What is ADHD?

What is ADHD? (Youtube video, 3.5 mins)
do you like books?
- Taking Charge of Adult ADHD, Dr Russell Barkley
  - good practical tips
highly genetic neurodevelopmental disorder
- causes inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity (not necessarily all of them)
  - nearsightedness to the future
  - underlying issue is inefficient/noisy brain circuits
  - not caused by bad parenting choices

Symptoms and Impairments

continuum: people range from 0 ADHD-ish traits to many
- the cutoff for disorder is “lots of symptoms present (things expressed in thoughts and actions) AND causing impairments (adverse consequences)”
everybody experiences these sometimes, especially when stressed
what separates personal quirk vs disorder is
- frequency of symptoms. How often and in what settings?
- degree of impairment (adverse consequences from the symptoms)
not everyone shows every symptom. Levels of impairment also vary.
symptoms may include
- often easily distracted by irrelevant things
- often making impulsive decisions
- often having trouble stopping activities/behaviours when you know you should
- often failing to follow through on promises and commitments
- often starting projects or tasks without catching all the important details
- often having trouble organizing tasks/doing them in the proper order
- often unable to sustain your attention
impairments may include
- poor functioning at work or frequent job changes
- poor functioning at school or dropped out
- risky sexual behaviour/increased risk of unintended pregnancy or STIs
- difficulty with finances
- friendship/dating/marital problems
- unsafe driving (speeding, accidents)

Source: Taking Charge of Adult ADHD by Dr Russell Barkley

TODO :)

TODO :)

TODO :)

present in more than one setting (school, work, home)
- for example, if you only have trouble holding your attention on reading/writing, could be dyslexia.
symptoms before age 12
clear evidence that the symptoms are affecting school, work or social functioning
not better explained by something else
- among other things, anxiety can make people fidget and feel restless
- depression can cause some inattention symptoms

everybody pees, but it’s a problem if you pee too often
ADHD is highly genetic. If a relative thinks the things you struggle with are totally normal….they might just have ADHD too!

ADHD is very poorly named
attention regulation issues more than a deficit
- not enough attention on some things
- too much attention on others

same brain circuit differences can present as inattention or impulsiveness
- can’t stop impulse to focus on something outside the window vs can’t stop impulse to speak out of turn
internalizing vs externalizing
- cultural factors push girls to internalize (though not all boys externalize, either)
- externalized hyperactivity can look like fidgeting
- internalized hyperactivity can look like racing thoughts
ADHD in women (Youtube video, 9 mins)
- more likely to be missed in favour of depression, anxiety and bipolar

Executive function (Youtube video, 3.6 mins)
- not putting in the effort vs executive function issues
ADHD and Motivation (Youtube video, 7 mins)
- ADHD brain doesn’t efficiently and automatically translate importance into motivation
ADHD alien: what it is like vs what they assume
- Comic

you can be smart and have ADHD: “twice exceptional”
you can appear to do well up until the point where you can’t fix all problems with one furious all-nighter
high intelligence doesn’t protect you from social problems, driving problems, etc

you don’t need to struggle with every single symptom to have ADHD
you may have learned to compensate for the underlying time blindness:
- are you using anxiety as a coping mechanism?
- do you spend hours thinking about how to avoid being late, unable to start anything else between now and when you need to leave the house?