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Woman Explains What It Actually Means To Have ADHD In Hopes Of Eliminating Misinterpretations
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD for short, is one of the most common neurobehavioral disorders among children. While it is usually first diagnosed in childhood, the disorder often lasts into adulthood. ADHD is characterized by having trouble paying attention, controlling impulsive behaviors, and being overly active. However, as it appears, there’s way more than just that.
Symptoms of ADHD, according to the NHS, can be categorized into two types of behavioral problems: inattentiveness; and hyperactivity and impulsiveness. As mental health experts explain, most people with this disorder fall into both of these categories. However, it’s not the same for all. For instance, some people may struggle with inattentiveness while not having problems with impulsiveness or hyperactivity. This is what psychiatrists call a form of ADHD that is also known as attention deficit disorder (ADD). Sometimes, as the symptoms of ADD can be less obvious, this disorder can go unnoticed.
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One person on Twitter explained how complex attention deficit hyperactivity disorder really is
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Apparently, most of us without the disorder have a hard time understanding the true complexity of it. One Twitter user has recently gone on a rant about common misconceptions about ADHD.
For this person, one of the most serious issues is a lack of recognition and consideration that ADHD is a learning disability. “Start normalizing recognizing ADHD as a serious learning disability that includes sensitivities to light & sound, depression, maladaptive daydreaming, not reading social cues, fidgeting and restlessness, not being able to do anything for no apparent reason,” they write.
“Start normalizing recognizing ADHD as a serious learning disability”
Image credits: leah_666666
Image credits: leah_666666
Image credits: leah_666666
Image credits: leah_666666
The social media user went on to explain that other characteristics fall into the disorder as well. They expressed that having a hard time with mental math and math in general is common too, among other things.
The Twitter user pointed out how tired they are of people thinking of it as being “distracted by a bird… oh look, a butterfly! Oh my god, my leg is bouncing so fast! Wow.”
“People who have ADHD have complex problems that come with this disorder,” they added.
Seemingly, health officials agree that ADHD should be considered a serious disability. In a book named “ADHD: What Every Parent Needs to Know,” the authors argue: “His or her hyperactivity and/or inattentiveness constitute a real day-to-day functional disability. That is, it seriously and consistently impedes the ability to succeed at school, fit into family routines, follow household rules, maintain friendships, interact positively with family members, avoid injury, or otherwise manage in his or her environment.”
Here’s what other people had to add to the now-viral thread
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🌺🍍🌼🌻🌼🍍🌺 5 years ago
this is going to be an unpopular opinion, sorry, but I have adhd, and I think people recognizing that this can be a serious disability for others, but for people like me who have a pretty mild case and take low doses of meds, people are starting to look at all of us and saying "oh they're all basically autistic" it can be kind of hurtful for everyone to think you "basically" have another disorder. my dad looks at me different since I was diagnosed 6 years ago because he's not as woke as my mom and thinks that I have something wrong with me, and these articles dont help out. sorry all of you who do have bigger cases or have adhd and autism if i've offended you. I respect all of you.
Kim 5 years ago
ADHD and autism are completely different diagnoses, so you’re not wrong. 👍🏼 I’m a medical student (with ADHD) and the more I look in to it, the less these two diagnoses have in common. They’re barely even cousins on the psychiatric spectrum.
Load More Replies...
Astrid Nineor 5 years ago
The sensitivity to light and sound is maddening. I sometimes genuinely feel like I am losing my mind, as I cannot filter out / ignore background noise.
A Dumbo Octopus 5 years ago
I have both Autism and ADHD, the stimulation stuff is insanity. I both need stimulation and hate stimulation. I gotta send this to my mom..
ThatKidJack 5 years ago
Might I say, Aspergers is a nice kind on the spectrum. Even though there's almost no social interaction, it's nice to not have people that bother you. Though in the high school years you realize how lonely you are and try to get some, but everyone makes fun of you for your "preschool behavior" and then you just end up in a downwards spiral into depression...
Load More Replies...
Kim 5 years ago (edited)
Also, symptoms like not being able to read social cues, being bad at math, opposition to authority and only eating foods you like - are NOT part of an official ADHD diagnosis. Don’t spread more lies than what already goes around about ADHD. And ADHD and autism are completely different. They’re on different genes in the DNA, have different causes, affect the brain differently — autism is in how the brain is structured and I based on specific functions of the brain being underdeveloped, while ADHD doesn’t affect the brains development but it causes an imbalance between different consecutive functions. That’s also why medication is often so successful with ADHD because it stabilized the release and absorption of dopamine, making you feel more motivated and makes it easier to collect your thoughts enough to be able to focus. //Medical student with ADHD.
Fixin'Ta 5 years ago
Thank you. I found most of those "symptoms" of ADHD to not be me at all. No trouble reading social cues. Not super oppositional to authority (in fact, I appreciate authority although I often question it once I have it, but that's an Enneagram Six). A lot of people don't eat foods they don't like. I suck at math, but that's the only one of these that fits me. I also don't fixate on objects in the store and "have to have them". I don't "fixate" in general, but I can definitely hyperfocus or get obsessed by things I'm interested in. I feel like there's a large percentage of the autism scale folks who also maybe have ADHD who are far too into conflating the two things. Plus, as I mentioned in another comment, we're all different people and the way things manifest in one person will not be identical to another person. I'm glad people are finding community, but let's be careful not to exclude the folks who are ADHD in a different way than "ADHD/autism influencers".
Load More Replies... Kim 5 years ago
And depression isn’t a symptom, it’s a disorder and even though it’s fairly common for people with ADHD to develop depression as a response to struggling in life and lacking support, it has nothing to do with ADHD as a medical diagnosis.
Crazydoglady 5 years ago
Anxiety and depression are common secondary disorders. Meaning the person develops either one as a coping mechanism for their ADHD. I have pretty mid-range ADHD and throughout my life have struggled with anxiety and depression.
Load More Replies...
Lucille McGillicuddy 5 years ago (edited)
When I try to express how hard something is to someone, like I say I have a very hard time doing this due to my ADD, they just go: "Everyone gets distracted, you just need to focus harder, I get really distracted too." Like...no! Of course everyone gets distracted, and I am by no means dissing other people's problems, but don't tell me I'm not actually ADD because you get distracted by stuff too, and you're not ADD.
Viviane 5 years ago
The sensitivity... Oh man, I ended up in tears at the office on December 24th. Deadline looming and employees' kids running around - but the adults constantly wishing me a happy holiday while I'm trying to focus... Thank goodness some of my colleagues were sympathetic when I lost it.
Kim 5 years ago (edited)
💙 https://youtu.be/iozAFIr3BEw 💙 I can really recommend this channel on YouTube to anybody who wants to learn more deeply about ADHD/ADD. Since this post potentially only made it worse when they started to confuse autism in to mess.
Spikey Bunny 5 years ago
That was the single best ADHD/ADD video I've ever seen!!! Thank You!!!!!
Load More Replies... Melissa Hammond 5 years ago
Anyway, I've been weird all my life. I grew up socially isolated. I don't have very many friends, but I'll help anyone.I don't know all the rules about what people do, and why. I don't understand them. Like, how to flirt. If anybody asks a question, I think they want an answer. I seem incapable of not answering a question, with complete honesty. My mom says, I'm brutally honest. I don't understand lying, and why people do it. But, my mom, and my sister won't have anything to do with me, now. I'm embarrassing in public, they say. It's maddening to them to take me places. I don't have a car, so I walk everywhere, now. I guess I wore them out. It's a struggle for me, everyday.to do what others seem to do with ease. I get so overwhelmed, I can't think, and I go into shut down mode. I'll have a headache, and be very tired and have to sleep when I get home, sometimes. But, yet, I graduated from a two year college's L.V.N program Magna Cum Laude. I was in National Honor Society all 4 years of
Billie Templeton 5 years ago
Thank you for a post that will help people to be gentler with themselves, kinder to others, and more understanding and compassionate in general. Win. Win.
🌺🍍🌼🌻🌼🍍🌺 5 years ago
this is going to be an unpopular opinion, sorry, but I have adhd, and I think people recognizing that this can be a serious disability for others, but for people like me who have a pretty mild case and take low doses of meds, people are starting to look at all of us and saying "oh they're all basically autistic" it can be kind of hurtful for everyone to think you "basically" have another disorder. my dad looks at me different since I was diagnosed 6 years ago because he's not as woke as my mom and thinks that I have something wrong with me, and these articles dont help out. sorry all of you who do have bigger cases or have adhd and autism if i've offended you. I respect all of you.
Kim 5 years ago
ADHD and autism are completely different diagnoses, so you’re not wrong. 👍🏼 I’m a medical student (with ADHD) and the more I look in to it, the less these two diagnoses have in common. They’re barely even cousins on the psychiatric spectrum.
Load More Replies... Astrid Nineor 5 years ago
The sensitivity to light and sound is maddening. I sometimes genuinely feel like I am losing my mind, as I cannot filter out / ignore background noise.
A Dumbo Octopus 5 years ago
I have both Autism and ADHD, the stimulation stuff is insanity. I both need stimulation and hate stimulation. I gotta send this to my mom..
ThatKidJack 5 years ago
Might I say, Aspergers is a nice kind on the spectrum. Even though there's almost no social interaction, it's nice to not have people that bother you. Though in the high school years you realize how lonely you are and try to get some, but everyone makes fun of you for your "preschool behavior" and then you just end up in a downwards spiral into depression...
Load More Replies... Kim 5 years ago (edited)
Also, symptoms like not being able to read social cues, being bad at math, opposition to authority and only eating foods you like - are NOT part of an official ADHD diagnosis. Don’t spread more lies than what already goes around about ADHD. And ADHD and autism are completely different. They’re on different genes in the DNA, have different causes, affect the brain differently — autism is in how the brain is structured and I based on specific functions of the brain being underdeveloped, while ADHD doesn’t affect the brains development but it causes an imbalance between different consecutive functions. That’s also why medication is often so successful with ADHD because it stabilized the release and absorption of dopamine, making you feel more motivated and makes it easier to collect your thoughts enough to be able to focus. //Medical student with ADHD.
Fixin'Ta 5 years ago
Thank you. I found most of those "symptoms" of ADHD to not be me at all. No trouble reading social cues. Not super oppositional to authority (in fact, I appreciate authority although I often question it once I have it, but that's an Enneagram Six). A lot of people don't eat foods they don't like. I suck at math, but that's the only one of these that fits me. I also don't fixate on objects in the store and "have to have them". I don't "fixate" in general, but I can definitely hyperfocus or get obsessed by things I'm interested in. I feel like there's a large percentage of the autism scale folks who also maybe have ADHD who are far too into conflating the two things. Plus, as I mentioned in another comment, we're all different people and the way things manifest in one person will not be identical to another person. I'm glad people are finding community, but let's be careful not to exclude the folks who are ADHD in a different way than "ADHD/autism influencers".
Load More Replies... Kim 5 years ago
And depression isn’t a symptom, it’s a disorder and even though it’s fairly common for people with ADHD to develop depression as a response to struggling in life and lacking support, it has nothing to do with ADHD as a medical diagnosis.
Crazydoglady 5 years ago
Anxiety and depression are common secondary disorders. Meaning the person develops either one as a coping mechanism for their ADHD. I have pretty mid-range ADHD and throughout my life have struggled with anxiety and depression.
Load More Replies... Lucille McGillicuddy 5 years ago (edited)
When I try to express how hard something is to someone, like I say I have a very hard time doing this due to my ADD, they just go: "Everyone gets distracted, you just need to focus harder, I get really distracted too." Like...no! Of course everyone gets distracted, and I am by no means dissing other people's problems, but don't tell me I'm not actually ADD because you get distracted by stuff too, and you're not ADD.
Viviane 5 years ago
The sensitivity... Oh man, I ended up in tears at the office on December 24th. Deadline looming and employees' kids running around - but the adults constantly wishing me a happy holiday while I'm trying to focus... Thank goodness some of my colleagues were sympathetic when I lost it.
Kim 5 years ago (edited)
💙 https://youtu.be/iozAFIr3BEw 💙 I can really recommend this channel on YouTube to anybody who wants to learn more deeply about ADHD/ADD. Since this post potentially only made it worse when they started to confuse autism in to mess.
Spikey Bunny 5 years ago
That was the single best ADHD/ADD video I've ever seen!!! Thank You!!!!!
Load More Replies... Melissa Hammond 5 years ago
Anyway, I've been weird all my life. I grew up socially isolated. I don't have very many friends, but I'll help anyone.I don't know all the rules about what people do, and why. I don't understand them. Like, how to flirt. If anybody asks a question, I think they want an answer. I seem incapable of not answering a question, with complete honesty. My mom says, I'm brutally honest. I don't understand lying, and why people do it. But, my mom, and my sister won't have anything to do with me, now. I'm embarrassing in public, they say. It's maddening to them to take me places. I don't have a car, so I walk everywhere, now. I guess I wore them out. It's a struggle for me, everyday.to do what others seem to do with ease. I get so overwhelmed, I can't think, and I go into shut down mode. I'll have a headache, and be very tired and have to sleep when I get home, sometimes. But, yet, I graduated from a two year college's L.V.N program Magna Cum Laude. I was in National Honor Society all 4 years of
Billie Templeton 5 years ago
Thank you for a post that will help people to be gentler with themselves, kinder to others, and more understanding and compassionate in general. Win. Win.
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