Once again, lots to report here at The Attention Doctor.

This Thursday evening we are having our musical book party from 6-10:30 at Rose Live on Grand Street in Williamsburg. There will be an open bar from 6-7, free food and music all night, and free copies of Getting Unstuck for the first 350 people who trade us their email addresses. Rather than the chatty little book/cocktail party that one might imagine for an intimate self published effort such as ours, we thought it would be fun to try networking with some of our musical friends, especially since our real goal here is to jump start the group therapy program. If you are lucky enough to be able to attend, you will be hearing the work of three really fine musicians: Jon Hildenstein, William Beaufort, and Tim Nayfield. I can’t thank these guys enough for coming down to help us spread the word into the Greenpoint-Williamburg community about the innovative programs we are working to set up. 

It is therefore all the more lovely to be able to say that last week we began the first “Getting Unstuck” group. We met for the first time on Wednesday evening, eight adults with ADD, many of whom have been treated for or are being treated for depression, most of whom feel stuck in one way or another. We began by exploring a range of meditation hypnosis and awareness exercises. In the coming weeks we will be building on these experiences to create tools for focus, for relaxation, for inner exploration, and for the healing of trauma. 

It is difficult to put across in a blog entry how exciting this is for all of us around here; it’s taken us four and a half years from the completion of the manuscript in June 2004 to bring these ideas and programs to market. Now that we have begun, we are anxious to keep going. 

Our most immediate goal is to set up a second group, this one to be held in our Greenpoint offices on Thursday evenings. Our hope is to have this up and running by mid February, the 19^th or the 26^th if we can. If you are interested in this at all, just prowl around our website a bit and you’ll find more info. 

As soon as we get that group going, our next project will be to run a daytime group for artists, writers, and musicians on Fridays. We are certain that there are large numbers of creative individuals in our community, painters, photographers, sculptors, filmmakers, musicians, and writers of all stripes, who deal with issues of depression and attention on a regular basis. By late spring/early summer, we intend to have started a series of groups that will be specially directed to our unique and vibrant community. 

Over the past few months articles have appeared here about bipolar illness, about anxiety in ADD, and about what you should learn about depression in a psychiatrist’s office. The next article in this series will be about trauma, dissociation, and procrastination in ADD. Look for it soon, and, if you haven’t already, please join our mailing list. Ask your friends to join, too. Only through this kind of e-commerce social networking approach are we able to tackle the usually insurmountable logistical issues that have prevented the routine use of the group setting despite its proven usefulness. Please join with us in developing a community that is large enough and organized enough to create the mental health tools our community requires. 

Thank you very much.