ADHD is not an urban myth
Full discloser, I am happily married to Ted Leonhardt.
I am responding to Ted’s article where he bravely came out as a person living with ADHD. I began a serious study of ADHD about 15 years ago as a psychotherapist and psychoanalyst. I am continually shocked to find that many in my field and in the generalized population are oblivious to what ADHD is — thus perpetuating all kinds of unfounded myths — the most egregious being that ADHD does not exist at all.
Generally speaking the main symptom is an inability to sustain one’s attention on a particular task, or multi task including relational interactions (see symptoms of ADHD). One of Ted’s important points is that he can hyper-focus once he gets started and believe me I have seen him plow through a single project throughout the day into the night — day after day. While this may be a super-power, the downside is getting started or starting on a project one might feel anxiety about… like the woman who could not file her taxes for 10 years (anxiety, ADHD) and the man who could not clean up his clutter (ADHD, depression, anxiety). While Ted has work-arounds, including hiring people to do tasks he has difficulty attending to (or loathes), an adult higher on the ADHD spectrum may need professional help.
ADHD is a developmental neurological disorder meaning that most who are diagnosed are born with neuro-diversities that fall into certain descriptive categories — Hyperactive and In-attentive (the “dreamy type)” or both. Hyperactives tend to perform better in sports activities and the in-attentives may have talent but can be seen on the baseball field, for example looking at the birds while missing a catch.
ADHD does not affect one’s general intelligence (IQ) and is considered a performance disorder involving impulsivity and self-control (see Barclay). A part of the brain we use to organize and think about our lives (executive functioning) is less operative and this can be measured in various tests. There are various executive functioning categories and an individual may not be impaired in each category (see more about executive functioning).
Ted was diagnosed late in life and I would guess he is on the low end of the ADHD spectrum because he has managed a number of work-arounds to compensate for executive functioning deficits on his own — without treatment. There was no treatment or diagnosis for ADHD when Ted or many of us were kids. Treatment for kids and adults today has a three-prong approach following a solid diagnosis. This includes medication, psycho-education and therapy. A psychiatrist will work with the patient to determine what or if medication is warranted, but I have seen lives pivot towards much higher functioning over night with a regulated medication regimen. Psycho-education treatment focuses on cognitive behavioral therapy (emotional regulation), mindfulness practices (stress regulation) and organizational strategy building. These tools support everyday living and include stress/anxiety management, rumination management, time regulation, task priortization, memory tools and so on. Psychotherapy supports the psychological development of a person who may have feelings of inferiority or “imposter syndrome” due to an inconsistency of performance overtime possibly contributing to a build-up of anxiety, depression and low self-esteem. Undiagnosed kids, for example are vulnerable to drug and alcohol addiction that may carry into adulthood if not interceded. My bias is that all children with an ADHD diagnosis today will be greatly supported with the various treatments available and spared some of the entrenched suffering older adults today had to endure without support.
Lastly, I want to emphasize that while ADHD may seem more prevalent in creative occupations, you may be surprised to know that I have known this diagnosis to be a cross-occupational phenomena effecting the functioning of physicians, dentists, engineers, lawyers and accountants to name a few. Ted and I have joked about how better suited ADHDers would be living in a hunter-gather society where tribal life offered unlimited stimulation and variety of tasks that require the use of all of our senses with and amongst others towards a common goal of collective well-being. To my mind, whether you have ADHD or not, those who know what their gifts and limitations are will be better able to creatively craft a life in today’s rapidly changing landscape. Creatives in particular will need communities that support our emotional/social intelligence and creative buoyancy when meeting the rapidly changing occupational perimeters of our global hyper-technological age.
