Not sure it’s ADD/ADHD for everyone. I think an anxiety disorder may be involved.
Even people who suspect they may have ADD can be switched on with the right kind of work environment. That does not mean something too regimented. It means doing something very interesting and getting feedback on it. Keeping busy prevents the slippage into dreaminess and the anxiety that leads to procrastination.
If it were really ADD, you’d have a very hard time learning anything. That, I think, is what differentiates ADD from something else.
If that’s what your head is like, that sucks.
Actually, one of the classic features of ADD is hyperfocus — the ability to do something in depth because it uses all of your strengths and few of your weaknesses. This is why so many people refuse to believe their child, spouse, etc. is ADD: “When he wants to play videogames, he can concentrate.”
My youngest daughter was “diagnosed” with ADHD when she was about 7. Her teachers *insisted* that the kid couldn’t focus and was too rambunctious. They *insisted* she take medication. Well, we tried many different meds and none of them worked. The problems at school didn’t get any better, the teachers were not appeased. So, I took matters into my own hands. I took her off of medication and aggressively advocated for her because she is exceptionally gifted. It turns out that exceptionally gifted kids frequently look like ADHD’s to the average teacher. That’s what happened to my nephew. IQ of 160. He works as a security guard. All through his elementary school years, he was put into classes for kids with behavioral problems and misdiagnosed. I was determined not to let that happen to my kid.
It turns out that kids like mine only manifest themselves at a rate of 1/1000 for the exceptionally gifted. That means that in our middle school, she was a one-off. It was a nine year struggle with the school system but she is finally able to learn at her own pace in high school and the problems with distractedness, absent mindedness and hyperactivity during the really boring parts of her day have ended. She takes classes online at Stanford University.
So, my theory still holds about the anxiety problems of women who think they have ADHD. I would also add now that the gifted get the short end too and think they have a problem that they really don’t have. The truly affected by ADHD have a great deal of difficulty learning. They usually respond to some form of medication. Some of my cousins have ADD/ADHD and believe me, just as you know a gifted kid when you meet them, you know an ADHD kid as well.
Just you wait and see, there will be new studies about what makes us distracted and ADD will not necessarily be the cause. With women, we rarely get the praise we deserve when we do something well and some of us give up after awhile, never expecting to receive it. That and a couple good panic attacks could make you think there’s something seriously wrong with you. So what else is new?
Not sure it’s ADD/ADHD for everyone. I think an anxiety disorder may be involved.
Even people who suspect they may have ADD can be switched on with the right kind of work environment. That does not mean something too regimented. It means doing something very interesting and getting feedback on it. Keeping busy prevents the slippage into dreaminess and the anxiety that leads to procrastination.
If it were really ADD, you’d have a very hard time learning anything. That, I think, is what differentiates ADD from something else.
If that’s what your head is like, that sucks.
Actually, one of the classic features of ADD is hyperfocus — the ability to do something in depth because it uses all of your strengths and few of your weaknesses. This is why so many people refuse to believe their child, spouse, etc. is ADD: “When he wants to play videogames, he can concentrate.”
http://add.about.com/od/adhdthebasics/a/Hyperfocus.htm
My youngest daughter was “diagnosed” with ADHD when she was about 7. Her teachers *insisted* that the kid couldn’t focus and was too rambunctious. They *insisted* she take medication. Well, we tried many different meds and none of them worked. The problems at school didn’t get any better, the teachers were not appeased. So, I took matters into my own hands. I took her off of medication and aggressively advocated for her because she is exceptionally gifted. It turns out that exceptionally gifted kids frequently look like ADHD’s to the average teacher. That’s what happened to my nephew. IQ of 160. He works as a security guard. All through his elementary school years, he was put into classes for kids with behavioral problems and misdiagnosed. I was determined not to let that happen to my kid.
It turns out that kids like mine only manifest themselves at a rate of 1/1000 for the exceptionally gifted. That means that in our middle school, she was a one-off. It was a nine year struggle with the school system but she is finally able to learn at her own pace in high school and the problems with distractedness, absent mindedness and hyperactivity during the really boring parts of her day have ended. She takes classes online at Stanford University.
So, my theory still holds about the anxiety problems of women who think they have ADHD. I would also add now that the gifted get the short end too and think they have a problem that they really don’t have. The truly affected by ADHD have a great deal of difficulty learning. They usually respond to some form of medication. Some of my cousins have ADD/ADHD and believe me, just as you know a gifted kid when you meet them, you know an ADHD kid as well.
Just you wait and see, there will be new studies about what makes us distracted and ADD will not necessarily be the cause. With women, we rarely get the praise we deserve when we do something well and some of us give up after awhile, never expecting to receive it. That and a couple good panic attacks could make you think there’s something seriously wrong with you. So what else is new?