As someone who has always said "ADD" is bullshit, this changes my perspective. I've seen too many people with "ADD" spend ridiculous amounts of time on things they wanted to do, but never on things they needed to do.
After watching this video, I can absolutely get behind an idea that someone can have a complete mental inability to process consequence...or possibly a better word would be necessity to be forward thinking. I get that. But I've always had a hard time about the calling it a "deficit of attention".
I've seen the same person who couldn't handle sitting in school for 30 minutes sit in a tree for hours completely still while hunting, or stand in a stream fishing all day saying nothing. If it was truly a deficit of attention this wouldn't be possible.
But now, thinking about this as a lack of being able to think about the consequences of doing the thing you don't presently want to do and how it will affect you later.... that's really eye opening.
One symptom of ADHD that most people don't know about is hyper focusing. We can get so distracted by one particular thing that everything else is just gone. I can't tell you how many times I've sat down to read or research something, then I look up and 6 hours have passed.
Like this thread. I was supposed to get ready for bed an hour ago. I just can't stop. It's like a compulsion to keep going, but compulsion doesn't seem like a strong enough word.
The HD stands for Hyperactivity. Basically you zone in really hard when you're interested, but if you're not interested you can't (mentally) sit still. Generally speaking at least. Every single person is different. "Normal" is actually just a perceived average of human behavior.
It's not an inability to process consequence.
It's an inability for us to take into consideration anything other than immediate consequences.
Undiagnosed, and with no self awareness of my adhd, I couldn't plan 3 months ahead for that midterm test or paper due. There was no immediate consequence of me not doing that.
So I wait. Until it becomes an immediate crisis.
Bam, now I can act on it.
But now, thinking about this as a lack of being able to think about the consequences of doing the thing you don't presently want to do and how it will affect you later.... that's really eye opening.
I think literally everyone has this issue, though. Exercise for example makes us feel great, but we really have to remind ourselves of it or stay motivated in some way. The second we start, we realise how good of a decision it was. Over 50% of some countries are overweight, so at least 50% of people are suffering from ADHD here? Just like with procrastinating etc, if you've been worked into a good habit/routine throughout childhood and given an easy ride through all these very common human-pitfalls, you'll not have "ADHD" because making good decisions will be second nature. I had the complete opposite, so I've battled with all the things brought up in this thread, and I'm seeing things I've worked out being given as advice too. This is way too common to be a "disorder", no?
It's rarely properly diagnosed. Often the simplified versions of the test are used (they'll test an entire school in a day or two when it should be 3+ days per student) or an MD who doesn't bother with diagnostic testing will take the parent's interpretation as truth. There are also cases where mild disorders are able to function reasonably well and people translate that into "this person can so why can't everyone" when in reality it's a spectrum. Some are like me, socially isolated, long term unemployed, unable to perform the most basic functions of life without serious struggle. If I can get 1 task done a day it's a good day. If I get out of the apartment, it's a bloody miracle.
Yup. The most common scale I've seen is mild, moderate, severe and extreme. I have extreme social and generalized anxiety, but mild-moderate OCD.
Also have ADHD. Therapist told me I put the H in ADHD. Funny thing is, my inattentive symptoms are worse.
And god bless, that's exactly how I am. My mom screamed bloody murder at my doctor everyday this past week because she was extremely slow on sending in a script for my ADHD meds.
Got a weeks worth of chores done today while on meds.
Some are like me, socially isolated, long term unemployed, unable to perform the most basic functions of life without serious struggle. If I can get 1 task done a day it's a good day. If I get out of the apartment, it's a bloody miracle.
Is that not because you're socially isolated and long-term unemployed? Those two are fucking massive parts of people's lives and you're without both at the same time. You can't compare that situation with a typical one, surely? Let's see how other people fair in such situations. I doubt they'd be much different.
I feel like I can relate because I'm in a similar situation. I have some meh friends I see to buy weed off of, but most are old gaming friends I've known forever, or old college friends I talk to online. I'm long-term unemployed/self-employed and it's really fucking difficult because things are required of me that aren't of a regular person. A regular person doesn't need motivation, they just hear the alarm clock go off, reluctantly get up and go to work, where as I don't have any sense of urgency in my life, just a slight hint of impending doom should I be a lazy/adhd ass for too long. I need to battle with my mind to get it in the right state just so I can get out of bed and not spend an hour or 5 browsing shit on my phone, which leads to me feeling fucking dreadful. Over the years I've conquered a lot of this shit through spotting the traps and learning techniques to avoid them, and the opposite, noting down what works for me and how it makes me feel. I've gone from straight retarded to actually pretty productive and I'm improving constantly.
For example, if you had never heard of the concept of "deferring gratification" you'll fall into that trap every damn time. Only upon realising it's a thing can you do something about it. There's a million and one traps like this. I see him talking about ADHD and I just see people falling into common traps that some people just happen to avoid because they're employed/have habits instilled from parents/have friends/dont eat junk food/exercise a lot, etc.
I wasn't always isolated/unemployed but I always had a serious struggle. I had been employed for 3 years, but a trivial job that had no future, and my friends convinced me to give school a 6th attempt - so at 25 I quit my job and applied to university as a mature student. I did quite well initially (90s), moved into a house a block off campus with 6 foreign exchange students, and one of my friends and my cousin were attending the same school so I had an active social life.
Things quickly began to unravel though as the pace of school was slow, the material unchallenging, and I could not execute as needed. After the 2nd term my prof pulled me aside and said "you're one of my best students - explain what happened" and she shows me my final at 51%. I look through it and it's a bunch of stupid mistakes - I'd done this stuff hundreds of times over in the previous 6 years of coding on my own. She bumped me up to a 65% so I wouldn't lose funding and told me to get tested. Sure enough, ADHD-I.
Year 2 wasn't any better because I had the diagnosis but that's it. I tried all sorts of different techniques, asked everyone I could for help from friends to profs to family to disability office... nothing was working. As a last ditch effort I started turning down social invitations and trying to focus solely on school. I tried explaining to my friends I needed the time to study but they'd get mad at me and stop talking to me. I shut down my facebook, I eliminated every distraction I could. Nothing worked.
I failed out - right into the 2008 crash. No degree, no friends left, 2 year gap in my already less than stellar work history, and the economy is in the dumps... 2 years became 4 - bankruptcy. I tried a 7th time to do school, online college level this time, failed repeatedly. 4 years became 10 in a blink of an eye.
It's not a matter of deferring gratification... I do that all the time. I haven't touched my xbox in 1+ years because it was a trap that I could waste my time on. Nothing changed though - just do different things that take up my time from reddit to rescuing cats.
I walk every morning, I'm vegetarian and only splurge on junk food a couple times a month, my parents taught me a great work ethic (even after 10 years I am desperate to work not for the money, just for the satisfaction of putting in a hard day's work). I read/watch everything I can find on the subject of ADHD/organizing/etc hoping there's one magic technique or medication or whatever that might help me turn my life around. Different day, same struggle so far.
Wow yeah what you're saying is like...reprehensible, but also dizzyingly incoherent.
It's almost like you don't know anything about mental disorders wow!
That's why I didn't bother and merely pointed out that you're doing the internet equivalent of putting dog shit on my step, knocking my door and running off. You just wasted both our times.
People that don't have ADHD procrastinate too. People that have ADHD aren't necessarily fat. (I'm not even clear on if that's what you were implying). ADHD isn't as common as it is diagnosed and is STILL rare. If the amount of people had a disorder that you are talking about, it wouldn't even be a disorder, it would be the norm. Keep in mind that ADHD isn't a 'disease', it's a set of criteria that your behavioural patterns have to match to justify a diagnosis.
Besides, I have ADHD while my younger sister doesn't, and while we were raised in the exact same way, she has many organisational habits that I simply can't implement into my life no matter how hard I try. It's like Dr Berkeley said, ADHD is the failure to implement that sort of knowledge.
(I'm not even clear on if that's what you were implying)
It was a reply to "After watching this video, I can absolutely get behind an idea that someone can have a complete mental inability to process consequence". Because it's an easy example, I'm saying that should mean that all fat people (who don't want to be fat and have tried diets a bunch of times) suffer from ADHD, or some other "deficit disorder" which makes them unable to make good choices or to implement knowledge they've acquired or process future consequence, so they can reject temptations and implement good habits. They get cravings etc and it goes out the window. They fail, it goes out the window. They get upset, it goes out the window. From my POV, these are just people with bad food habits and this behaviour is totally normal for humans. Almost everyone (unless [self]taught otherwise) has the same lack of ability, but some have healthy/healthier food habits and just naturally manage to not get themselves into such a situation.
Keep in mind that ADHD isn't a 'disease', it's a set of criteria that your behavioural patterns have to match to justify a diagnosis.
That's why I'm suspicious. Like I said, someone who has to go to a 9-5 job each day doesn't suffer from falling into all the pitfalls that people in r/entrepreneur do. They're always freaking out about their lack of ability to not just sit home jerking off all day and then hating themselves for it. Someone with healthy eating habits simply doesn't come near to the traps that someone with bad eating habits does. Their motivation/ability to kick bad/excessive food might be equally as bad but it doesn't matter because it doesn't even come up on the path they've been put on, so it's never an issue for them.
It's like Dr Berkeley said, ADHD is the failure to implement that sort of knowledge.
You've got to admit, this describes fat people so well. They know what to do, they just cant. People are scared of harmless spiders/bugs/rodents but they just can't pick one up. It's normal.
she has many organisational habits that I simply can't implement into my life no matter how hard I try.
Are you trying different methods rather than just harder? I know I've gotten infinitely better at this in the past few years. I even got my mom to improve tenfold by sharing what I've learned with her and showing her how to organise her life through planning, lists and schedules. She is/was a total shit brain, poster person for this disorder, and getting raised by her I of course was a poster person for it too. I was always late to everything, I never put in any effort, I daydreamed throughout the school day if I wasn't scared of the teacher. Never had any kind of routine. Homework was always done last minute. Never really worked towards anything. Didn't stick to anything.
Even if you have less of something that your sister has, surely drug-free improvement is possible?
44
u/poscaps May 30 '17
As someone who has always said "ADD" is bullshit, this changes my perspective. I've seen too many people with "ADD" spend ridiculous amounts of time on things they wanted to do, but never on things they needed to do.
After watching this video, I can absolutely get behind an idea that someone can have a complete mental inability to process consequence...or possibly a better word would be necessity to be forward thinking. I get that. But I've always had a hard time about the calling it a "deficit of attention".
I've seen the same person who couldn't handle sitting in school for 30 minutes sit in a tree for hours completely still while hunting, or stand in a stream fishing all day saying nothing. If it was truly a deficit of attention this wouldn't be possible.
But now, thinking about this as a lack of being able to think about the consequences of doing the thing you don't presently want to do and how it will affect you later.... that's really eye opening.