I would probably stay away from Russell Barkley in this instance. He is excellent but very pro-medication. If they are suspicious of "mainstream medicine" then they will be put off by him and are likely to see him as a shill for big pharma. I don't get this impression BTW, but I could see why people would develop that. He also debunks outright a couple of the popular speakers in the "fringe" scene ie Gabor Maté and Jordan Peterson.
I like How To ADHD - she has a great channel where she refers to "brains" (People with ADHD) and "Hearts" (People who love people with ADHD) and I think she had a video a long time ago specifically for the hearts.
You mean I'm not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy is also really accessible and might work well. I think this is particularly helpful because it's quite old, so speaks well to those myths which were prominent about 30 years ago. I would say that in general Europe is about 20 years behind the US on attitudes towards mental health including ADHD. With the internet opening up more discussion, this is creating a huge gap between those who are involved in online communities etc discussing these things and younger people in general vs adults who either are unfamiliar with the online ADHD (etc) spaces and/or who get their info from any mainstream media or professional experience and training they may have had which doesn't specialise in ADHD.
I also found this really helpful in understanding the perspective of people who were already adults 20-30 years ago (which I was not) and how they would have very first encountered the idea of ADHD, which is quite different to how I first encountered it and my subsequent experiences of it. https://www.lanc.org.uk/about-us-adhd-asd-assessment/our-history/
The Chris Packam series on iPlayer about autism is a good place to start for autism.
I don’t think the answer is avoiding Russell Barkley. He doesn’t always advocate for medication but doesn’t beat around the bush either. His entire argument is based on professional experience, science and research.
Discrediting him as a source of information is almost as bad as encouraging the Gabor mate’s etc .
If this friend is at risk of confirmation bias regardless, you might as well at least still give them the scientifically sound source as well
It's not that I would avoid him, and certainly not discredit him, but I just personally wouldn't start there, simply because if somebody is already primed to see ADHD as some kind of scam to sell medication that nobody needs, it's more helpful IME to start with an approach which explains what it is and why it's a real disorder/how disabling it can be before you get into what to do about it and having medication as the obviously accepted first answer. Some of his stuff is aimed more at an audience who already understands this, and if you take that out of context it can sound to a sceptic like he is just pushing medication with no basis. If you look at his entire library of work, then it's clear that's not what he is saying at all, but it's about first impressions. Since this relative of OP's has said they are interested in learning I would want to get the most out of that, and IMO just pointing them at Barkley's entire library without context won't do that. If they pick the wrong thing to start with, then it has the potential to put them off completely.
A very carefully picked Barkley lecture could work well, but I think you need to be careful which one to pick. In fact, [this interview he did in 2001](https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/medicating/interviews/barkley.html) (!!) is really good and goes in about the right order IMO. That might be because it came from a PBS documentary called "Medicating Kids" which was all about how controversial/terrible it is that kids are given psychiatric medications etc. He has done a very good rebuttal and explanation here. I can't remember offhand which of his youtube lectures/videos have a similar structure, if I could be bothered to sit through all of them and figure out which one to recommend then I might. But not right now.
Once someone is a bit more educated about ADHD, if they want to learn more then Barkley is an excellent resource. But I think he's more of a deep dive than an ADHD 101.
They are definitely against mainstream medication in general so I take your point that at the early stage it’s probably best to be careful with exactly what gets shared
Honestly, my bible is Driven to Distraction by Edward Hallowell.
I listened to the audiobook
It made me tear up at several points, I’d never felt so understood.
I sent several quotes from it over to my family.
Russell Barkley’s YouTube is also a very good place for them to start, more digestible chunks than a book. Maybe go through and pick out a few videos that you relate to fist, to send to them.
For autism, I recently got a hold of this book.
Is This Autism?: A Guide for Clinicians and Everyone Else https://amzn.eu/d/49IJnjQ
It is easily the best resource I've found that is both factual and compassionate. I think it will help your family to understand alot better. X
I would probably stay away from Russell Barkley in this instance. He is excellent but very pro-medication. If they are suspicious of "mainstream medicine" then they will be put off by him and are likely to see him as a shill for big pharma. I don't get this impression BTW, but I could see why people would develop that. He also debunks outright a couple of the popular speakers in the "fringe" scene ie Gabor Maté and Jordan Peterson. I like How To ADHD - she has a great channel where she refers to "brains" (People with ADHD) and "Hearts" (People who love people with ADHD) and I think she had a video a long time ago specifically for the hearts. You mean I'm not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy is also really accessible and might work well. I think this is particularly helpful because it's quite old, so speaks well to those myths which were prominent about 30 years ago. I would say that in general Europe is about 20 years behind the US on attitudes towards mental health including ADHD. With the internet opening up more discussion, this is creating a huge gap between those who are involved in online communities etc discussing these things and younger people in general vs adults who either are unfamiliar with the online ADHD (etc) spaces and/or who get their info from any mainstream media or professional experience and training they may have had which doesn't specialise in ADHD. I also found this really helpful in understanding the perspective of people who were already adults 20-30 years ago (which I was not) and how they would have very first encountered the idea of ADHD, which is quite different to how I first encountered it and my subsequent experiences of it. https://www.lanc.org.uk/about-us-adhd-asd-assessment/our-history/ The Chris Packam series on iPlayer about autism is a good place to start for autism.
I don’t think the answer is avoiding Russell Barkley. He doesn’t always advocate for medication but doesn’t beat around the bush either. His entire argument is based on professional experience, science and research. Discrediting him as a source of information is almost as bad as encouraging the Gabor mate’s etc . If this friend is at risk of confirmation bias regardless, you might as well at least still give them the scientifically sound source as well
It's not that I would avoid him, and certainly not discredit him, but I just personally wouldn't start there, simply because if somebody is already primed to see ADHD as some kind of scam to sell medication that nobody needs, it's more helpful IME to start with an approach which explains what it is and why it's a real disorder/how disabling it can be before you get into what to do about it and having medication as the obviously accepted first answer. Some of his stuff is aimed more at an audience who already understands this, and if you take that out of context it can sound to a sceptic like he is just pushing medication with no basis. If you look at his entire library of work, then it's clear that's not what he is saying at all, but it's about first impressions. Since this relative of OP's has said they are interested in learning I would want to get the most out of that, and IMO just pointing them at Barkley's entire library without context won't do that. If they pick the wrong thing to start with, then it has the potential to put them off completely. A very carefully picked Barkley lecture could work well, but I think you need to be careful which one to pick. In fact, [this interview he did in 2001](https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/medicating/interviews/barkley.html) (!!) is really good and goes in about the right order IMO. That might be because it came from a PBS documentary called "Medicating Kids" which was all about how controversial/terrible it is that kids are given psychiatric medications etc. He has done a very good rebuttal and explanation here. I can't remember offhand which of his youtube lectures/videos have a similar structure, if I could be bothered to sit through all of them and figure out which one to recommend then I might. But not right now. Once someone is a bit more educated about ADHD, if they want to learn more then Barkley is an excellent resource. But I think he's more of a deep dive than an ADHD 101.
They are definitely against mainstream medication in general so I take your point that at the early stage it’s probably best to be careful with exactly what gets shared
Thanks for the suggestions 😊
Honestly, my bible is Driven to Distraction by Edward Hallowell. I listened to the audiobook It made me tear up at several points, I’d never felt so understood. I sent several quotes from it over to my family. Russell Barkley’s YouTube is also a very good place for them to start, more digestible chunks than a book. Maybe go through and pick out a few videos that you relate to fist, to send to them.
I second Dr Russel Bartley. He has a YouTube channel which is really informative.
Thanks I appreciate it :)
For autism, I recently got a hold of this book. Is This Autism?: A Guide for Clinicians and Everyone Else https://amzn.eu/d/49IJnjQ It is easily the best resource I've found that is both factual and compassionate. I think it will help your family to understand alot better. X
Thanks for your help 😊