In important, good news -- New York will no longer include questions about mental health on its bar application, removing a significant obstacle to valuable treatment. New York has joined a trend among states to follow the long-standing leadership of…
Law students with visible or invisible disabilities, who navigate their law school years successfully through reasonable accommodations, face the new challenge of transitioning and negotiating reasonable accommodations from academia to the workplace. . . . A post on…
November is National Career Development Month. Developing a career as a lawyer is one of the most difficult professional paths, with intellectual and emotional challenges evolving along the way. Make sure you're aware of common risks in the legal profession…
October is ADHD Awareness Month. Struggling with priorities is just one of many symptoms -- and is worth attention regardless of a diagnosis. Our organization has been answering questions about lawyer well-being since 1978. In our Q+A blog post series,…
October 10th is World Mental Health Day and Law Student Mental Health Day. The legal profession is uniquely challenging to mental health -- law students, lawyers, and judges need to know how to find the right help. Highlighting the importance…
Whether you experience symptoms of ADD or ADHD with or without a diagnosis, here's advice to keep challenges in check and optimize your abilities. Most people see ADD/ADHD as an obstacle to overcome. In my work as a psychologist, most…
In this 33-minute installment of Webinars for Busy Lawyers, Dr. Sarah Reiff-Hekking shares her system for getting control over your life as a lawyer back from the force of procrastination. You can watch the full webinar on demand here. Find more…
Much research has been conducted to examine the effects of meditation from reducing anxiety, increasing attention, and slowing down the aging process on your brain. In a nutshell, meditation can be an effective practice. And while meditation might not be recommended for everyone, the usefulness of meditation can be wide reaching. So, let’s assume that you have read a meta-analysis on the effectiveness of meditation programs and decided that meditation might be helpful to you in your management of anxiety, stress, attention, and so on. Now what?
In keeping with October’s theme of ADHD Awareness Month, we decided to interview our very own Executive Director of LCL, Anna Levine.
LCL: When did you know you had ADHD?
Anna Levine, Esq.: I’m not sure. I always knew it was difficult for me to sit still or to listen without interrupting, but I did not know necessarily there was a name for it. I just thought I was weird, and maybe also that I was inferior to my peers. Because my ADHD expresses itself in impulsive behaviors like excessive talking, I felt like I was weak, like somehow the reason I could not be quieter was because I somehow had less discipline or will power than my quieter classmates or colleagues. It was not until my late thirties or early forties (after I felt that my ADHD was impacting my work performance and after dealing with a child who has ADHD) that I decided to seek out a diagnosis. By the time I had made that decision, I had already done a fair amount of research on ADHD and had taken multiple self-assessments, I was certain that I had ADHD. Getting the diagnosis was just a formality, a confirmation of a conclusion I had already reached myself.
October is ADHD Awareness month. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is present in about 4-5% of adults. Those dealing with ADHD have a range of experiences, but many encounter difficulty concentrating at times, become overly focused on specific things at other times, struggle to complete work on time, have organizational issues, find it difficult to follow directions to their completion, and exhibit impulsivity. These (and other) symptoms have a real effect on professional functioning, personal relationships, and emotional well-being. And while most people talk about ADHD as a hurdle to overcome, there are also many people who look to the advantages of ADHD as tools for success. Here are a few such examples, a podcast and an article.