Focused Forward

Living with adult ADHD can feel like you’re in a constant battle with your brain. Every day, you have to fight to stay in control, to meet your obligations, to not screw up – forget actually living up to your potential. But what you might not know about, and what’s even more damaging, is the constant, corrosive emotional stress of a lifetime spent wondering what the hell is wrong with you. In Focused Forward: Navigating the Storms of Adult ADHD, author and self—proclaimed “ADHD-er” James M. Ochoa, LPC goes beyond the management and scheduling techniques most ADHD books focus on to deal with what really holds so many ADHD-ers back – the emotional fallout of ADHD. He helps readers identify, manage and alleviate symptoms of a PTSD-like condition he calls the Emotional Distress Syndrome, with practical, proven advice including: • Understanding the link between ADHD and emotional distress • What Emotional Distress Syndrome (“EDS”) feels like • How to construct an Emotional Safe Place • How to recruit your own Mental Support Group • Eight essential tools to help you cope • And more… With wisdom, humor, and plenty of (sometimes painful) empathy, Focused Forward will help adults with ADHD move past the pain and shame toward a future full of possibility, balance and joy.

James Ochoa, a native Texan and Licensed Professional Counselor, is a therapist, writer and speaker who investigates the conundrums, challenges and rewards of adult ADHD—all of which he’s experienced first-hand, being a diagnosed “ADHD-er” himself. He is founder and director of the Life Empowerment Center in Austin, Texas, where he sees clients in group and private sessions and offers trainings for his peers in the mental health world. Equally grounded in neuroscience and intuition, his personal brand of therapy is uniquely empathetic, often transformative. He lives in Austin with his wife Edie Vitemb and their dog Taz, a rescued brindled mix breed. They have two sons, Gabe and Jules.