What is ADHD?
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By: Vanessa Blanchard
ADHD is short for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. It’s a medical diagnosis that is given to a neurological and developmental condition. In the past, you could be diagnosed with either ADHD or ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder). Now, the diagnosis is limited to ADHD, but is divided into three categories:
Hyperactive ADHD
Inattentive ADHD without hyperactivity
Combination ADHD
There are some who consider ADHD to be a misnomer of sorts. First, how can a diagnosis with the word “hyperactivity” in its name present without said hyperactivity? That alone indicates that reconsideration might be needed with how this diagnosis is defined.
A second, slightly more pressing point made in the ADHD community is this: The diagnosis, and by extension how the symptoms are defined, has very negative connotations that don’t reflect ADHD experiences. Calling the disorder a deficit in attention is a great example to start with, because living with ADHD isn’t about being inattentive. ADHD causes a dysregulation in attention that can mean you can’t focus, but it also can mean that you hyperfocus so hard you can’t stop. Likewise, our distractibility is more like an abundance of focus that we struggle to regulate.
To explore this idea some more, let’s look at some of ADHD’s core symptoms, but this time through a slightly different lens than articles usually take.
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ADHD Symptoms
At its core, ADHD can be summed up in one word: dysregulation. Nearly all traits and symptoms of ADHD tie back to this core principle. To understand how that dysregulation works, let’s take a brief look at executive functioning.
Executive Dysfunction and ADHD
There are several areas of our brain that are responsible for coordinating what can be considered our executive functions. Executive functions are a person’s ability to do things like plan, organize, start, stop, and transition between tasks. Executive dysfunction is when these areas of the brain don’t coordinate these tasks. Many, if not most, of ADHD symptoms can be traced to executive dysfunction:
The inability to focus on certain tasks, especially ones that are boring or understimulating
Struggles to plan and organize things
Freezing up when making decisions
Difficulties in resisting distractions and/or redirecting attention after distractions
Challenges in regulating energy (i.e. hyperactivity) and emotions
An inability to stop working or otherwise disrupt momentum or “go mode”
Losing momentum in projects
Struggles to reorient yourself in tasks that are partially finished
Needing external pressure, like an emergency or a looming deadline, to work on something
Being unable to start no matter how hard you try or how much you want to do the thing
Losing your sense of time, struggling to manage time, or other aspects of time blindness
Dysregulation also explains other areas of functioning commonly impacted by ADHD, such as:
Sleep
Memory
Learning
Sensory processing
Dopamine (and other neurotransmitter) levels
Brain fog
Etc
ADHD symptoms vary person to person. But they also vary day to day within the same person. Again, this can be explained by the fact that dysregulation is inconsistent by nature.
Learn more about Executive Dysfunction’s role in productivity with our article:
The All-You-Need Guide to ADHD and Productivity at Work
Is ADHD a disability?
This is something that could be debated, but my personal answer is yes. ADHD is perhaps the most disabling force in my life. It’s tough to need to do something and to struggle with every single aspect of doing it. I’ve been in tears many times in my life, trying to force myself to do the thing. It feels like everything I do takes way more effort than other people seem to need. It can do a terrible number on your confidence and mental health to struggle against these dysregulated tides. In fact, research shows that ADHD symptoms are directly tied to an increase in suicidality.
What helps ADHD?
There are many things that can help and what works will depend on the person and the day. The inconsistent nature of symptoms, and the tendency to become desensitized by repetition, means that what works today might not work tomorrow. The best advice I’ve ever received was to have a collection of coping that I could rotate between based on what would take that day. Here are a few things that ADHDers can use to help their symptoms:
Medication - It’s often not enough to use coping, the neurological dysregulation we experience often needs medical support. There are stimulant and non stimulant forms of medication that help. Talk to your doctor about what would be best for you.
Focus Supports - Incorporating strategic sensory stimulation can reduce distractions and increase focus. Things like fidgets and standing desks can help regulate energy that might otherwise cause distractions. ASMR has been reported to slow down the background track of thoughts common in ADHD that pull at attention.
Self regulation skills - Any sort of skill-building that can help slow down your mind and regulate emotions (meditation, drawing, singing, hiking, etc). Pick what works best for you and practice regularly.
Executive Function Supports - Weekly check-ins, body doubles, visual planning, reminders/alarms, patient and student portals, etc. Anything that can take some pressure off the individual to manage all of their executive functioning internally.
If you want to learn more, check out our complete guide to ADHD and productivity. You can also talk to other ADHDers in our Discord community by subscribing to the Spectroomz Hub.
Ever wonder if it’s both Autism and ADHD? It just might be! Check out our article: AuDHD Explained: Navigating the Autism and ADHD Overlap