When you notice you are having difficulty managing your own knapsack of personal and/or professional responsibilities on a daily basis...the origin(s) of your problem may have most to do with something you haven't really thought all that much about. That something I am speaking of which is unacknowledged and/or untreated/improperly treated----is ADHD. Have you ever considered this? If not, today is your lucky day. By the end of this post, you may find that seeking professional help to determine if you are ADHD is the best gift you can give to yourself in 2023.
To begin, let's talk about what ADHD actually is and has to do with. If you struggle with one or more of the "Executive Functions" of your own brain on a consistent-enough basis....your problem may have its origins in an ADHD diagnosis. I have blogged about executive functioning issues in the past. Without sounding like a broken record, let's just say if you find it challenging to "do" your daily responsibilities in ways that leave you feeling lazy, crazy, and/or stupid more often than not....you may have ADHD!
Specifically, the areas of executive functioning that are affected by ADHD include (1) planning and prioritizing, (2) organizing, (3) task initiation, (4) working memory, (5) flexible thinking, (6) self-monitoring, (7) emotional control, and/or (8) impulse control. If you go online to research "executive functioning skills"...everything you read will boil down to these eight areas of functioning. They may be categorized a bit differently, but these are the basic definitions to do with executive functions within the prefrontal cortex of any human brain.
Also note that not everyone has "issues" with all eight areas of executive functioning in order to be diagnosed with ADHD! Not everyone, for example, who has ADHD is "hyperactive". Then again, not everyone who is hyperactive has ADHD either! Yet someone who struggles with the inability to pay attention and remain focused for sustained periods of time can definitely be ADHD. As can the person who keeps struggling with "rigid" thinking (difficulty with shifting attention and being flexible with the ways he/she/they thinks when circumstances change in ways that were not expected).
So let's talk about how people are confused about what to "call" ADHD. When people come into my office they will say "I think I have ADD"...or "I don't think I have ADHD".... Before we go any further, let me clarify why ADHD is called ADHD in the first place.
People diagnosed with ADHD may experience any one of three predominant types of ADHD: "Predominantly Distracted/Inattentive Type", or "Predominantly Impulsive/Hyperactive Type" OR "Combined Type" (which means both Inattentive and Hyperactive Types). As such, a person can be diagnosed with ADHD without experiencing impulsivity or hyperactivity...just as a person can have ADHD without experiencing distraction or inattentiveness. Or...a person can have ADHD and experience all of these things, which would lead to a "Predominantly Combined Type" diagnosis. Instead of describing ADHD as ADD or something else, the authors of the DSM determined that "ADHD: Predominantly XXX Type" was the best way to reference ADHD generally speaking.
Because of the confusion here, many people don't believe that they have ADHD because "I'm not hyper!" or "I know how to pay attention." or "I just have a crappy memory and difficulty with change, that's all!" Because of this confusion, many MANY people remain undiagnosed and untreated because their perception(s) of what ADHD actually is---is way off! In my own case, I knew as a kid that I was easily distracted---and often felt extremely bored in school. I did very well in certain areas of my own functioning (favorite academic subjects) and terrible in others (math, self-control, emotional regulation). It wasn't until I realized that everything "took longer" for me in my life as compared to many of my peers...that I sought out professional help.
Next, ADHD, regardless of the "type" which predominates...involves symptoms that can look like other diagnoses because of the overlapping symptoms. For example, people who have been diagnosed with PTSD or C-PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder and/or complex posttraumatic stress disorder) experience many of the same symptoms as someone with ADHD. This is also true of diagnoses involving certain mood and personality disorders.
Being diagnosed on the spectrum for autism also involves symptoms which overlap with ADHD. More specifically, the rigid thinking and difficulty with "cognitive flexibility" (being able to go with the flow of change). As another example, which came first? The predominantly inattentive type of ADHD...and/or the problem with "checking out" mentally too often (dissociation)...and/or just not wanting to do what you don't feel like doing (issue of sloth)? Yep, it can be like that for individuals who have ADHD but haven't yet acknowledged it. After all, who can change that which isn't yet acknowledged? That would be nobody.
Yet for many people with unacknowledged and untreated and/or improperly treated ADHD...the proof of trying to treat it is in the "self cures" that ADHD folks most often pursue....and may have pursued for years.
For example, the use of highly caffeinated beverages is one's first clue that ADHD may be an issue for him/her/them when treating the predominantly inattentive type of ADHD. Are you an energy drink addict? Can you function without your daily dose(s) of coffee? Soda pop? Caffeinated tea? Back when I was a new therapist, I saw a first-time client who actually brought into my office a two-litre bottle of Pepsi he was drinking from. When I asked what the Pepsi was for, he said it helped him to "stay on track" each day...as he usually drank two of his two-litre bottles during each 24 hour period. Yeah, that ended up being his way of managing his undiagnosed ADHD to that point in time. It wasn't just about an addiction to Pepsi or sugar; it was his form of treatment that he perceived as "least harmful" in keeping him focused on his work while he was at work each day. Once he got on the right ADHD medication, he not only quit his soda pop cure---but the quality of his life and work improved tremendously. Oh, and he also lost weight.
I more recently had a young lady who started each day smoking a joint. For her, she often felt "frazzled" and "restless" after waking up. Well, that would be true of the typical "predominantly hyperactive" type of ADHD'er. Central nervous system depressants (such as weed, alcohol, xanax, and other drugs) are often relied on when a person wants to feel "more calm" quickly. Even though this young lady thought her "real" problem was "bad anxiety", in truth, her actual "core" problem was ADHD that she was treating inappropriately by herself for several years.
Then there are those people who alternate between using central nervous system depressants (as mentioned above) and things like the Pepsi, energy drinks, coffee...and stimulant-based street drugs. When this occurs, we are often talking about ADHD'ers of the predominantly "combined" type.
If you have found stimulant-based street drugs as "helping" you function better in your own life...chances are again pretty high that you have ADHD. Cocaine...meth...crack. I know this might sound a bit crazy, but it's not. ADHD is one of those conditions where the executive functioning areas of the brain DO need to be stimulated in order to function more effectively. This can happen whether a person uses cocaine or Adderall to achieve the desired end result(s). The problem is that cocaine uses involves a "quick" rise and even quicker crash back down when it is selected to "feel better now". Adderall and the other stimulant-based ADHD medications have a slower rise and descent when taken in the proper and prescribed dosage.
Vyvanse is considered one of the alternatives that more highly medication-sensitive patients/clients can use...as well as BuSpar, which is a non-stimulant based medication used to treat ADHD. People who have abused Adderall or Ritalin (as two examples) have, in their own way, tried to achieve the same "rush" that others feel when using cocaine, crack, or meth to feel better quickly. This is why Adderall (as one example) has been often described as "Hillbilly cocaine" by those who abuse it. Sad, but true. As such anyone who has been addicted to street drugs and/or alcohol would need to be sober for at least 30-60 days before being evaluated for ADHD by a licensed professional LP, LLP, or MD psychiatrist.
I have made mention of these realities because they aren't usually discussed in casual conversation. Yet, here we are now....
If you suspect you may be ADHD, now would be the time to contact me, as an LLP psychologist to take your first steps in determining whether you have ADHD...and what type predominates.
Until next post....