What is ADHD?

It’s all over the news, ADHD is everywhere. Kids have it in record numbers, adults have it too. Is ADHD the latest craze? Is ADHD really just an excuse? Is ADHD real? What is ADHD anyway?

It is estimated that 17-20 million Americans are affected by ADHD. This does not take into account the lives impacted by the individual diagnosed with ADHD. But what is it? ADHD stands for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder . It is commonly referred to as ADHD, ADD, AD/HD or Attention Deficit Disorder.

When most people hear the term “ADHD” or “ADD” they picture a child, usually a boy, bouncing off the walls. They picture a child who is unable to pay attention to what he is supposed to, a child who is disruptive in class, someone who is totally disorganized, always running late and always forgetting the one thing they were supposed to bring with them.

In reality these children (an as they grow up, these adults) have brains that work differently. The brain of someone with ADHD is simply not tuned properly to handle boring or routine tasks. The brain of someone with ADHD needs excitement to keep it alert. The brain of someone with ADHD can’t spend the time to prioritize what they need to focus on. The ADHD brain focuses on the most interesting thing it can find. Unfortunately what the ADHD brain focuses on is not always the most important thing.

ADHD is characterized as having chronic difficulties in at least one three areas; attention, (hyper)activity, and impulsivity.

• Attention: People that have trouble focusing on a task at hand. People who day dream, people whose mind jumps from one topic to the next. Conversely, issues with attention also include people who hyperfocus on something that really excites or interests them – think of a child who can’t pull themselves away from a good game they are playing or an adult who gets so wrapped up in a project at work that they “forget” to eat or never get home on time.
• Activity: Can’t physically sit still, always plays with something in their hands, constantly fidgeting. Again here the converse exists, someone who is so lethargic that they are the consummate couch potato. Hyperactivity also exists in thoughts. A person whose thoughts skip from one topic to the next.
• Impulsivity: The inability to plan. This is the person who just jumps right in without thinking the action through. This is someone who blurts out the answer in class or interrupts their friends while they are in the middle of something. These are people who start one project and jump to the next.

Children with ADHD often have a great deal of trouble in school. In school active kids are asked to keep still and keep their hands to themselves, they are asked to focus on tasks and subjects that are not always interesting and are asked to wait their turn before speaking. Many ADHD children spend their time in school hearing things like “if only you tried harder you’d do so well”, or “you are so lazy”, “just do it, it’s not so hard” or “you are not working up to your potential. ADHD when unrecognized often leads to frustration, underachievement and forgotten dreams. It is about misunderstanding. It can lead to wasted lives and under use of potential. It can lead to underemployment, substance abuse and failed relationships.

What we often don’t think of or don’t realize when we think about people with ADHD is that they are often the brightest amongst us. They tend to come up with the most and best ideas when brainstorming, they are the most likely to take a risk and plunge into a new project when nobody else will dare to. People with ADHD often thrive in situation where they have many things going on at one time…they rule the multitask world. Some of our countries greatest thinkers have many ADHD traits. Think of Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Edison. Edison was kicked out of school because his teachers thought he was a slow learner, would not pay attention and could not sit still. Many children with ADHD are very smart. They are extremely creative, out of the box thinkers. They understand subjects on a different level than their peers. Their brain jumps from one idea to the next so they are often awesome brainstormers and problem solvers. But they do learn differently and that is not always acceptable in the mainstream.

An ADHD child often grows up into an ADHD adult. ADHD adults have often learned many skills over the years to help them compensate for some of the things they have trouble with. The attention, impulsivity and activity issues are still there but frequently show up in other ways. Major characteristics of ADHD in an adult include some of the following:

• Has difficulty sustaining attention, is easily distracted and fails to give close attention to detail.
• Does not appear to listen
• Struggles to follow through on instructions or follow rules
• Has difficulty with organization
• Avoids or dislikes tasks requiring sustained mental effort
• Fidgets with hands or feet or squirms in chair and may have difficulty remaining seated
• Talks excessively
• Interrupts or intrudes upon others
• Procrastination; inability to complete things
• Has difficulty making decisions
• Difficulty expressing thoughts in speech or in writing
• Significant periods of depression; low self-esteem
• A sense of failure; not living up to one’s potential
• A sense of being different, unconventional
• A sense of internal restlessness; constantly active – like being driven by a motor
• Has trouble falling asleep or waking up alert
• A sense that their mind is always active; thoughts jump from one topic to the next
• Easily bored; intense need for excitement
• Very impatient; low frustration tolerance
• Difficulty with personal or work relationships
• Frequently late or rushed
• Difficulty in estimating how much time something will take
• Impulsive spending and money management problems
• Difficulty with reading comprehension or retention
• Frequently changing jobs, interests or activities
• Frequently losing or misplacing things
• Perfectionist tendencies
• Strong need to control or have things your way

It is important to be aware that everyone at some time displays some if not all of the typical characteristics associated with ADHD. The difference is that with ADHD these characteristics are long lasting and control your life. ADHD symptoms usually arise in early childhood. If you think you may have ADHD talk to a doctor or therapist specifically trained to recognize ADHD.

by Carrie Greene, ACC, CarrieThru, LLC, ADHD Coaching & Organizing Services.