It’s National ADHD Awareness Month. In true ADHD fashion, I waited until last minute to post. But I do want to bring attention (pun intended) to all the misconceptions out there about ADHD. Brace yourselves for a loooooong thread!

People tend to think of ADHD as “ooh, shiny object!” but that’s probably only 10% of its presentation (at least for me and many others I know with it) and not even from the most disruptive symptom.

That stereotype does not acknowledge the many other aspects of what is actually an executive function and emotional regulation disorder.

Even the name is misleading. It’s less of an attention “deficit” than an attention excess! Our brains pay attention to absolutely everything (foreground and background), and do a poor job identifying and filtering out all the extraneous information.

But as I said, that’s only part of the condition. Here are some lesser-known (along with a few better-known) traits/symptoms/indicators of ADHD:

1.We have the ability to hyper focus on a subject of interest, often forgetting to eat or sleep. We may experience an irrational level of irritation when disrupted.

2.We experience frequent states of overstimulation caused by all the extra processing our brains are doing. We require periods of shutting down or zoning out to recover.

3.We are better(ish) (but it’s still a challenge!) at sustaining one or two friendships, versus keeping up with large groups of friends/acquaintances.

4.White noise is untenable, but brown noise is relaxing. Noise cancelling headphones are life changing.

We often identify deeply with music

6.We may be hyper-sensitive to criticism and/or rejection (symptom is labeled RSD if you want to go a-Googling).

7.Our emotional reactions are not always aligned with the situation at hand. We might find it difficult to feel “appropriate” levels of sadness over a loved-one’s death, for example. We sometimes have to fake emotional reactions and wonder what is “wrong” with us.

8.We crave deep, authentic conversations and abhor surface-level niceties. Cocktail parties are the devil.

9.We may have difficulty with the concept of “oversharing.” (Like, we do this a LOT.)

10.Females and those assigned female at birth are often under-diagnosed or diagnosed much later (teen/adult) because we present differently than young boys with ADHD. We are more likely to be compliant and non-disruptive and are often gifted students.

*This is not to say we don’t struggle with other aspects of the condition, but teachers/parents/doctor tend not to jump right to suspecting ADHD because of the stereotypes that exist (and the misleading name).

11.For girls/women, the H (hyperactivity) is often internalized as anxiety rather than externalized as jittery physical behaviors.

12.We have a poor working memory and/or many gaps in longterm memory. Yesterday I told my husband I wanted to go to a live auction sometimes and he reminded me we’ve been to several in years past. I have zero memory of this.

(related: would be very easy to gaslight someone with ADHD- we are used to questioning our ability to accurately recall events).

13. We have a poor working memory and/or many gaps in longterm memory. Yesterday I told my husband I wanted to go to a live auction sometimes and he reminded me we’ve been to several

14. “Out of sight, out of mind” is a phrase we identify deeply with. (I once had to put a post-it note on my bathroom mirror to remind me a dearly loved family member was in the hospital, because otherwise I might go the entire day without remembering.

Undiagnosed, this would have made me feel like a heartless monster, though I *know* I’m anything but.)

On the other hand, this trait made it easy to get over breakups in record time:)

15.We experience time blindness. We’re often late because of an inability to estimate how much time tasks will take or because we’re in hyperfocus mode, where time ceases to exist.

OR, like me, we’re obsessively punctual because next-level anxiety over losing track of time causes us to check the clock constantly.

16.We perform best under pressure. Adrenaline released by procrastination anxiety is one of our rare motivators.

17.Stimulants like caffeine (or more illicit ones, like cocaine) have the opposite effect as intended, calming and focusing us.

18.ADHD brains don’t produce/release enough dopamine. Dopamine allows us to regulate emotional responses and is responsible for feelings of pleasure and reward.

19.Many chase those “dopamine highs” by turning to other chemicals to provide the missing jolts of pleasure- we are more likely to be “adrenaline junkies,” substance abusers or overeaters.

20.Rule breaking/getting away with something/engaging in risky behaviors offers a similar substitute for the dopamine our brains crave. It is estimated over 25% of incarcerated people have ADHD (versus 5% of general population).

21.We are extremely impulsive. (Makes for a good entrepreneur, but a pretty worrisome teenager.)

22.We are very valuable to have in an emergency situation or in stressful environments- it’s one of the rare times we find it easy to be calm, cool and collected.

23.We are extremely likely to find ADHD (or closely-related spectrum disorders like autism or OCD) all over our family trees. It is HIGHLY genetic. My mom, sister, three children, aunt, uncle, and 4/5 first cousins have been diagnosed with one or more of these three disorders

24.Efficiency is everything to our busy brains. Waiting in traffic or the doctor’s office or running a needless errand often induces “crawl out of skin” irritation.

25.Conversely, we might spend an entire day mindlessly scrolling our phone and attempting to do the simplest of tasks because our brains just won’t hold a thought pattern.

26.We prefer to watch video lectures or listen to podcasts at 1.5x or 2x speeds and find we also retain more this way.

27.We often have auditory processing issues and will actively seek out written or visual explanations over verbal ones. (God bless closed captioning and subtitles!)

28.We have difficulty remembering lists of items or instructions. For example, sending my ADHD teen upstairs to brush her hair, retrieve a schoolbook and turn off her lights will inevitably backfire. I have to present a written checklist or assign tasks one at a time (two max).

Example: “Go clean your room” is incomprehensible. “Pick up dirty laundry, then sort toys following XYZ organization system, then...” is (usually) successful.

Scrivener is my favorite writing tool for similar reasons.

30.Background noise (tv, music) or “background” activity (doodling while talking on the phone or knitting during a lecture) helps our brain focus. Although it seems illogical, please let your ADHD kids watch tv or listen to audiobook while doing homework.

31.We often have sensory issues. (Food textures, tags on shirts, etc.)

32.We might say yes to everything because we have such varied interests and so many things sound fun, but often find it difficult to engage when the time comes.

33.We may run ourselves ragged to avoid the profound discomfort of being still or quiet. We would rather stick knives in your eye than attempt meditation (though many find success with it when they’re able to sustain a practice).

34.We hobby jump and/or career jump.

35.We are often highly creative and/or entrepreneurial.

36.Once we’ve lost interest in something, forcing it feels like complete drudgery

37.We may also have anxiety and/or depression, often stemming from an internal monologue that berates us for all the things we can’t do “like a normal person. This is especially true of those who weren’t diagnosed early in life.

However, in many cases ADHD is misdiagnosed as anxiety and/or depression and diagnosing and treating the ADHD makes the depression/anxiety symptoms disappear.

Like any condition, there are pros and cons, strengths and challenges. So many of my behaviors (like 85%) and so much of my personality was/is shaped by my symptoms of AHDH and my handling of them, making it difficulty to untangle which parts are “me” and which parts are my ADHD.

Over time, I’ve come to accept that the two are one and the same, for worse and for better. I’m also lucky to have a GREAT therapist, medicine that works for me, a host of “hacks” that I’ve learned to employ, and supportive friends and family. All those things help tremendously!

Now that I’ve written the world’s longest thread, if you’ve read this far, I’ll end by saying: hit me up with any questions! I’m happy to elaborate on any of these aspects if that would be helpful to anyone.

Reread, realized I missed #29, which should make the next tweet in the sequence make more sense, as it’s a continuation of 29. Here it is: We are overwhelmed (and thus immobilized) by big projects and need them broken down into smaller, more manageable steps in order to begin.

Also! I’m completely fascinated by a scientific study that used brain scans to prove telling a person with ADHH to “focus” “pay attention” or “concentrate” actually has the opposite effect! The harder the subjects tried to focus, the worse their focus became.

This feels related to the “distractions actually help me focus.” Clearing the environment of distractors and telling a person to try to be still/quiet and focus is logical for neurotypical people, but actually DETRIMENTAL for those with #ADHD.