🎯Three Content Types · One Force Field
Every square belongs to one of three content types — not three levels you climb. Track progress in your Course and Skills Lab.
📘 Learn It Content type
Concepts to absorb.
🛠 Live It Content type
Daily skills and habits.
📣 Share It Content type
Teach, advocate, carry forward.
🛡️Your Force Field — 16 Squares
Deeper detail lives in the Prepared Patient ADHD course.
What ADHD Actually Is
Neurodevelopmental difference in attention, impulse, executive function. Brain-based, treatable.
Learn ItWhy Stimulants Work
Boost dopamine/norepinephrine. Best evidence base in psychiatry.
Learn ItRed Flags
Stimulant CV reaction · severe insomnia · suicidality · medication misuse.
Learn ItTriggers
Sleep loss, stress, lost structure, alcohol, untreated thyroid.
Learn ItADHD Types
Inattentive, hyperactive, combined. Adult presentation often inattentive.
Learn ItMed Discipline
Take as prescribed. Don't crush extended-release. Refill on time.
Live ItTime + Tools
External structure: calendars, reminders, timers, body doubling.
Live ItSleep Hygiene
Sleep loss looks like worsening ADHD. Treat sleep first.
Live ItCaffeine + Alcohol
Caffeine helps some. Alcohol disrupts everything. Know your limits.
Live ItMake Every Visit Count
Bring symptom diary, sleep, side effects, life stressors.
Live ItYour Care Team
Psychiatrist or PCP, therapist, ADHD coach, sometimes neuropsychology.
Live ItApps + Tools
Time-blocking apps, focus apps (Forest), reminders, body-doubling sessions.
Live ItInsurance + Cost
Most meds generic. Stimulants need monthly Rx. Plan for shortages.
Live ItTeach & Mentor
Late-diagnosed adults are everywhere. Your story helps them find treatment.
Share ItFight Stigma
ADHD is real. Treatment works. End the moral framing.
Share ItResearch & Trials
Better delivery systems, non-stimulant options, executive-function training.
Share ItThree things to learn before you actually need them.
Workflow lives in the Prepared Visit Tool. Trackers in your Course.
Which door do I use?
ADHD itself isn’t an emergency. The ladder catches co-occurring conditions and medication issues.
Handle at home
- Stable on your meds and routines
- Manageable focus and follow-through
- Sleep okay
Log it. ADHD systems work when you use them consistently.
Call the office / message the portal
- Med refill issues (Schedule II shortages are common)
- New side effect
- Sleep collapse, mood drop
- Major life transition disrupting routines
Same day. Stimulant supply chains are unreliable; plan ahead.
Urgent / Acute care
- Stimulant cardiovascular side effects (palpitations, BP up)
- Severe insomnia from meds
- Co-occurring depression or anxiety flare
- Substance use as coping
Urgent care or psychiatry urgent slot.
ER NOW / call 911
- Severe stimulant reaction — chest pain, severe anxiety, dangerously high BP
- Suicidal thoughts with plan — call 988
- Psychotic symptoms
- Severe medication overdose (accidental or intentional)
Call 911 or 988. ADHD has higher suicide risk in undertreated patients.
How to describe a new symptom in 30 seconds
What is it?
Plain words.
How bad?
0-10.
When did it start?
Time + what you were doing.
What made it worse?
Movement · food · meds.
What helped?
Even a little.
What else was new?
Fever · med · supplement · stress. The forgotten detail often shifts the diagnosis.
“Focus has collapsed for 2 weeks, a 7, started after my Adderall prescription got delayed at the pharmacy, sleep also disrupted, switching to non-stimulant tools helps a little, and I started a stressful project at work the same week.”
Questions worth asking
Four for every patient, every condition, every visit:
- “Could this be a side effect of one of my medications, a supplement, or something else I’m doing — and should we change that?”
- “Would any non-drug therapy help — physical therapy, meditation, rest, ice or heat?”
- “If I can’t afford this medication or this test, can we talk about samples, alternatives, or a social worker who can help?”
- “What should I be watching for between now and my next visit — and when do I handle it myself, when do I call your office, when do I go to urgent care, and when do I go to the ER?”
Questions specifically for ADHD:
- “Is my stimulant dose still right — or should we try a different formulation or non-stimulant?”
- “Could I have co-occurring anxiety, depression, autism, or learning differences?”
- “What ADHD coaching or therapy modalities would help — CBT, ACT, executive-function coaching?”
- “What workplace and school accommodations am I entitled to?”
- “What’s our plan if my medication is in shortage — how do we ensure continuity?”