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at the risk of being redundant with everyone else quoting this thread, this.... does not accurately represent the majority of what adhd IS. it's very reductive imho and i've seen it across my tl a lot and just wanted to weigh in for anyone curious. 1/? https://twitter.com/_pem_pem/status/1357356561178492928
now, i have a VERY severe case of adhd type i -- primarily inattentive. i've described it as the "daydreamer adhd" as a joke, but it's not wholly inaccurate. if i'm in my own head, i can often be very slow and dreamlike on the outside.
(this used to be referred to as "ADD.") and adhd is not just about having no focus, or being quirky and unable to concentrate. i have quite a lot of focus..... too much, a lot, and I can't direct it. you know how if cyclops takes off his glasses he burns a hole in the wall? yeah.
if i'm focusing on something i enjoy, i often hyperfocus uncontrollably, to the point where i will forget to use the bathroom, eat, drink, or sleep, for hours on end. my whole essence becomes The Task.
so, now that the "concentration" issue is out of the way, what ELSE can you find with adhd?
well, well well, dear reader:
1. decision paralysis (being unable to choose, so procrastinating indefinitely, even if it pertains to hygiene and basic care)
well, well well, dear reader:
1. decision paralysis (being unable to choose, so procrastinating indefinitely, even if it pertains to hygiene and basic care)
2. time blindess (time does not exist. this is VERY hard to explain to someone who doesn't have this, because it's not just losing track of time: it's that most people understand and can "feel" time on some level. we don't.)
3. object impermanence: if an object stays in one place for more than 2 days, it is the law of the adhd universe that it becomes part of the scenery. you know how non-interactable things in 2d animation become painted rather than drawn?? that, but in real life.
4: oh, and buckle up kiddo, because that applies to PEOPLE too! YES, INCLUDING YOUR LOVED ONES!!! *the price is right horns playing in the background*
5. Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria: let's say you've forgotten your friends existed, bc u haven't seen them in 2yrs & the passage of time is meaningless, so u feel like it's been 3 weeks. SURPRISE! those friends are distant, & u immediately crumple like a can in the trash truck.
5 (cont'd) and for the low low price of mild disapproval from someone you hold dear, YOU TOO can feel the crushing spiral of despair and depression!
6. Interoception Issues: would you like to have to guess if you're hungry, need to go to the bathrooom, tired, cold, overheated, thirsty, and much more? SAY NO MORE, because adhd has you covered! enjoy having to sprint to the bathroom at breakneck speed because you JUST REALIZED!
7. circulation problems: want gray toes and freezing feet? kneecaps? how about cold hands? yup, that's adhd too. it can cause circulation issues.
8. Hyperfixations: how would you like to be unerringly obsessed with something to the point where everyone in your life thinks you're obnoxious because it's all you can physically talk or think about? :)
9. alexithymia: oh, you thought being unable to interpret physiological signals from your body was good? wait until you hear about ALEXITHYMIA: "I don't know what i'm feeling, but i'm feeling a LOT of it!"
10. Sensory Processing Issues: You know how the charlie brown adults speak? mhm? now, imagine your brain simply deciding to flip a switch at random, and suddenly everyone sounds like charlie brown adults.
10 (cont'd) oh, and also the lights are too bright now. AND you can hear the electricity in the walls. OH and everyone talking at once. OH, and the smell of the floor cleaner. AND-
11 (related) it's not hard to see how experiencing EVERYTHING at once with no filter can cause sensory overload.
12. and we haven't even gotten into COMORBIDITY! enjoy dyscalculia (which comes with being unable to read analog clocks, being unable to do mental math, being unable to tell left from right, having poor spatial reasoning), dyslexia, dyspraxia, depression, anxiety, etc etc
13. OH, and the DOPAMINE DEFICIENCY! what fun!! enjoy a weak internal monologue and no internal motivation, extreme stimulus-seeking behavior, and an inability to control your impulses, paired with a desire for INSTANT gratification!
anyways. the more i read op's thread, the less i like it. to me it feels like it's relying WAY too heavily on the social model to the point that it's warping it. capitalism can EXACERBATE adhd but doesn't cause it.
also the fact that they were like "yes this" to someone like "they get adhd people addicted to meds and it prolongs the disorder indefinitely" oh, fuck you. end rant.
AND ANOTHER THING -- adhd people overwhelmingly don't respond to stimulants like NTs. some do, but the vast majority of us calm down, or even get sleepy! the medications that some of us need stimulate the connections in our brains, making us function more """"normally.""""
i also forgot to mention emotional dysregulation but i don't want to keep adding things onto this thread. basically, we can have some pretty wild mood swings, internal or external, and very intense emotions. like, VERY intense.
