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Using Your Mind, Body, and Spirit (and Sometimes Medication) to Manage Your ADHD
“Kids cannot play to win all the time. There are times when you play to win, times when you play not to lose, times when you just play for fun, and times when you choose not to play.”
— Dr. Sarah Cheyette, Pediatric Neurologist
Sarah Cheyette is a pediatric neurologist—a doctor who specializes in brains. She loves treating ADHD patients because it is so rewarding to make interventions that can change a trajectory toward success.
She brings a powerful professional perspective on the benefits and limitations of ADHD medication and the many behavioral adaptations people with ADHD must embrace to thrive with their condition. She developed techniques for changing mindset and behavior in ADHD involving simple, powerful concepts based on the athletic mindset and training. Just as athletes improve their athletic skills through proper coaching and training, parents can learn similar techniques to help “coach” their children through challenges.
Both ADHDers and athletes need to identify challenges, set goals, learn to deal with setbacks and work hard. A person with ADHD who does this can break away from a cycle of underachievement or outright failure to become a world-class success story!
Anybody with ADHD can improve their ability to focus, reduce their tendency to procrastinate, and cultivate their planning skills by developing this mindset regardless of their level of interest in sports or prior experiences in athletics.
Sarah Cheyette graduated cum laude in Cognitive Neuroscience from Princeton University and received her medical degree from the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. Following specialty training in pediatrics at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and in pediatric neurology at Seattle Children’s Hospital, she recently practiced at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, where she focused on treating ADHD in both children and adults.
For the last 5 years, she has been a “Top Doctor” in San Francisco magazine.
She has written three books on ADHD, which explain its common behavioral symptoms, the biology behind it, and what research has revealed about it – as well as issues faced by parents when considering prescription medications and other treatment approaches.
Dr. Cheyette treats people with ADHD with medication and non-medication strategies such as those outlined in her three books:
- ADHD and the Focused Mind (co-written with a karate master, Peter Johnson, and her husband, a psychiatrist Ben Cheyette, MD/PhD)
- Winning with ADHD aimed at preteens, teens, and young adults (co-written with Grace Friedman, a young woman who deals successfully with ADHD herself)
- ADHD & Me for children learning about ADHD.
She and her husband, Benjamin, have four kids and live in the San Francisco Bay Area.
She also maintains are regularly contributes to the Blog on Psychology Today