ADHD memes

I visited my first psychiatrist this year and told him I have concerns that I was adhd.

I shit you not a fucking Dr of psychiatry told me that was very unlikely because they would've caught it when I was a child.

Fucking moron.

It bothers me that no one acknowledged that this can still be logically true. Of course if most people's ADHD goes away in childhood then it doesn't really logically mean anything to ask "most people you know with ADHD" because by definition, you will only be asking the subset of people for whom that isn't true.

You can't really survey the people for whom ADHD went away in childhood by asking all the people you know with ADHD because the people who would confirm the psychologist's claim are not going to be included in that survey.

My friend says it got much better as he learned strategies to keep afloat... Then as he got older, into his 40's, work and life got more complicated with harsher consequences for forgotten paperwork or failure to notice time pass... And the number of things demanding attention made sleep and focus harder than ever.

He thinks his strategies just haven't been able to keep up, but thinks things will get better again

Most people tend to develop coping mechanisms that help them pass as non-ADHD individuals, by lowering their standards for what they can achieve in life and by accepting the abnormally high amounts of stress that hiding their ADHD causes them.

Psychologists call this "growing out of ADHD".

what they mean by that is, "thank god they learned to mask the problem so they stop inconveniencing us"

It definitely got less hyperactive and more fogbrain, as I like to call it.

Which psychologists are those? A lot of the people I know that have only gone to apsychologist as an adult have been told, "wow did you know you've had ADHD you're whole life," and they're like "omg no but that makes so much sense."

Like I think it's more common to be an adult who doesn't know they have ADHD because they don't go to a psychologist, rather than having been a kid who was told they'd grow out of it by a psychologist, yah know?

I guess my point is this meme creates unnecessary stigma around seeing a psychologist, and you should see one if you think you should.

Of course it got worse, I have to work now

You just get better at masking the worst effects.

Edit:

The consequences are worse when you’re an adult.

If you miss homework assignments or forget a quiz when you’re a kid and you lose some grade points people give you shit, but if your parents aren’t abusive the consequences aren’t life damaging. People around you keep the guard rails up and try to help you atay pointed in the right direction.

If you’re constantly late for work, don’t get your taxes done, or forget your car registration renewal, these can get you fired or have big financial consequences. There are no guard rails in the adult world, just consequences.

Turns out that people don't "grow out of" physiological differences in how their prefrontal cortex forms. Who would have thought?! /s

I don't think the ADHD necessarily gets worse, it's more often that the consequences get worse.

I.e. the intensity of the disorder relative to a given set of stimuli doesn't increase, but the average significance of the stimuli (and consequently the outcome of one's reaction to them) does increase.

You could argue that's a meaningless distinction, but perhaps it's a helpful change in perspective for someone.

It can get worse after school because not having a schedule imposed on you means you're left to your own devices and will often focus too much energy towards the wrong endeavors. Building a routine of healthy habits and sticking to it can make a world of difference.

I don’t have the ADHD. I am the ADHD.

Accurate. My wife's got worse. It went in to bloody overdive when perimenopause started.

The officially changed it in my country to be an syndrome diagnosable in adults as well the very year I turned 18. I'm not saying it HAS to be because of me, but yeah.