Adult ADHD diagnoses
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Anonymous
I know two people "with ADHD" who have that exact life. But agree I don't know anyone who actually has ADHD like that. Because these are fake diagnoses. But whew will those two people tell you all about how hard it is for them to live with ADHD! |
Anonymous
One issue is how you define “high achievement.” Someone can look like they are high achievers from the outside, but you have no idea what’s really going on. |
Anonymous
What do they tell you when you call them out on it? |
Anonymous
| I don’t believe there is ADHD, but only because I also don’t believe there is something like neurotypical thinking. |
Anonymous
But what if you’re wrong - you sound really twisted up over it. There’s a lot going on in people’s lives they don’t talk about. It sounds like you’re being highly critical of folks you know rather than it being about children with ADHD. I have ADHD and my child does as well. You can tell with her for sure - for me you probably would not. Her dad is obvious in home life and highly successful at work. Calm is a cucumber in his day-to-day and when he gets home, he’s exhausted from having to keep it together- it’s far more than the end of the day fatigue. When I empty his pockets, they’re full of small notes. He’s used to keep himself on track. Medication only does so much. I think unless you are someone struggling to have your child diagnosed, you really just need to stop worrying about other people. |
Anonymous
I love you. Every single one of us is a weirdo. |
Anonymous
What does that even mean? If some successfully graduates from high school, college, and law school with good grades, passes the bar, and works successfully as a lawyer for a number of years, they have achieved difficult academic and professional accomplishments that require a fairly high level of executive functioning. ADHD is a chronic, debilitating disorder that disrupts executive functioning via some combination of the symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. ADHD exists on a spectrum with some people struggling more than others, but in order to qualify as ADHD, these symptoms must combine to actually impact the individuals ability to function normally. While all humans may experience these symptoms in some level and combination at some point in their lives, a person with ADHD has them persistently in a way that inhibits normal academic, professional, and social functioning. Thus, if you are able to function not only normally but at a high degree of difficulty in your academic, professional, and social life for decades, you do not have ADHD. You may have other issues. You may be burned out at work, dealing with depression, anxiety or other mental health concerns, having a midlife crisis, or simply in the wrong career or relationships. But unless you have struggled to function at school, work, and socially due to ADHD symptoms for your entire life, you don't have ADHD. |
Anonymous
This is not true at all. Many ADHD drugs are stimulants and in high demand on college campuses and the drug scene. I am not sure who started this idea that stimulants only work on an ADHD brain but it isn't true. |
Anonymous
I actually agree with this. I also think the rise in ADHD as a diagnosis for adults is largely due to the way society now asks too much of people. Technology has, for some reason, greatly complicated our lives instead of simplifying them. I think kids diagnosed with ADHD genuinely have brains that work in different ways than other people (though no one's brain is typical) but that a lot of adults are diagnosed simply because modern life now requires more than a typical amount of executive function to survive, much less do well. At some point people max out and simply cannot stay on top of their email inbox, school forms, camp sign ups, meeting requests, appointment reminders, medical screenings, etc. that are part of a typical life for a middle aged working parent in the United States in 2025. The people without ADHD diagnoses are in the same boat, just using other coping methods. There are a very small number of people who can actually handle all of that well without some kind of assistance, and these people are also outliers. They aren't "neurotypical" -- they may be the biggest outliers of all, it just works to their advantage. |
Anonymous
Agreed, it's so obviously false that it makes me suspicious of the people who make the argument. |
Anonymous
No. |
Anonymous
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I think part of the issue is it is tough to function with so many things going on and the mental load and the high expectations, especially on women.
I often wonder whether I have adhd too but I think for me, I just have too much on my plate for too many years and it takes its toll because there is no break really until the kids are off to college. |
Anonymous
On paper, my mom is a high-achieving professional (world-class) with family and friends. But in real life, she is such a freaking mess and has always been. She is extremely cognitively gifted and hyperfocused at work. My sibling and I, are less smart, and our ADHD is much more obvious, but we've been always "googd kids", and you'd never guess that mom is a all over the place at home. When younger, there were days when she just did not come from work because she was so hyperfocused on some interesting task. I won't list all the impulsive crap she did over the years, but I was much more tame as a teenager than she was at 40. Again, none of that would be obvious, and I'd never tell a soul. My dad is also a good partner for her, he forgives her impulsivity and goes along with her ideas. That is to say, my mom struggles everywhere, but you won't know based on the achievements. |
Anonymous
This. And I think this is why I get annoyed when people who have clearly functioned well their whole life suddenly are like "I have ADHD" and "my symptoms are just hidden, you don't know how much I struggle." Yes I do. I struggle too. It's not ADHD. It's life. |
Anonymous
Wow all three of you have ADHD. what’s your HHI? |