A frightening amount of these trigger me somewhat, but not really enough to care I guess?
I hate these lists. Almost all of these are completely normal. Stop trying to diagnose yourselves. There are more people who do most of things on this list than people who do none. Does that mean most people have ADHD?
Edited: removed the swearing. There was no need for it. I still stand behind the sentiment.
Yeah, whenever I see ADHD memes I immediately go: Fuck, that happens to me all the time.
Like exactly half the list is applicable to me.
Then I do some more research into symptoms and when it comes to the main ones I go: Nah, I don’t have that problem at all (like being tardy).
This is like asking health questions on the internet, the answer will always be cancer.
You don’t have to be chronically late to be diagnosed with ADHD. I am never later for anything, but that’s due to some good coping mechanisms I learned over the years (that basically amount to “do nothing before the event and leave an hour early”)
It’s possible to have ADHD and good coping mechanisms that mean you don’t meet every single hyperspecific criteria on a list like this. Hell, you might even cope so well that you didn’t get bad grades in school. The diagnostic criteria looks for focus deficiency, executive dysfunction, impulsivity, restlessness, poor working memory. There are standardized tests for this.
The reason places like WebMD tell you that you might have cancer is so you go see a real doctor. It’s not because it thinks you probably have cancer, but because you shouldn’t rely on WebMD if there’s even a small chance you might.
So if lists like these create false positives, I’m okay with it. It means some people with ADHD will finally get help and live their best lives. It means people with some signs of ADHD, but not enough for a full diagnosis, might still find value in the techniques people with ADHD use to deal with those symptoms. And even in the case of people with no issue whatsoever, it’s just good to take your mental health seriously.
And hey, even if none of that mattered, there’s still a huge stigma around mental health and neurodiversity. If it helps people understand what ADHD people are going through (“It’s like this common experience, but to a high level on a frequent basis”), that’s good too.
Yeah I did the same, then I looked into the DSM V and read the symptoms and went… uh… yep! More attention deficit than hyperactivity for me but yeah, it started with memes
All of this is completely normal, yes. However, frequency and intensity are typically the separating factors between neurotypicals and those diagnosed with ADHD.
Up until recently i thought of myself as a neurotypical person who just happened to find ADHD content relatable. How dare I, a run-of-the-mill idiot and fuck-up, appropriate a real mental disorder in an attempt to explain away all my flaws?
Well anyway it turns out I have ADHD. So yeah, everyone may relate to these things every once in a while. But if you’re reading this and you find A LOT of these things relatable, and they happen often, and you can think of lots of examples of times they have caused you major problems, and you feel a lot of shame and guilt and anxiety about the whole thing, I would encourage you to get checked out.
I think one of the important things folks also forget is that true diagnosis of a mental disorder usually requires it to be significantly negatively impacting a life function. For neuro developmental disorders its phrased “negatively impacts directly on social and academic/occupational activities.”
So just because you read a list and see some of the traits within yourself doesn’t mean you have a “disorder.” I relate to a lot of ADHD lists, but I’m very much functional without meds.
So it looks like we need to bring over the “no gatekeeping” rule from reddit huh?
Well, mental disorders are spectrums. It’s not either you’re completely sane or you’re the mayor of cuckoo town. It goes in shades.
If you identify with five or so items on that list of 21, that’s fine. You’re still in the “nornal” zone. If you identify with 16, like I do, that’s ADHD. And I do have an official diagnosis from an actual psychiatrist, thank you very much.
I think Identifying with number 16 would put you in the eating disorders category though.
I’ll show myself out now…
Ah but 15 out of 21 is also normal right?
Like 0-15 normal
16 - 21 ADHD
?The change between normal and ADHD happens at 15.55.
And 22+ is super ADHD
Oh phew, thanks.
Also isn’t it called AD4K when it gets past 22?
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You don’t have a hard Border, it’s the job of professionals to say If you are “normal” or have ADHD
Ah, the old Everyone does this argument.
Yes, but to what extent? How severe is it? That’s the important part that neither you nor this list touch on.
When you have 17 planners with 8 pages written in and constant sense of panic over a workload that is never done it’s def beyond the “lol I can’t pay attention sometimes too” crowd. Some people just don’t know what it’s actually like to be neurospicy.
I feel like gatekeeping stuff as a non practitioner is harmful. I know it doesn’t help my guilt when I doubt my - diagnosed and medicated - ADHD because I don’t have 17 planners with 8 pages filled it.
I think I had one around somewhere though I never touched…For me, it’s more like single pieces of paper hat I forget exist as soon as I put the pen down, to then live six months of my life in blissful ignorance of the consequences.
I’m pretty sure I have several of these six months going at any given time, and I have no clue what for.
Here’s a question: What if, say, you’ve already been diagnosed, and you enjoy relating to other people who have the same issues as you? Just a thought.
Haha I’m so quirky and don’t have to take any personal responsibility for my actions or self regulation because it’s all my ∆*π§adhd§π*∆
I mean like isnt getting diagnosed taking responsibility and correcting the issue?
Unless you want us all to “man up” and have depression, wtf do you mean by this?
That this post is cringe for simplifying a nuanced disability like they have a x_nyan_x blog somewhere. It’s literally the omg so relatable template of “Look at me using a disability as a poster for my personality! Give me attention x3”
More power to you if you have ADHD and understand the context that your disabilities don’t make you, you’ve always been. You’re just aware that you can be contextualized, but it doesn’t give you an excuse to act on it more.
I have BP II, doesn’t mean I’m going to go around advertising it like it’s all I am or makes me.
Nah but humans are social, so if talking about it is what works for some people, why not just do it then. Sorry you get personally offended by this, but most people ain’t gonna change to fit your idea of society lol
Not offended. I’m making comment it’s cringe.
Most of the time, these things are not quirky, not positive and some people experience real hardships in their lives because of ADHD.
It is great that you can take responsibilty for your actions and self-regulate, but some people just can not do it. It just does not work.
This is really hard to understand for people who can just “do the things”, but you don’t have to make fun of people who just can not do it because their brains do not work this way.
Also, you can just be nice, don’t comment and just continue scrolling. You don’t have to be mean on the internet and if you really want to say something stupid, maybe think about it for a short moment, realize that you gain absolutly nothing by doing it and, instead spend your time with more positive things.
Mindwandering while conversation/ sex was always annoying to me. I never understood why i am doing this and how to turn it off, cause “everyone else seems to get it right” and they made me feel bad for it.
It is importaint to talk about these stuff and reach out to people, who feel the same way.
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Sleep issues and executive dysfunction are both on the list, preventing your “solutions.” Which is kind of the point: people who don’t have these problems… don’t have these problems. duh.
If you’re capable of overcoming everything on the list, then you don’t have the issues on the list. It’s kind of naive to judge people who do. No one’s proud to have the issues on this list. It’s humiliating and it prevents me from living the life I wish I could live. It’s nice to commiserate with other people whose potentials are also lower due to the issues on this list. That’s the point of them, not to provide excuses for the benefit of people who don’t have these issues.
I finally went in for an adult diagnosis yesterday and this is pretty much the entire checklist they went through.
I go in 2 months and cannot wait. I feel like my mind is in a fog and it’s only getting worse as I get older.
Still waiting on mine but I am 94% certain I have it
Same (re: mind
dogfog), unfortunately for me treatment hasn’t helped. But I’ve also discovered CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome) as another route to investigate.Oohh thank you for this, I’m about to look into it.
Fibromyalgia and adhd go hand in hand, if you’re looking for something else to investigate.
Hm, I’ll bring it up but I’m not certain on it. My pain is pretty easy to tie to my garboard discs and my symptoms predate my chronic pain. But I also have high pain tolerance so may not have noticed. Thanks for the suggestion.
I have all of these (except the erectile dysfunction)and I’d wager 80% of the pop also does. there is no way all of us can have ADHD
A fair few of them can be caused by other things too, or are just one of the “normal traits” ADHD exaggerates. 9, 12, 13, 15 could be caused by stress/burnout, for example.
It says executive dysfunction. Or am I being wooshed…
Interesting. I figured I may have it but I’m barely half this list, loosely. I guess I’m just a lazy shit at work sometimes
ADHD comes in many flavours, that’s all I’m gonna say
I will take cookies and cream
It only cums in bad taste for me
Tell it to eat more pineapple then
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Find a new shrink.
Seriously.
Also, yes. I’m also ADHD and I was undiagnosed for a really long time. Having your mind wander during sexual activity is really surreal, and makes it very difficult to get to the finish line.
It’s not something I’m happy about, since sometimes I can’t get off at all… I’ve actually had sessions that lasted hours, well into “friction burn” and still not gotten there. More often than not, this is not taken very well by the other person involved… As if what they’re doing isn’t fun for me, or that I don’t find them attractive or something… That’s really not it at all. I’m just thinking about boats. I don’t want to think about boats, but I am. I wouldn’t be dancing a horizontal mambo number 5 with you if I didn’t think you’re attractive, it’s just that my brain won’t stay on topic, so, one, two, three, four, five, everybody in the car, so come on let’s ride.
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I’m in Canada, I just found a GP last year, and I told him that I thought I had ADHD. He gave me a bit of a survey type thing, which I answered honestly, and his assessment of my answers was that “it was consistent with mild ADHD” though, ADHD is more of a spectrum… I digress.
After that he asked if I felt it was impacting my life, I said very yes, and he got me on some medication which has significantly helped me.
IDK, maybe take what your shrink said to your GP, since your GP can still prescribe you the right meds to help you out. I mean, your old shrink said that you have ADHD, so if they’re not doing anything about it, and you feel strongly about it, express that to your GP and they have the ability to do something, if they won’t, start looking for a new GP at that point…
Your GP is supposed to help you to live your life and maintain your health, both physical and mental health. If they’re not doing that job for you for day to day issues, then they don’t have your best interest in mind when treating you, and honestly, that’s stupid.
My GP is amazing, he listens to me and has no problem with giving me what I need to help out; some GPs need more proof or testing before taking action, which is generally fine, as long as action is taken at the end of the process, then all is well. If they still refuse to act then I have to wonder why they’re even still practicing medicine if they’re not willing to help you out.
Replace ADHD with neurodivergent and/or chronic illness. (for many of these at least)
Neurodivergent isn’t a diagnosis
Correct.
I’m not sure of your point, but mine is that these things are more general than they seem. For example I could say trouble connecting with people or being a shut-in is a SzPD (Schizoid Personality Disorder) thing… while they are, it could be equally true for people with autism for different (or not by much) reasons.
Sap someone’s energy/mood and a lot of relatable problems will pop up, it doesn’t matter if it’s physical or mental or an indirect symptom of something else.
I share quite a few of these almost all of them
100% for me.
I’m not doing lists and the sex thing all others fit tho
My mind drifts during sex often, which has definite benefits. I assumed the lists thing was a joke but I do things in the same manner. My wife calls it “sorting”.
God damn like 85% of this is me. Still ain’t gonna check and see if i really got it though 🤣
I’m in this comment and I don’t like it
This is the way.
I’m in this post and I don’t like it.
Most people have most of these… lol
I have neeeeews: no
If you unironically use “time blindness” as an excuse for always being late, you are a complete moron.
Why? Not that i use that as an excuse. But why would that make you a moron?
Because being horrible with time is a predictable thing. As a human being, we have the ability to plan and act in ways that compensate for predictable weaknesses.
If you notice you’re always late, but you never try to leave earlier, you’re either a moron or an asshole.
It seems like you don’t understand the point of time blindness then. How do you “leave earlier” when you completely lose track of time?
Hell, even for work meetings, I have to have the most obnoxiously loud and annoying notification alert on my work computer that can be heard throughout the entire house, and I still end up late to some meetings, even though I’m already sitting at my desk.
Your post is like complaining that a blind person just needs to open their eyes if they want to see, or they’re just a moron or an asshole. It shows profound ignorance about the subject and complete lack of empathy for people who have a problem that you don’t have direct experience with.
It strikes me that your belief that someone is a moron or an asshole if they fail to leave earlier might be coming from a place of not understanding ADHD. You say “as a human being” which drastically oversimplifies and understates the irratic nature of the mind of someone suffering with the condition.
As someone who has ADHD, i believe i can say, with a fairly high degree of confidence, that you do not suffer with the condition. Or that if you do, you have found a good coping mechanism for issues with timekeeping. Or at the very least timekeeping is not one of the aspects of ADHD that affects you.
But to call someone an asshole or a moron because you dont understand how their mind works and you seem to think what works for one, works for all, is the most moronic and asshole-like thing that you can do.
I put it to you, that you have no idea what you are talking about, and despite the fact that alot of people mistake normal aspects of various personalities with full blown ADHD, and thusly self diagnose, in error, that your opinion on the simplicity of changing ones behaviour on a dime has no place on an ADHD forum.
I see. So you’d rather write multiple paragraphs of excuses instead of spending that time on coping with what you can.
I understand how this sub works now, and I’m disappointed. Bye.
Please locate the multiple excuses i used in those “paragraphs” and let me know where they are. Anyone reading what i wrote will see that i simply stated you dont understand ADHD and since you haven’t rebutted that assertion its fairly safe to assume i was right. You dont have it and you dont understand it.
As for your goodbye? Good riddance.
Tell me you don’t understand what time blindness is without telling me you don’t understand what time blindess is.
This is just like saying “stop using your lack of legs as an excuse for not running”, consider not being ableist.
I have severe time blindness. I’m either right on time or a few minutes before. I rely on the various scales of time available to me. Edit: to say I’m speaking exclusively to “time blindness”. Someone with full blown ADHD may have other factors interfering with their ability to utilize these tools of time measurement/management. I can’t speak to that.
It’s a terrible excuse. I’m almost always on time cause I use my calendar instead of my brain to manage time. The “time blindness” just makes me feel anxious about being late despite being 5 mins away and having 30 mins to spare.
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The reason i came late for a long time was distraction by social media. If someone here can’t pull themselves away from social media, i suggest to use focusing apps. Samsung for example includes a modes and routines option within the settings and you can set work mode up to block access to distracting apps during work… or your routine.
Another recommendation is to uninstall distracting social media apps or replace them with federated apps (although the latter may be less effective).
