The experts say people with ADHD tend to be intelligent, creative, empathetic, and have the ability to “hyperfocus“.
All the people I know would consider every one of these as positive traits. Most people want to be known as intelligent, creative, and empathetic, right? Like, you can send someone a greeting card with a list of those things, and they’ll probably be happy to receive it. But it’s that last one that especially interests me. They say the ability to hyperfocus is like a “superpower” ADHD-afflicted folks have.
Well, there’s no doubt that I can (and often do) hyperfocus. That’s one of the reasons I’m able to do things like help create, tweak, and balance a trading card game. It’s why I enjoy data analysis. It’s why my stories end up relatively well thought-out and layered with meaning (when I actually finish them). It’s how I was able to connect the dots when it came to occult symbolism. When I focus on something, it’s a level of hyperfocus so intense that I don’t even realize how much time has passed or what’s going on around me.
This mode is a double-edged sword, to be sure. When I find myself in that groove, I can get SO MUCH DONE, but unfortunately … my family suffers.
I know a lot of people don’t or can’t hyperfocus like I can. So I guess the question is, are there examples of people without ADHD who can also hyperfocus? I’d imagine there are, but I’d also assume “neurotypical” people are able to drop what they’re doing and listen when someone is speaking to them more easily, even while they’re in a deep state of focus. Perhaps they’re able to multitask and “shift gears” more easily?
ADHD folks also tend to be procrastinators, and there’s no doubt I’ve been doing that to varying degrees my whole life. I’m not sure how much of this is my Type B personality vs. ADHD, but it’s a returning villain I often have to contend with. The ADHD-afflicted, it is said, have real issues with doing something now. It’s like there’s a switch that needs flipped before they can get started, but they can’t flip it easily themselves. I definitely have that going on in my mind, and it’s part of the reason why usually I need a hard deadline with consequences in order to motivate myself to get started on a project. That could explain why I almost always waited until the last minute to do my homework in high school. The last minute becomes now, and flips that urgency switch to “on”.
If I do somehow manage to start a project when that switch hasn’t been flipped, I tend to get distracted easily, another hallmark of ADHD.
Enter the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain used to focus. If a person without ADHD is concentrating hard on something, the prefrontal cortex lights up with activity in a brain scan. If a person with ADHD concentrates, the prefrontal cortex actually goes the opposite direction and gets less activity…
…UNLESS there’s an x-factor that gets the ADHD person particularly engaged, such as when something is gamified. Then the prefrontal cortex lights up like a Christmas tree. This is hyperfocus mode. It allows the ADHD-afflicted person to get started on something and stay focused, with the drawback being that the ADHD brain doesn’t seem to know when to stop. For example, someone with ADHD may sit on a YouTube video reading and interacting with the comments beneath it for much longer than a typical person would. (Yes, this all happens to me.)
I’m still not totally convinced I have ADHD, but I certainly have enough of the symptoms that they have caused problems in my life. They have emerged as things I need to overcome. If I think of the symptoms as their own separate issues (rather than as a single condition), I can battle each of them as they come. And I have done that, and I would say I have effectively minimized the problems they cause. …Just not quite enough to finish writing a novel.
The experts say undiagnosed and untreated ADHD can wreck your credit score, negatively affect your grades, harm your self-esteem, and be the cause of relationship problems.
Well, my credit score is awesome, my grades are awesome, I still have some self-esteem troubles (but who doesn’t?), and I’ve been with my loving wife for literally half my life.
ADHD diagnoses are about as unscientific as science can get. Every psychiatrist has different protocols and standards when testing for ADHD, the questions are vague, and the answers are left to interpretation.
Here’s a random one. I x’d the items that affect me:
- Symptoms of Adult ADHD May Include:
- x Impulsiveness
- x Forgetting names and dates
- x Missing deadlines and leaving projects unfinished
- x Extreme emotionality and rejection sensitivity
- _ Becoming easily distracted and disorganized
- _ Suffering generalized anxiety disorder and mood disorder
- _ Low frustration tolerance
- x Trouble multitasking
- _ Excessive activity or restlessness
-Everyone’s a little impulsive. I’m not recklessly impulsive.
-I definitely forget names and dates. I have trouble remembering people’s names and I have to come up with mnemonic devices to remember important dates, such as birthdays.
-I have an unfinished novel begging me to return to it. But I don’t miss deadlines.
-I do tend to internalize feelings and get emotional over rejection. But define “extreme”. I have curbed this over the years, one of those aforementioned “battles” I had with a symptom.
-I do tend to jump from one project to the next, but I stay organized while doing it. When I was a child and teen, I was very unorganized. but I’ve since developed the necessary life skills to stay organized.
-I have trouble multitasking … sometimes. It depends on how deep I am into an activity (ie: hyperfocus mode).
-Define “excessive activity”. Does that mean hyperactivity? Shaking a leg on occasion? I do tend to get bored easily, but I’ve trained myself to be more patient over the years.
Here’s a test designed specifically for adults. I have to check off everything I have trouble with:
- I have difficulty getting organized.
- x When given a task, I usually procrastinate rather than doing it right away.
- x I work on a lot of projects, but can’t seem to complete most of them.
- I tend to make decisions and act on them impulsively — like spending money, getting sexually involved with someone, diving into new activities, and changing plans.
- x I get bored easily.
- x No matter how much I do or how hard I try, I just can’t seem to reach my goals.
- I often get distracted when people are talking; I just tune out or drift off.
- x I get so wrapped up in some things I do that I can hardly stop to take a break or switch to doing something else.
- I tend to overdo things even when they’re not good for me — like compulsive shopping, drinking too much, overworking, and overeating.
- I get frustrated easily and I get impatient when things are going too slowly.
- x My self-esteem is not as high as that of others I know.
- x I need a lot of stimulation from things like action movies and video games, new purchases, being among lively friends, driving fast or engaging in extreme sports.
- I tend to say or do things without thinking, and sometimes that gets me into trouble.
- x I’d rather do things my own way than follow the rules and procedures of others.
- x I often find myself tapping a pencil, swinging my leg, or doing something else to work off nervous energy.
- I can feel suddenly down when I’m separated from people, projects or things that I like to be involved with.
- x I see myself differently than others see me, and when someone gets angry with me for doing something that upset them I’m often very surprised.
- Even though I worry a lot about dangerous things that are unlikely to happen to me, I tend to be careless and accident prone.
- Even though I have a lot of fears, people would describe me as a risk taker.
- I make a lot of careless mistakes.
- I have blood relatives who suffer from ADHD, another neurological disorder, or substance abuse.
So the results of this test were a bit more damning, but I feel like these statements are very general and can apply to just about anyone. I scored a ten. If you score a fifteen or higher, you’re supposed to see a doctor about ADHD. Again, I appear to be in the clear.
But if I were given this test at nine years old, I would’ve scored much worse. In addition to what I checked, numbers 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 18, and 19 would’ve all been checkmarks for me.
On a more positive note, I suddenly have some free time! Work tends to get less busy around Christmastime, I completed all my goals for the Business Intelligence team at work, I’ve started doing very well at Cognos (I would say I’ve now surpassed my peer), and the last BI meeting was canceled, leaving me free to do a little blogging. As stands, if I don’t get this new BI position, it won’t be for lack of trying. But now, I can rest. Well, right after I clean and straighten up the house with my wife. It’s still up for sale, and we have a second showing tomorrow.
In the meanwhile, keep writing … so I can live vicariously through you.
Nick Enlowe 