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| how to explain ADHD | |||
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So, I am always looking for a good way to explain ADHD to non ADHD people. I mean what it actually feels like and the problems we face, not just a list of symptoms. I feel like people often explain it poorly which leads to more people who are not understanding. I feel like you need to look at the root or reason instead of end result which is what most people do. For example, lets use dyslexia(I don't know much about this so what i say will be inaccurate most likely). If someone says" I have trouble reading and spelling because I have dyslexia" people would have trouble understanding. However, if you said "words get jumbled up etc..(and explained what it was like)" then they would understand much better. When I was diagnosed I was 11 and this is how my doctor explained it. It is simple yet effective in explaining it I feel. He said "Your brain is like a TV flipping through the channels and you have to work on stopping on one channel and watching the whole show"(or something to that effect). So, I often use this to explain what it feels like inside an ADHD person's mind. I say "Think of my brain as a TV, it flips through channels and finds one it likes, it stays there for a little while, then finds a new channel and then a new one and it switches back and forth between these channels, however, it never stops on one channel for a whole show and for that reason it doesn't really get the big picture from any of the shows it watches" I try to explain what I am thinking at the moment too. I'll say "Right now I am thinking of how I am talking to you, and what I need to do today, and that midterm I have tomorrow and this really cool concept I read in my book that I am fantasysing about and a few other things and my mind is jumping from one to the other but never really gets to finish one. So, as you could imagine this makes sitting down and immediately focusing only on reading my textbook really difficult. I don't have a lot of control over this, i try but my mind jumps around a lot and it gets frusterating. As you know I work hard and get good grades and try REALLY hard to control this so if I could easily control I would. It's like a person with OCD, they may have a compulsion that seems really pointless and you may think just stop, but you know it is not that simple and if they could they would. So, when I go to read on top of all of that I am easily distracted. So, while you may be able to tune small things out easily, it is really hard for me. If someone walks by, a loud car goes by, someone near me talks, a phone vibrates, etc... I'll distract me and I'll look up. Obviously this is a problem cause there are not many places with absolutley no distractions." I also have a lot of trouble transitioning and sitting through long lectures or movies but I don't have a good way to explain that. Anyways, I was just wondering what you guys thought of my explaination and how you would explain it or if you have any other additional info or comments. Thanks. For me, if I'm watching TV, i can zone out from an image or a word that comes from the TV and then my mind wanders. Before you know it, a few moments has gone by and I've lost track of what's happening in the program. I can't tell you how many times in a show that'll happen. I also have problems with memory. So, I write notes and I have them all over and then I lose them because I've forgotten where I put them. While my disorganization has gotten better, when I'm stressed, overwhelmed or something is important, all the organizational skills I have go right out the window. You may as well just take all the "stuff" and toss it in the air and let it fall where it goes. That's how my brain works. Thanks. The way I describe it to people is this.... When a normal person looks up at a clear sky at night they see a starry night and they see the stars, they may look at one star in particular but they still see the rest of the sky around it. When an ADD person looks up at the stars they look at the sky they see a star, then they look at another one, and they look at another one. They see single stars at a time without seeing the whole picture. Its harder for them to focus on everything at once, and can only focus on one star at a time. When they see another star they look at it, and then another, and another, and get distracted and lose their focus on the previous one. I think that makes sense but I'm not sure. I like the tv analogy too though. Thanks for the ideas. I like the star thing. It is important to remember iteffects everyone differently. I see that a lot. It seems like if a lot of people know one person with ADHD they think they all dead with similar things. Just because you meet someone who is really hyper, doesn't mean everyone one with ADHD is. I guess it just bugs me how uneducated people can be about it. It goes the same way from other learning and psychological problems. It is just so common, it would be nice if people knew more. Anyone else got any ideas? Does any of this sound familiar to anyone? I am not ashamed of being ADHD...depending on the setting I am in I am willing to openly tell people that I am. I just wish if I could have more successes with it. I am so loaded with ideas and creativity...my channel just changes too often for me to fully realize a success. ![]() AddMe This is always a challenge. It's hard to explain why our forgetfulness, or disorganization, or irrascibleness, or whatever, is really different from their forgetfulness, or their disorganizaton, or their irascibleness. People just naturally say "I experience those same things." It's a challenge to explain your ADHD without feeling defensive or without it sounding like some veiled excuse! .....maybe a good way to explain it, if someone asks, is for both of you to name some of the common, ordinary, plain-vanilla kinds of traits that everybody experiences and everybody has to deal with the consequences of: forgetting things, putting things off to do later, losing things, interrupting, getting distracted, tuning out in a conversation, feeling anxious...you get the idea.... then, explain to this person that for some folks--like you and me--their brains come pre-set, "hard wired", to function differently, and to function in ways that tend to exaggerate these traits--both their frequency and their magnitude. Which, understandably, causes problems! Point out that it's a genetic trait with the same high probability for inheritance as height!! And, because our brains are hard-wired this way, the effort we must exert to reduce these traits (along with the woe heaped on us for having them) is way more than what is usually required. Plus, there's this irony: We're not as stupid as we sometimes appear to be. It's not that we don't know how to do things the right way (or proper way, or considerate way, or sensitive way, or...), it's that, because of the way our brain's mechanics work, it doesn't happen that way consistently. No matter how hard we try. You could also point out some of your strengths or special qualities that you attribute to your having ADHD (even if they may not be ADHD related, who's to know for sure!).... If someone knows I have ADHD and asks, I'm happy to try to explain. Otherwise, I don't try to explain ADHD to others very often. Even though most people are clueless as to what ADHD is really like, they're also, by and large, not that interested in knowing. Too bad for them....they'll never know what they're missing! |
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