“I think there is a bit of a trend where people like to label themselves because it can get them attention or sympathy.” - it also puts people at ease because they convince themselves they can’t change and become reliant on medication.
My biggest exception to all this labelling comes from someone I’m closely related to who has “ADHD” and medicated for it and tells me I might have it too.
But my brain feels great when I’ve slept and ate well, which makes me more likely to exercise. When I do those things, I love how my brain works.
And the cherry on the cake for me was when this person said “if I walk in the morning, I don’t need to take my medication in the arvo”.
I’ve now come to the conclusion that this person just finds it easier to take a pill then put more effort into improving their habits.
This has made me extremely skeptical of anything adhd related and I think it’s just the symptom of poor habits and some childhood neglect.
I do think there would be some misdiagnosis around from busy doctors who don't have the energy to look deeper into someones condition. Easier to send them off with a pill than it is to put the hours into them to figure out what's really going on. This of course is not exclusive to ADHD though, I think it happens all across mental health.
But I think it's a reach to discredit thousands of hours of research based on your experience with one person. I think it's a little insulting and a dismissive to imply that all people with ADHD just have some bad habits and some childhood neglect because of an off the cuff comment someone you know made once.
I respect your right to your opinion and understand the you can only come to that view based on your own experiences, but I disagree with you on this one.
Not saying everyone with ADHD is like this person, but my view has also been formed from my own experience of calming a scattered mind without medication or a diagnosis.
I think a lot of people would rather take a pill than do the inner work required to manage their own health and well-being.
The more experiences I read of people with ADHD and ASD, the more it seems that nobody is neurotypical, we are all neurodiverse and the neurotypical and neurodiverse labels are causing an unnecessary division in society.
It's call a spectrum for a reason, some are on a higher end, some middle some on the low end, we are all on it somewhere.
I agree some people would rather a quick fix than doing things the hard way. But there is not amount of inner work or whatever someone with ADHD/ASD can do do completely rid or cure themselves of the condition.
Implementing and maintaining healthy habits will help to manage or improve just about any health condition there is. I take less ADHD medication than I used to before I got sober and started actively trying to look after my mental health. Some may be able to get to a point where they no longer need medication, others won’t.
All humans show ADHD/ASD traits at times, but not at the same regulatory or severity as someone who has been or should be clinically diagnosed. As someone with ADHD it’s frustrating when you try to talk about your struggles and people be dismissive and say “oh all of us are a little bit like that”. I agree we are all wired a little differently and that’s what makes the world so amazing but when it impairs your ability to function normally day to day it’s more than just “we all have a bit of that”.
Personally I haven’t experienced much division at all. It’s just is or it isn’t. Like there’s no divide between diabetics and non-diabetics and nor should there be. It just is what it is.
I don't see ADHA or ASD as conditions that need to be cured, they're part of the human existence. Different strategies work for different people, medication, therapy or other interventions, whatever people feel they need to do they should do it. There is no one size fits all approach.
I knew my comment had a risk of sounding dismissive and that's totally not what it is. But I've seen plenty of posts from "neurodivergent people" banging on about how they're ruffling the feathers of their "neurotypical peers" just by being who they are and living the life they want. This creates the Us VS them.
"All humans show ADHD/ASD traits at times, but not at the same regulatory or severity as someone who has been or should be clinically diagnosed" Just because someone doesn't have regular signs or severity as someone who has been diagnosed with ADHD or ASD doesn't mean it doesn't exist in them. This statement is dismissing a persons experience of relating to someone who has been diagnosed and recognising the traits in themselves and other people around them, opening up a conversation of we're all different and it's just the way it is.
Whether they can be completely cured or not, isn’t time and energy best spent doing the inner work and focusing on the gifts people with ASD and ADHD have?
Many hyper intelligent people are on the Autism spectrum (my Dad and brother included) or have Asperger’s (Elon Musks) and they spend their energy on maximising their skills, rather than repeatedly telling everyone they are different.
I absolutely agree! Use your gifts to your advantage, whatever it is that they may be. Everybody has something to contribute to the world without comparison.
What a great gift to your son- whether or not adhd or asd would ever present itself, everybody has *something*. And with your mindset you will be giving him the tools to manage whatever his ‘thing’ might be.
I’ve commented before that 1 of my 3 children has mental health issues and my husband and I never even considered our children could inherit depression/anxiety (even though we both have had depressive episodes!!) I just think it can be a blind spot as a parent- I focused on a million things I thought were so important and missed some red flags. I hear you on labels being negative but 100% agree knowledge is power with an accurate diagnosis you can turn your life around. Thank you for another good read.
Totally. The knowledge is there if you want to find it. I guess it's up to us to find it, no one is going to knock on your door and hand it over to you. The responsibility falls on you from there and I think sometimes that can be the difficult bit to digest.
How you interpret it and what measures you implement as a result are entirely up to you., but yeah, I think it all starts with learning...
The smartest people I know are on the autism spectrum
“I think there is a bit of a trend where people like to label themselves because it can get them attention or sympathy.” - it also puts people at ease because they convince themselves they can’t change and become reliant on medication.
My biggest exception to all this labelling comes from someone I’m closely related to who has “ADHD” and medicated for it and tells me I might have it too.
But my brain feels great when I’ve slept and ate well, which makes me more likely to exercise. When I do those things, I love how my brain works.
And the cherry on the cake for me was when this person said “if I walk in the morning, I don’t need to take my medication in the arvo”.
I’ve now come to the conclusion that this person just finds it easier to take a pill then put more effort into improving their habits.
This has made me extremely skeptical of anything adhd related and I think it’s just the symptom of poor habits and some childhood neglect.
Fair enough.
I do think there would be some misdiagnosis around from busy doctors who don't have the energy to look deeper into someones condition. Easier to send them off with a pill than it is to put the hours into them to figure out what's really going on. This of course is not exclusive to ADHD though, I think it happens all across mental health.
But I think it's a reach to discredit thousands of hours of research based on your experience with one person. I think it's a little insulting and a dismissive to imply that all people with ADHD just have some bad habits and some childhood neglect because of an off the cuff comment someone you know made once.
I respect your right to your opinion and understand the you can only come to that view based on your own experiences, but I disagree with you on this one.
Not saying everyone with ADHD is like this person, but my view has also been formed from my own experience of calming a scattered mind without medication or a diagnosis.
I think a lot of people would rather take a pill than do the inner work required to manage their own health and well-being.
The more experiences I read of people with ADHD and ASD, the more it seems that nobody is neurotypical, we are all neurodiverse and the neurotypical and neurodiverse labels are causing an unnecessary division in society.
It's call a spectrum for a reason, some are on a higher end, some middle some on the low end, we are all on it somewhere.
I agree some people would rather a quick fix than doing things the hard way. But there is not amount of inner work or whatever someone with ADHD/ASD can do do completely rid or cure themselves of the condition.
Implementing and maintaining healthy habits will help to manage or improve just about any health condition there is. I take less ADHD medication than I used to before I got sober and started actively trying to look after my mental health. Some may be able to get to a point where they no longer need medication, others won’t.
All humans show ADHD/ASD traits at times, but not at the same regulatory or severity as someone who has been or should be clinically diagnosed. As someone with ADHD it’s frustrating when you try to talk about your struggles and people be dismissive and say “oh all of us are a little bit like that”. I agree we are all wired a little differently and that’s what makes the world so amazing but when it impairs your ability to function normally day to day it’s more than just “we all have a bit of that”.
Personally I haven’t experienced much division at all. It’s just is or it isn’t. Like there’s no divide between diabetics and non-diabetics and nor should there be. It just is what it is.
I don't see ADHA or ASD as conditions that need to be cured, they're part of the human existence. Different strategies work for different people, medication, therapy or other interventions, whatever people feel they need to do they should do it. There is no one size fits all approach.
I knew my comment had a risk of sounding dismissive and that's totally not what it is. But I've seen plenty of posts from "neurodivergent people" banging on about how they're ruffling the feathers of their "neurotypical peers" just by being who they are and living the life they want. This creates the Us VS them.
"All humans show ADHD/ASD traits at times, but not at the same regulatory or severity as someone who has been or should be clinically diagnosed" Just because someone doesn't have regular signs or severity as someone who has been diagnosed with ADHD or ASD doesn't mean it doesn't exist in them. This statement is dismissing a persons experience of relating to someone who has been diagnosed and recognising the traits in themselves and other people around them, opening up a conversation of we're all different and it's just the way it is.
Whether they can be completely cured or not, isn’t time and energy best spent doing the inner work and focusing on the gifts people with ASD and ADHD have?
Many hyper intelligent people are on the Autism spectrum (my Dad and brother included) or have Asperger’s (Elon Musks) and they spend their energy on maximising their skills, rather than repeatedly telling everyone they are different.
I absolutely agree! Use your gifts to your advantage, whatever it is that they may be. Everybody has something to contribute to the world without comparison.
What a great gift to your son- whether or not adhd or asd would ever present itself, everybody has *something*. And with your mindset you will be giving him the tools to manage whatever his ‘thing’ might be.
I’ve commented before that 1 of my 3 children has mental health issues and my husband and I never even considered our children could inherit depression/anxiety (even though we both have had depressive episodes!!) I just think it can be a blind spot as a parent- I focused on a million things I thought were so important and missed some red flags. I hear you on labels being negative but 100% agree knowledge is power with an accurate diagnosis you can turn your life around. Thank you for another good read.
Totally. The knowledge is there if you want to find it. I guess it's up to us to find it, no one is going to knock on your door and hand it over to you. The responsibility falls on you from there and I think sometimes that can be the difficult bit to digest.
How you interpret it and what measures you implement as a result are entirely up to you., but yeah, I think it all starts with learning...