This Explains So Much: Understanding Undiagnosed ADHD by Jami Shapiro with Vicki Armel; self-published © 2025; ISBN 9798267-007832; 175 pages plus appendices; $19.95.
SAN DIEGO — Generations of Jewish San Diegan Jami Shapiro’s family have Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder [ADHD]. The disorder sets ADHDers apart from the neurotypical population in positive and negative ways.
The positive aspects of ADHD include creativity and problem-solving ability. The negative aspects include hyperactivity — remember the grade schooler who always talked out in class? — and inattentiveness to the mundane requirements of daily living.
The ability to hyperfocus on one subject is both a strength and a weakness. It is a strength if it leads to something productive; a weakness if it causes ADHDers to fritter away their time.
Shapiro hyperfocused on ADHD itself. She identified typical manifestations and work-arounds for some behaviors that are negative such as extreme cluttering in the home. The result of her single-mindedness is this book with an unorthodox title: This Explains So Much: Understanding Undiagnosed ADHD.
The author lists 90 traits or behaviors that ADHDers may manifest. Of these, she gives special attention to cluttering and to time blindness.
About cluttering, she writes: “One look at my bedroom as a teenager would have given it away. Clothes everywhere, books scattered about, and a narrow pathway from the door to my bed — this was also the only floor space visible.”
Among her suggestions for decluttering: “Visualize a family whose home has just burned down. Anything you would be willing to give them, consider letting go of.”
Another tip: “If you haven’t used it in two years and no one in your family wants it, perhaps you don’t really need to hold onto it.’
On time management, “Our two times, “now and not now,” mean we focus on what we are doing in that moment and all else seems to fall away.”
Her suggestion: “Because I am aware of my hyper-focus tendencies, if I know I am going to start a project and I will need to be somewhere … I will set my watch-timer to allow plenty of time to stop, get ready and get to my destination before I engage in the activity.”
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Donald H. Harrison is publisher and editor of San Diego Jewish World.
Thank you for taking the time to read and share my book with the San Diego Jewish Community. This is a topic which needs to receive a lot more attention as understanding its impact is life changing for entire families.