Welcome to the online press kit for Dr. John Kruse

Americans facing the myriad distractions of modern life might be tempted to make light of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder as an explanation for our frantic, fragmented focus – as a nation and as individuals. But adult ADHD is a serious condition that, left untreated, can derail careers, destroy relationships, damage self-esteem, and even kill people.

Too often, we don’t recognize it and thus can’t treat it effectively. Dr. John Kruse has set out to change that with his provocative new book, “Recognizing Adult ADHD: What Donald Trump Can Teach Us About Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.”

“Donald Trump exemplifies this issue – he walks like a duck, talks like a duck, and even tweets like a duck – so why do we duck the issue and avoid talking about his ADHD?” Dr. Kruse asks.

With a doctorate degree in basic neuroscience and an active psychiatric practice, Dr. Kruse throws cold water on the “Goldwater rule” which prohibits psychiatrists from giving professional opinions about public figures without personally conducting an examination. The president, he says, embodies a condition that affects millions of Americans, yet is poorly understood and often undiagnosed.

“I have been a psychiatrist for 25 years, treating people with both medications and psychotherapy, with a focus on adults with ADHD,” he says. “Even decades after psychiatry and society realized that adults can have ADHD, I still see patients, month after month, who have suffered for years without an accurate diagnosis of their ADHD.”

Some topics Dr. Kruse can discuss include:

* What is Adult ADHD? When Dr. Kruse began practicing 25 years ago, “it was not accepted that ADHD even occurred in adults.” Today we know that 4.4 percent of the adult US population has ADHD and 41.3 percent of those cases are considered severe. Yet only half of those individuals seek help. One reason: “All of the symptoms of ADHD are symptoms that virtually all of us have at least occasionally,” Dr. Kruse says.

* Adult ADHD Isn’t Fake News: People with ADHD are two or three times more likely to be involved in serious car accidents, to be incarcerated, and to get divorced (if they marry) than the general population. They are less likely to finish school or college, have substantially reduced lifetime earnings, and higher mortality rates. “This is really something that destroys jobs, destroys relationships, and kills people,” Dr. Kruse says. “This is not something trivial.”

* Symptoms of Adult ADHD: People with more severe adult ADHD experience distress or dysfunction over time, in more than one context. “It’s not just in the classroom. It's not just in the work. It's not just in the family setting. It's in a multitude of settings.” Dr. Kruse explains some of the signs that a person may have undiagnosed ADHD.

* Donald Trump: Poster Child and Reflection of America’s ADHD: President Trump, Dr. Kruse says, is “the poster boy for unrecognized, unacknowledged ADHD.” Through his frequent tweets and unorthodox behavior, “he is feeding the ADHD of society and also a product of it.” Trump also reflecs a distracted and over-stimulated society trying to make sense of information overload. “In our information-driven society, we've created the environment to have leaders like this,” he says.

Dr. Kruse wrote his book, he says, “to help people who might not otherwise be thinking about ADHD, to consider whether it pertains to them or someone important in their life.” He also aims to “help make President Trump's erratic behavior more understandable” and explain “why we bother to make diagnoses and why psychiatry exists.”

His ultimate goal, he says, is to “deepen our understanding of, and empathy for, those individuals with the complex and potentially disabling condition of adult ADHD.

“Millions have it, millions more are affected by the individuals with ADHD in their lives, and our whole society is becoming more ADHD-like,” he says. “So we all need to become more prepared by understanding what ADHD is and how to cope with its intrusion into our lives.”

Download Dr. John Kruse’s One Pager.

PRESS RELEASE 9/4/19 - Dr. John Kruse Holds Bay Area Book Event

For more information, please visit www.drjohnkruse.com.