Hope | ADHD Information

Hope

While ADHD (aka AADD) is categorized as a disorder, many professionals believe that it can also be regarded in some individuals as a gift. With or without hyperfocus, a common manifestation, ADD/ADHD in combination with successful coping skills may be utilized to achieve remarkable accomplishments. The list of historic figures and persons currently well-known in a wide range of fields who have displayed ADD/ADHD symptoms is impressive and has been used by some medical and counseling professionals as a source of inspiration.

wikipedia.com

I agree. Its a double-edged sword:

On one hand I develop a lot of talents and do a lot of things that most people would consider impossible or impractical. When I'm interested I can think fast, make large intuitive leaps to find innovative solutions to problems, and I can read people really easy - all of these make life fun and interesting.

On the other, I'm easily distracted and worry about losing my job and peace all the time. I dont like to be around people. I dont have a great deal of confidence in myself beyond certain tasks that I know I'm good at. I screw up a lot. My S.O. hates how I can't focus on the 'important' stuff (sorry, picking up my stuff isnt important, learning how to do a backflip *is*). The same stuff that pretty much everyone with ADD goes through. I'm pretty sick of feeling broken simply because I march to the beat of a different drummer, but as I get older I find myself trying to be calmer, less intense, more cooperative with reality.

After a few years of weighing the pros and cons I've decided that I'm going to get some help. In fact, I'm going to the Hallowell clinic tomorrow for the first time to discuss treatment options. I'm not doing this to 'fix' myself, because I like all the positives about having ADD. I think I'm just born at the wrong time and in the wrong place. I have big dreams and in achieving them I do things the 'wrong' way, which frustrates everyone. Not being able to fit in means not being able to function in this environment. For these reasons alone I feel it's the right time. My careers now at a point where being focused matters, my responsiblilities in life require something more than my squirrel brained 'ooo look shiny object' approach.

That or I sell everything I own, get a divorce, move to a drop zone and spend my life skydiving.......which, now i think about it, may have some merit.

woah, that was pretty self revealing for a first post.

It's all point of view!

When I first confirmed what I suspected for years (that I had ADD) it was easy to wallow in self-pity. But after a couple of months, I realize that I have a gift that makes me different and just being different isn't bad.... in fact it can be great!

We can do alot of things better than non-add'ers and with the right treatment we can have the best of both worlds!

Just to keep my head straight on this topic:

In one corner there are the 'ADD has both positive and negative aspects'

In the other there's the 'ADD sucks and is never a gift'.

And the ADD sucks side keep repeating that to the positive/negative side.

Thats logical.

I dont think anyones said 'Yay! I have ADD', only that some have recognized that those negative aspects can be positive in other situations, see my initial post. It is what it is. My best friend is chronically physically handicapped (to the point that Drs get tingly when he arrives at their office for help) he'll never tell you that being 2' tall and confined to a wheelchair is a wonderful place to be, but he will readily admit that without being that limited he wouldnt have developed the skills that have allowed him to become a very talented and recognized for his art. And his brother, with the same disease, is also a very talented music producer who works for several major labels: "In spite of" doesnt really cut it, both will freely admit that growing up in a small town in the midwest would have meant that they'd probably have been jocks or farmers in the rural midwest had they not been handicapped and pretty much 'written off' as being part of the 'norm' in their area.

Does anyone understand what I'm saying or am I being horribly positive and cutesy? (Which would be a first).
I don't think seeing it as a gift has anything to do with how someone handles it or how severe there case is. Maybe I'm not understanding something here (which is quite possible).

How I see it you can be the most successful person on the planet. ADHD doesn't mean you can't be a huge success. But why are you successful? Is it because you have ADD(the gift theory) or is it because you are a smart hardworking individual that overcame whatever odds to get where you are today.

ADHD is just like any other disorder, disease or hardship we must deal with. Just another roadblock on the road of life that we must either knock down or get around to achieve our goals. People act like ADHD is the only trouble or roadblock that we hit in life. Which I find shocking, and if adhd is truly the only hard thing you've ever had to deal with then you are truly a very lucky person.

Still the fact remains that no matter how hard or easy that road is we push on and succeed dispite adhd or other problems not because of it.

I don't think something should be labeled a gift just because you learn to deal with it or because you are happy or successful inspite of it. If you are a gifted artist, successful in business, hard working, or determined it is because you have those qualities not because a disorder gave you the qualities.

I think people need to give themselves credit for what they can do. We need to celebrate and be proud of out natural abilities. I think the only reason some people say it is a gift is because they are embarressed about having ADHD and need to put a possitive happy face on it. Instead of trying to sugar coat our problems I think we need to understand that ADHD is not who we are. It does not define your basic character or our strengths and weaknesses. All ADHD does is make our strengths and weaknesses more obvious. Things we are good at feel that much greater because things we are bad at we are really bad at.

Again maybe I'm missing what some of you are saying so if I am please let me know. I just think that success and how well you deal with things has nothing to do with whether a disorder is a gift or not and while I don't sit around feeling sorry for myself or complaining to others about my adhd I'm also not going to pretend that this speedbump in life is some wonderful gift that I'd miss if it were gone. Sorry if I've also caused any confusion. I would vote 8 or 10 myself.

Seems we're about the same age bugzappers. I apologize if you think its cutesy wootsy.

I've had my time saying 'poor me' and I've spent my time in the abyss. One day I woke up hungover, homeless, fleabitten and I realized that I wasnt going to get anything from it and decided to try a different approach. Your mileage may vary.
If this is a gift, take it back. I don't want it anymore. After 35 yrs of trials and tribulations with add, I can safely say, it is a curse. Look at it from any angle you want. I have to take a pill to control my impulses, cost 200.00 a month,,, some gift...the average human has no need for external meds to control it.

Stop sugar coating it and save the cutesy wootsey.

This sucks, I hate it, and I would like it to go away. But I awaken every morning with it, and it is all over again.

Now as a parent, I get to worry about my kids having it.

I think that is worst feeling of all. Besides the trial and error of every medication doing god knows what to me as I search for the right meds.
bugzappers38505.7459259259Read Right brain learner in a left brain world. Great information also. Explains why things are harder for people like this.
But the fact remains that not everyone suffers the same baseline of symptoms. Not everyone has the same comorbids, and not everyone has the same medical history. So rather than jump on it as an "adult" responsibilty as I have in the past, I think its more case by case.

Just in case you missed the point.........

As far as the poll; If you look, it's based on only those that are diagnosed and medicating.
unbreakable38505.8039467593

I am not trying to force you to look at it as a gift. In your last couple of posts you have helped me prove my point: How you look at ADD will directly correspond to how you handle it

"We define ourselves, not anything external"

I look at ADD as a gift sometimes, a challenge sometimes but never as a road block. Once you see a road block, you cannot move forward. If you took your challenges as detours that need to be worked around, I think it would help you cope with the bad times better. If I wake up every day, ADD or not, and think that my life sucks, it is going to be very hard to convince myself that my life doesn't suck. Your mind is a very powerful tool in all this.

Well if you are constantly telling yourself that you have it tougher because you have ADD, you are going to see all the ways you have to struggle day in and day out. I ,instead, decide to focus on the positives. It makes for a much happier life.

Oh and as for the poll, I don't base too much on it. The vast majority of people are here to find answers, help, motivation or a combination of all three. If the had no problems, they wouldn't be here.

Those are my two pennies. Take 'em for what they're worth

[QUOTE=MaddMatt]

I'll politely disagree with you, MafiaKiddo[/QUOTE]

Clearly MM your in the extreme minority. 85% are having constant problems.

It's obvious to me that the degree of affect it has on you is not that of the majority. That doesn't say that your better at managing it or that everyone else has more severe ADHD, it just means there are many different types and severities.

I would agree that it is possible to work toward a understanding and management through education and medication, but that doesn't mean we all will consider it a gift.

I think we all see what we want to see. But again, it's not the same disorder for everyone.I'm not sure how out of 7 posters, with 5 saying that they have both positive and negative attributes, 1 saying its all negative and one (yourself abstaining) constitutes an extreme minority - 7 people aren't exactly a representative sample. Given that as many as 80% of people are undiagnosed with ADD yet continue with their life I would theorize that the vast majority of people are able to live full lives without ever knowing about ADD. problems? yes, but if they dont know about ADD they just do what we all did before we were diagnosed, which was suck it up , figure that we just have to try harder and try to create systems that allowed us to live.

I know I have constant problems and on a down day could give you a huge laundry list of things that having ADD has messed up, as I'm sure everyone else could.

As Zappa said "you are what you is".

You can choose to only see the bad in your life or to try and find the positives. Of course, I cannot place myself in your shoes and your life, but only know my own which has been a rather interesting journey so far.

At the end ofthe day, where does ADD stop and personal responsibility start?

Poll Question: How much does ADHD affect your everyday ability to function. Poll Choice Votes Poll Statistics 10 - severe problems 6

[12.77%] 8 - its a constant struggle 33

[70.21%] 6 - i’m barely able to manage it 3

[6.38%] 4 - i manage it well 2

[4.26%] 2 - sometimes it has an affect 2

[4.26%] 0 - i see it as a gift 1

[2.13%]
My statement is based on this poll......
[QUOTE=Fallen]

At the end ofthe day, where does ADD stop and personal responsibility start?

[/QUOTE]

Couldn't agree more. But the fact remains that not everyone suffers the same baseline of symptoms. Not everyone has the same comorbids, and not everyone has the same medical history. So rather than jump on it as an "adult" responsibilty as I have in the past, I think its more case by case.

Education, Medication, and Management are the keys to being a productive ADHDer, but not everyone has the ability to do so.

For every Micheal Jordan, or Magic Johnson, there are thousands of gym rats, and alot of players in between.

We define ourselves, not anything external. To think we are the way we are is the same as saying everyone with ADHD should see it as a gift.

ADHDers are not just a group of gifted poeple, no more than any other person that has dealt with adversity for a lifetime. Sure, if managed well it can be a strength, but so can anything. Just ask Stephen Hawking or anyone else that can look beyond the problems we all have.

flip sides-

fast thinker, quick creative solutions, ending up someplace unexpected/losing track of multitude of thoughts and plans, ending up someplace else.

energetic and dynamic/too wound up and reactive, intense

keenly aware of environment-know what's going on/keenly aware of environment-don't know what i'm doing

million ways to get from here to there (solutions)/ a million ways to get from here to there(where do i start, and which is next?)

intuitive- see things others don't/oblivious- can't see what's in front of my face

respond, react without thinking(in the game)/respond, react w/o thinking(impulsive)

great memory for details/poor recall when important

my mom told me when i was young that i have a one-track mind. not true. my brain is frequently grand central station. all she could see was one very powerful, very swift, train at a time.

I'll politely disagree with you, MafiaKiddo

When my brain is moving in full ADD mode, I hop from subject to subject so quickly that sometimes I find connections or new solutions that others (read non-ADD) have never seen. My brain doesn't shut off and I often come up with answers hours after the questions have been posed, sometimes in the middle of the night. "Normal" people only sleep at night

It is very hard to get stuff done, true. But you can get things done if you change your perspective and stop looking at ADD as this horrible disease. It is how you are and the best thing to do is find ways to compensate. That might mean finding a different line of work, giving yourself rewards for the stuff you hate to do, setting timers to keep you focused, whatever. Coping is the key, and I refuse to hate the disorder that has made me who I am.

That's just me, however, and everyone is entitled to their own perspective

How strange, I was typing a response almost identical to yours MM. My ADD traits are directly responsible for everything that my life has become (the good and the bad) and I wouldnt trade any of them for the world.

I didn't think I would say this a couple of days ago, but I agree with both MafiaKiddo and Fallen!

MK: I guess we both agree that ADD is just one of the many detours we have to get around in life and does not bar success as much as it doesn't guarantee it.

Fallen: I agree with you too that ADD has positives along with the negatives.

I don't remember many quotes but there is one that has stuck with me for over 20 years from Henry Ford," Whether you believe you can or believe you can't, you are right". I like to think that dwelling on the negative only brings more negatives. By choosing to look at my ADD in a positive light, I can see alot of reasons why I am better than the "Normal" people. If I ever go into the private sector again (currently self-employed) and the interviewer asks about the positive things I bring to the job, I can think of a bunch of ADD things that would be a benefit to a company.

No one enjoys hanging around a negative person and hearing their sob stories every day. A change in attitude can spill over into so many other aspects of your life. You may never look at ADD as a gift but at least don't let it define you.

But the fact remains that not everyone suffers the same baseline of symptoms. Not everyone has the same comorbids, and not everyone has the same medical history. So rather than jump on it as an "adult" responsibilty as I have in the past, I think its more case by case.

Just in case you missed the point.........Again unbreakable, I'm obviously stupid. I have no clue what point you're making and I've re-read your posts a number of times.

What is this whole adult responsibility thing that you're speaking of? and where did I mention that 'ADD is all in someones head'. I realize that each of us have different symptoms, I'm just not sure where this fits into the whole negative/positive debate.

Then again I find positives in death and other major 'negative' and challenging life events.
Hope

wikipedia.com

Main Entry:  comorbid Part of Speech:  adjective Definition:  pertaining to two diseases which occur together, such as ADHD and depression

My point is that if your making a blanket statement about everyone that has adhd, then you are not seeing the big picture. your adhd is not the same as mine. this post was about an article that was based on adhd and hope, not about everyone thinking its the same thing for everyone. its very different in many cases. not everyone has the same comorbids, and some have none.
See thats the thing. I dont think anyone was making a blanket statement. hence my confusion. Thanks for clarifying tho. I like Unbreakable's point about the baseline symptoms and the case by case approach - 'cause it all depends! I hope that I'm not too off-topic - the discussion was about the 'gift' theory vs. 'positive/negatives'. In relating it to being hopeful with ADD, this is my thinking ...

We're individuals - we can only find solutions based on our experiences as individuals.   Sometimes when I hear people suggesting to me to be 'positive', it sounds like a panacea solution, and it triggers this feeling in me of being preached too. Sometimes the 'positive' approach sounds oversimplified. Sometimes people have to told me to be positive at the expense of acknowledging and facing something important. Sometimes a positive attitude is the exact ticket I need, and I curse my tendency toward negativity.   Sometimes a person who's always been positive can lose a loved one and forget what being positive ever felt like.   ADD or not, life affects our coping style.

I've also had a number of experiences with health professionals and 'normal' people who compare 'good' (AKA positive) patients - patients who are being treated sucessfully -   to 'bad' (AKA negative) patients - those who aren't responding to treatment, aren't coping too well, or who have complex life stuff going on that they don't have resources to help with. This can be pretty demoralizing and seriously interfere with hope - as if those who are struggling for a solution need to feel even worse about themselves by forgetting that they're an individual!

I find staying hopeful easier when I remember that I'm an individual with unique needs depending on my multitude of symptoms, life situations and experiences, and current skill set. Remembering that I 'me' and not the 'label' is key to keeping things in perspective and staying hopeful!

Easier said than done at times .. this condition has given my life an incredible beating!

I'm working on my 'find something positive' skills - if anyone has any tips on turning things on their head I'm all ears!

motormouth38508.7867013889

During College, years ago, I minored in a program called Creative Problem Solving. At the time, it was the only program of it's kind in the country. I have taken away a ton of useful day to day tidbits from those studies but one in particular applies here.

I was taught to always use the word Challenges instead of negatives. And instead of just saying,"I can't apply myself at this task", you form it into a question ,"How can I apply myself at this task". It gets the mind thinking of solutions instead of focusing on the problem.

This has been huge for me because ,as an ADD'er, my mind is always racing. When I ask myself a question, my mind races to find answers.

To make a long post longer, don't dwell on the negatives, figure out the challenges and what it takes to overcome them. You may be amazed at the progress you can make

Don't think it's a gift at all. I am an intelligent, creative person who suffers from ADHD. If ADHD was cured would I become stupid and uncreative of course not just like when I'm on meds I am just as smart and creative as I am off.

ADHD just makes it harder to use my natural gifts it doesn't give the gifts to me. [QUOTE=Reizende]I agree that ADD can be a gift in many creative ways, however the same traits in it that gift me also hinder me from achieving said greatness. 8([/QUOTE]

wisdom.
makes medicated zombiehood a little more bearable.
I agree that ADD can be a gift in many creative ways, however the same traits in it that gift me also hinder me from achieving said greatness. 8(