Group Support and Treatment for ADD/ADHD

• Understand the features of AD/HD in adults from the perspective of the treating clinician.
  
• Know the comorbidities commonly associated with adult AD/HD.
  
• Learn how to make group work with persons with adult AD/HD relevant to the problems, characteristics, and common comorbidities of AD/HD.
  
• Become familiar with self help group formats that persons with AD/HD are using to help them cope with AD/HD.
  
• Also become familiar with informal or less structured group formats that can be conducted or facilitated by a clinician, and what roles a clinician can play in such a group.
  
• Acquire a general understanding of the structured psychoeducational approach to group work, its origins, and its use with AD/HD.
  
• Review less well-understood topics that can contribute to group work with persons with AD/HD.
  
• Have access to a variety of resources for adult AD/HD, including a number of affordable books that provide detailed instruction and materials for conducting structured psychoeducational groups, some of which are specifically designed for group work with adults with AD/HD.

Overview

This course prepares the clinician to offer groups for adults with AD/HD. It begins with the section Adults with AD/HD, acquainting the participant with key characteristics of adults with AD/HD that cause them to seek treatment or support. In the section Clinical Challenges and Opportunities, the course introduces the reader to a clinical challenges in working with AD/HD, and frames them in terms of group work. The sections Less Formal Groups and Online Forums discuss the benefits and considerations of offering groups that are less demanding of clients than fully structured therapy and psychoeducation groups. It also includes a discussion of support groups, including those based on the Twelve Step approach, that can be found in many communities. The final section, Psychotherapy Groups offers the structured psychosocial education approach, an approach that can be used as a stand alone program or integrated with broader psychotherapy. This section includes a listing of modules and provides resources for learning and applying this approach.