Most people have a couple of these but it isnt to the point where they cant function. ADHD is the point where it does.
An ADHD brain is essentially interest driven. It isnt so much a lack of attention and focus but missapplied attention and focus. The reason for this is thought to be a chemical imbalance of dopamine and norepinephrine. Dopamine is tied to motivation and norepinephrine is essentially the fight or flight neurotransmitter. This is why people with ADHD tend to have little issue focusing on a fun task or a task that is urgent and induces considerable stress. The former raises levels of dopamine and the latter norepinephrine. It is also why the first line drug treatments involve stimulents which help normalize both of these.
If the behaviors that you see in yourself are causing distress, you may want to ask your doctor/mental health provider to be assessed. That said, I would keep in mind that it is usually not cheap and if that is a significant barrier for you, look for pay as you can mental health providers in your area if they exist
The bit about having difficulty focusing on tasks that are uninteresting or not urgent is striking a chord with me. Lots of half finished projects where I’ve done all the interesting bits and suddenly lose all motivation to see it through to completion. Thanks, I’ll investigate this further when possible.
If you have some other mental-diversion like autism, bipolar or dyslexia then chances are high you have overlap with properties of other neurodivergent people.
Its also possible to be “functional and normal” but still have a neurodivergent brain. Disabilities are subjective in context of the (social) world around you.
Since you’re asking about this particular list of symptoms, what you should really focus on is whether these behaviors negatively impact your life to the point that medical intervention becomes necessary. If you’re doing well, then maybe you can chalk a lot of it up to just being part of your personality. If these things are causing problems in your life, that’s when you should see a doctor.
If executive disfunction is causing you trouble with work or accomplishing basic tasks, that’s a problem. Same with time blindness and missing meetings / deadlines /events. Are racing thoughts or daydreaming causing problems with your social interactions? Do any of these things negatively affect the way you feel about yourself?
If you think these things are causing problems it might be possible to treat the issue.
Much like depression, everyone gets sad but not everyone is clinically depressed. All ADHD symptoms are experienced by neurotypical people, it’s about the frequency and severity of the symptoms that determines diagnosis. If you experience these symptoms on a daily basis, or nearly constantly, you should look into getting tested for ADHD.
Neurotypical people experience most ADHD symptoms some of the time, but not at a frequency that significantly negatively impacts their life. Similar to depression, everyone gets sad but only some are clinically depressed.
I know it’s ridiculous to use a bingo board meme as a diagnostic tool but should I be concerned if I got a whooooole lot of these?
Everybody sneezes if you sneeze 100 times in a day then it’s a problem
Most people have a couple of these but it isnt to the point where they cant function. ADHD is the point where it does.
An ADHD brain is essentially interest driven. It isnt so much a lack of attention and focus but missapplied attention and focus. The reason for this is thought to be a chemical imbalance of dopamine and norepinephrine. Dopamine is tied to motivation and norepinephrine is essentially the fight or flight neurotransmitter. This is why people with ADHD tend to have little issue focusing on a fun task or a task that is urgent and induces considerable stress. The former raises levels of dopamine and the latter norepinephrine. It is also why the first line drug treatments involve stimulents which help normalize both of these.
If the behaviors that you see in yourself are causing distress, you may want to ask your doctor/mental health provider to be assessed. That said, I would keep in mind that it is usually not cheap and if that is a significant barrier for you, look for pay as you can mental health providers in your area if they exist
The bit about having difficulty focusing on tasks that are uninteresting or not urgent is striking a chord with me. Lots of half finished projects where I’ve done all the interesting bits and suddenly lose all motivation to see it through to completion. Thanks, I’ll investigate this further when possible.
alright it’s officially time for me to talk to my doctor
Depends on how often you experience these symptoms! If you experience them daily or nearly constantly, it would be worth investigating.
Hey, it’s a start. You can always run these ‘test results’ past a professional later
If you have some other mental-diversion like autism, bipolar or dyslexia then chances are high you have overlap with properties of other neurodivergent people.
Its also possible to be “functional and normal” but still have a neurodivergent brain. Disabilities are subjective in context of the (social) world around you.
Since you’re asking about this particular list of symptoms, what you should really focus on is whether these behaviors negatively impact your life to the point that medical intervention becomes necessary. If you’re doing well, then maybe you can chalk a lot of it up to just being part of your personality. If these things are causing problems in your life, that’s when you should see a doctor.
If executive disfunction is causing you trouble with work or accomplishing basic tasks, that’s a problem. Same with time blindness and missing meetings / deadlines /events. Are racing thoughts or daydreaming causing problems with your social interactions? Do any of these things negatively affect the way you feel about yourself?
If you think these things are causing problems it might be possible to treat the issue.
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Much like depression, everyone gets sad but not everyone is clinically depressed. All ADHD symptoms are experienced by neurotypical people, it’s about the frequency and severity of the symptoms that determines diagnosis. If you experience these symptoms on a daily basis, or nearly constantly, you should look into getting tested for ADHD.
I was going to say, all of them seem kind of normal things with a weird way to describe it.
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Neurotypical people experience most ADHD symptoms some of the time, but not at a frequency that significantly negatively impacts their life. Similar to depression, everyone gets sad but only some are clinically depressed.