What is ADHD?
Understanding Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that impairs our executive functions (AKA executive dysfunction) and self-regulation.
Executive functions are the parts of your brain's wiring that help you do tasks that allow for daily productivity: working memory, emotional control, planning and prioritization, organization, time management, etc.
ADHD is not something you can outgrow and is thus classified as a disability, not a mental illness.
"Why is everyone getting diagnosed with ADHD these days?"
Generations before us were obsessed with mass production, war, and living recklessly. Their parents did not heal or go to therapy. We inherited their trauma, and their parents' trauma, AND the internet.
Trauma affects how we process stress and anxiety in our bodies. As a result, our brains are constantly in fight-or-flight because of the stress the world put on our moms and then on us.
We can't work or "function" in traditional work settings because the generations before us made work and greed their whole personality. Disrespectfully.
Mental health professionals all too often tell people of colour that their ADHD symptoms are more likely due to anxiety, depression, or personal failure rather than a neurological difference. But demographic estimates suggest that by 2035, more adults will be struggling with ADHD than children, and the health system will only fail more neurodiverse people of colour. We are no less impaired, and we face it no less frequently.
ADHD Impacts All Aspects of Life
ADHD impacts how we sleep, how and what we eat, and how we go through each day — forgetting and losing personal items, running late, rarely feeling prepared, underperforming, feeling judged, being misunderstood and sometimes outright rejected by others. We struggle to manage all aspects of daily life.
Thankfully, learning how to manage symptoms and becoming aware of how to work with your brain will massively improve your health and the quality of your life.
What Would It Look Like If I Had It?
🎯 Inattentive Subtype
- • Fails to pay close attention to details
- • Has trouble sustaining attention
- • Doesn't seem to listen when spoken to directly
- • Fails to follow through on instructions
- • Has trouble getting organized
- • Avoids tasks requiring sustained focus
- • Loses things frequently
- • Easily distracted
- • Forgetful
⚡ Hyperactive-Impulsive Subtype
- • Fidgets/squirms in seat
- • Frequently leaves seat when seating is expected
- • Runs or climbs excessively
- • Trouble playing/engaging quietly
- • Acts "on the go" or "driven by a motor"
- • Talks excessively
- • Blurts out answers
- • Trouble waiting or taking turns
- • Interrupts or intrudes
If you meet the criteria for both types, you can also be diagnosed with a combination of the two in what is called a combined presentation/subtype.
A Note on These Criteria
When I first read these, I did not feel like everything applied to me.
I've since learned that these were written around observational data in primarily white boy subjects and that just because neurotypical people make these kinds of observations doesn't mean that I have to agree with them or accept that they mean anything about me.
Also, these symptoms can change over time, so adults may (and do) present differently than this, and people might intentionally misunderstand the intent behind your actions.
Don't Be Deterred — The Good Parts
There are also several good parts. No two people will share the same symptoms, but you're likely to also have some good stuff wired in.
You're also likely:
Common Comorbidities
There are some chronic and pervasive comorbidities that you may have been diagnosed with earlier, as we were, because your doctor might not have been willing to entertain an ADHD diagnosis. Diagnosing someone with Anxiety or Depression is much simpler and allows doctors to not pay further attention to the issues we are trying to address.
Oftentimes, this is because of their unwillingness to prescribe stimulant medication, but it is also sometimes just due to negligence — some doctors carry a preconceived notion that women of colour are less likely to have ADHD.
We're not suggesting that you've been misdiagnosed — you may have these things too. We are simply saying that your doctor might not have considered that it might be ADHD.
ADHD is harder to diagnose because the wiring of your brain regions for these comorbidities is so close together:
Cortical Wiring Problems
Learning and language disabilities, fine & gross motor difficulties, autism and dyslexia
Problems Regulating Emotions
Depression, anxiety disorders, anger control disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder
Tic Disorders
Motor tics, oral tics, and Tourette's syndrome
Does Executive Dysfunction Impact These Aspects of Your Life?
Executive dysfunction doesn't just affect "focus" — it ripples through every area of life.
School-Related Problems
- • Underperforming in school
- • Doing well on tests but not on homework
- • Difficulty completing papers
- • Behaviour problems
- • Being told, "You're so smart, you just need to try harder"
- • Difficulties in graduate or professional school (not completing thesis/dissertation, not passing boards)
Work-Related Problems
- • Losing or quitting jobs due to poor performance or dissatisfaction
- • Missing deadlines
- • Never being promoted to the level you feel you deserve
- • Difficulty with paperwork
Life-Management Problems
- • Forgetting to pay bills
- • Living in a messy, disorganized environment
- • Smoking and/or drinking to excess
- • Getting speeding tickets
- • Struggling with depression and anxiety
- • Procrastinating and having difficulty accomplishing projects, even projects that initially excite you
Relationship Problems
- • Losing your temper often or being easily frustrated
- • Having high levels of conflict with those close to you
- • Having marital conflict leading to separation and divorce
- • Inconsistent and emotionally reactive parenting patterns
Family History
- • Having children or siblings diagnosed with ADHD
- • Family history of anxiety, depression, substance use disorders, learning disorders
The ADHD "Tax"
In the ADHD community, we call the amount of overages and surcharges that we regularly pay as a result of having bad working memory, short-term thinking and terrible object permanence ADHD tax.
This tax includes how much extra we pay for parking tickets, groceries, late fees on bills, excessive debt from impulse spends, and chronic unemployment.
Impulse spending is a dopamine hit. Y'all ever buy things you absolutely do not need, while fully convinced in the moment that you need them?
Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD)
The tendency to anxiously expect, readily perceive, and intensely react to rejection or shame. Nearly 1/3 of ADHD adults describe this as the worst part of living with ADHD.
It's likely a manifestation of R-OCD (Relationship OCD) and C-PTSD. But it is totally a dysphoric feeling.
Timeblindness
Not being able to link past to future can lead to a really poor sense of self. You're often unable to remember your accomplishments, you have no real sense of time passing, and so you frequently struggle to stay on task to hand things in on time.
But what is time?
Stimming
Stimming is the act of making repetitive movements, actions, or sounds for self-stimulation or self-regulation. This applies for both ADHD and Autism, and can include a variety of movements meant to soothe the senses.
As a woman, you may have done these things and then learned to mask them if your peers called you weird.
Hands
Twirl your hair, crack your knuckles, drum or snap your fingers, scratch yourself, feel something super soft, or tap your pencil
Mouth
Bite your nails, whistle, hum, click your tongue, chew on your pen or straw, repeat words, need to suck on something minty or sour
Body
Rock your body, jump or bounce around, walk on your tiptoes, blink repetitively, flap your hands, tap your feet or shake your head
Let's Learn About Executive (Dys)function!
Executive function impairments are a part of the diagnostic criteria for ADHD. To get an official diagnosis, you must show that you have at least 3 impairments that impact you in at least 3 areas of your life.
Often this involves bringing a third party with you to your appointment to vouch for you or provide insight about you that you might not be aware of.
Response Inhibition
The capacity to think before you act — this ability to resist the urge to say or do something allows us the time to evaluate a situation and how our behaviour might impact it.
Emotional Regulation
The ability to manage emotions in order to achieve goals, complete tasks, or control and direct behaviour.
Working Memory
The ability to hold pieces of information in memory while performing complex tasks. It incorporates the ability to draw on past learning or experience to apply to the situation at hand or to project into the future.
Sustained Attention
The capacity to maintain focus on a situation or task, despite distractibility, fatigue, or boredom for a continuous stretch of time.
Planning & Prioritization
The ability to create a roadmap to reach a goal or to complete a task. It also involves being able to make decisions about what's important to focus on and what's not important.
Task Initiation
The ability to begin projects without undue procrastination, in an efficient or timely fashion.
Organization
The ability to create and maintain systems to keep track of information or materials.
Time Management
The capacity to estimate how much time one has, how to allocate it, and how to stay within time limits and deadlines. It also involves a sense that time is important.
Goal-directed Persistence
The capacity to have a goal, follow through to the completion of the goal, and not be put off by or distracted by competing interests.
Flexibility
The ability to revise plans in the face of obstacles, setbacks, new information or mistakes. It relates to an adaptability to changing conditions.
Metacognition
The ability to stand back and take a bird's-eye view of oneself in a situation. It is an ability to observe how you problem solve. It also includes self-monitoring and self-evaluation of skills (for example, asking yourself, "How am I doing?" or "How did I do?")
Stress Tolerance
The ability to thrive in stressful situations and to cope with uncertainty, change, and performance demands.
Ready to explore your own patterns?