine through when we engage in things that interest us and feed us with much-craved dopamine!

Terry reminds us that we aren't broken, and that we can live lives just as full and accomplished as we want - provided we show ourselves compassion and patience. She covers everything from the basics of ADHD such as how it affects the brain and its relationship with the gut as well as life/hormonal phases (from childhood to menopause) in a way that's easily digestible for the average woman.

TQOD contains many helpful hints for adopting routine, habits and suggestions for many workarounds from routine, habits and maintaining your home, managing your career and education, sports, puberty, child-bearing and menopause. I've already developed many of my own over time to "fit in" - many which have placed me ahead of my peers, but Terry's also taught me many I've never considered, which I think would be very helpful and easy to implement.

I highly recommend this book - especially if you've recently been diagnosed or even if you haven't, and feel that there's more to living than just getting through the day, or you know somebody who has ADHD and want to understand them and their needs better.

Whether or not you have ADHD this book has lots to teach you about self compassion and making life easier for yourself.

Great Book!

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Some useful ideas, of course every point can be relevant for everyone
Was a little too focused on hard-copy paper based solutions - I guess things have changed since 2014!

Useful

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Slightly outdated but still useful. Picked up a few tips and the accounts of women with ADHD were interesting.

Worth reading

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A really helpful book, particularly with understanding how hormones affect ADHD. The tips on relationships were said in a way that made them worth focusing on and more easy to remember.

Practical tips

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I really disliked the narration on this one, sounded robotic. No pauses between sentences, just rolled on and on with what was common sense advice. Banal. Ironic as its aimed at the reader with Adhd, certainly didn't hold my attention.

Narration tough

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There are some good ideas in here that would last 3 days at best for an ADHD person. It's basically a list of organisation systems (which ADHD people can come up with 15 versions of in a week) which require routined daily maintenance, (notoriously extremely difficult for ADHD people!), & are fussy & excessive (which means you'll run out of "spoons" before you even finish setting them up). I couldn't finish it because I was so irritated. It should be called, "Neurotypical Systems for Organising Your Home Which You Won't Even Manage to Finish Setting Up, Let Alone Maintain, If You Have ADHD". I'm sorry, but it's a nope from me. There are so many of these books and I keep wasting money & time on them because they all profess to be different from all the other books about organising your life with ADHD, & they're never different. If you want to experience the rage you feel with a non ND person tells you to "just keep a diary", or "do a little bit every day to avoid overwhelm", go ahead and get this.

Another disappointing book telling ADHD people to organise their lives in ways that work for neurotypical people.

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