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Is ADHD Real or Is ADHD Fake?

Written by ADDer Leave a Comment

adhd-real-add-fake-graphic Answering this question gets a little old after awhile. Part of the problem, of course, is that there are now, and have been in the past, those who use attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in one way or another to further their own selfish ends. Some of those people come from the ADHD is real side, and some of those people come from the ADHD is fake side. Of course, there are many self-serving types in between as well.

To answer the question whether ADHD is real or not, one needs to consider numerous factors. First and foremost is the fact that the current scientific understanding of how the brain functions, brain biology, and mental health has grown exponentially in just the last 30 years. That being said, our comprehension of how the brain works is staggeringly low. Even the scientific techniques we currently use to study the brain are crude. In many cases the science behind much brain research starts out with a laughably simple assumption that may or may not be true.

Consider, for example, PET scans. A PET scan is a way of measuring how the brain works. In many recent ADHD studies, PET scans have been used to show that adults with ADHD and children with ADHD have brains that function differently from brains in subjects without ADHD. That is biological proof that ADHD is real, right?

Unfortunately, the whole concept of the PET scan is based upon an unproven assumption.

PET scans don’t actually show how the brain works. They don’t measure which parts of the brain are working, nor do they give any insight into the complex inner relationships between various regions of the brain. What PET scans measure is how much glucose is being used by the different parts of the brain. The assumption is that since glucose is the body’s energy source, the tissues in the brain using the most glucose must be working the hardest. The next assumption is that if any particular brain tissue is working hard, then it must be doing something at that moment. Thus, the areas in a PET scan that glow brightly are the regions of the brain being most heavily used during that time.

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These assumptions have been backed up a bit via the other main source of brain research, which is far more crude. Much of what we know about the brain comes from studying brain injuries and brain damage. If a person has an accident that destroys a certain area of the brain, and then can no longer speak, one can draw the conclusion that the damaged region is responsible for speech. PET scans show the same areas glowing brightly when a person is talking. That hardly counts as proof, but it does mean that the current assumptions under which we use PET scans are at least reasonably good ones.

So, is ADD real?

Even PET scans are inconclusive. While ADHD brain scans have consistently shown different activity in brains of subjects with attention deficit disorder, they also show a wide variety among people without any diagnosed conditions. One could make the claim that a PET scan of a Type-A person would look differently than a scan of lazy person. That opens a whole can of worms.

For now, what we can say definitively about whether ADHD exists is that there is a large sub-population of people who have similar issues and that these issues tend to respond in similar ways to specific treatments. That in and of itself is good enough for a start. After that, as seems to always be the case, more ADHD research is needed.

Filed Under: ADHD Tagged With: ADD, ADHD, ADHD Brains, ADHD Diagnosis, adhd research, adhd symptoms, Brain Research, PET Scans

ADHD Coping Mechanisms Blaming Yourself or Them

Written by ADDer 7 Comments

adhd-coping-mechanism-study-school-graphic One of the things that I have consistently found most fascinating since discovering my ADD and the science of ADHD in general, is the concept of coping mechanisms.

All human beings, whether they have attention deficit disorder or not, develop over the course of their lifetime, a set of skills (for lack of a better term) that allows them to get by in life. These skills range from the most basic, like tying your shoe, to much more complicated ones, like initiating and developing a romantic relationship with another person. Coping mechanisms are a specific subset of these life skills. A coping mechanism is a skill or habit that develops in order to compensate for something, whether it is a some sort of shortcoming, some form of emotional discomfort, or simply to take the edge off of life’s many potential disappointments. One common coping mechanism is emotional eating, where a person eats either certain foods, or large amounts of food, in an effort to make themselves feel better.

Common ADD Coping Mechanisms

For adults with ADHD, recognizing and understanding coping mechanisms is an important component of non-medication attention deficit hyperactivity disorder treatment. True coping mechanisms are mental or behavioral in nature, as opposed to functional. In other words, the constant adjustments and refinements we make everyday are not coping mechanism. The habits, skills, and emotional responses we develop over long periods of time are coping mechanisms.

For example, always placing your keys in the same place is a method of doing something, not necessarily a coping mechanism. That is simply an attempt at perfecting the flow of your current lifestyle.  However, being someone who is always compulsive about keeping everything in its assigned location, is a coping mechanism.

Like everyone, people with ADHD have good coping mechanisms, and bad coping mechanisms. Recognizing the good ones provides a starting point for developing new coping techniques or expanding upon already useful coping methods. Recognizing the negative coping mechanisms provides a starting point for lifestyle adjustments that hopefully, lead to the eventual disappearance of said habit. Detecting and adjusting the mental attitude that often accompanies negative coping responses is also a good place to start when it comes to therapy or ADHD coaching.

Blaming Yourself For ADHD or Blame Others?

One of the most intriguing things about common ADHD coping mechanisms is how they may or may not apply to any one person. Even more interesting is how the same mechanism can be flipped upside in some people that have ADHD.

One of the very common coping mechanisms for adults with ADHD is to blame supposed character or personality flaws for certain things. For example, a woman with ADD who can’t seem to do any job beyond answering phones because she is never organized enough for anything more advanced, may eventually take the edge off of such disappointments by laughingly noting that she is, “just a space cadet sometimes.” Unfortunately, this all too common side effect of ADHD, is not only surprisingly effective at blunting the hurt of disappointment, but also at making one resigned to never striving for anything else.

Reading about this coping method, or its variations, in book after book left me skipping chapters and writing off certain advice, because it never really seemed to apply to me. I’ve always been very confident in my abilities, often getting jobs, projects, and responsibilities beyond my current skill level. Fortunately, I’m also quick to learn when either the interest or immediately looming threat of disaster is strong enough. But, I thought, I’ve never really blamed myself.

Ironically, it turns out that I use the blame coping mechanism just as much (or more) than most people with ADHD, the only difference is that I blame other people.

Many ADHD books, including the oft mentioned, Hallowell books, Driven To Distraction and Delivered From Distraction are written by successful individuals who claim to have ADD themselves. In one of the books, Hallowell, who is a successful doctor, describes his thriving medical practice and his extensive work with ADD patients before saying that he, himself, also suffers from ADHD.

As I read that passage soon after being diagnosed with adult ADHD, I couldn’t help rolling my eyes. Hallowell, I figured, was lying in order to boost his credibility in the area of ADD. After all, I thought, he went to medical school, graduated, became a doctor and developed a successful medical practice, just how bad could his ADHD be? Oh, my gosh! Did he have to use sticky notes to keep track of assignments? Oh, the horror!

The truth is, that I despised Hallowell and his success as a doctor and subsequently an author. The reason is that instead of blaming myself, I blame others. When Hallowell, and his “I barely have ADD” colleagues go out and build these big, successful careers, fat bank accounts, and speaking tours, I reasoned, it hurts those of us who REALLY have ADHD.

I’ve thought that way my whole life.

“I’m the smart one. The only reason he is doing better in school is because he studies EVERY NIGHT.”

“I could have started up an Internet business, but I didn’t want to spend every single day working in my basement.”

The tragedy is that until recognizing what I was doing, I took much of it as a badge of honor.

I graduated from High School near the top of my class. I got all A’s except in English where I got B’s. I could have gotten A’s in English, but I never did homework. Literally, NEVER. I did my schoolwork during the class before the class it was due in. So, I did my Algebra homework for second period during my History class at first period. The one thing I couldn’t quite get done like that were long essays. So, every time an English paper was due, I would start it during the class before it was due, but I wouldn’t finish it. I’d have to wrap it up the next day. It was still an A paper, but with the one letter grade penalty for being late, it became a B.

I was proud of that as I left high school. You see, grades or no grades, I was faster, smarter, and better than everyone else. Those kids who left with a 4.0 where the chumps, not me. They were the ones who wasted their free time actually doing homework.

Unfortunately, not recognizing the truth cost me a lot in college where I not only continued the same pattern, but actually expanded it. In high school, attendance was required. Between parents, teachers, and administrators, the path of least resistance was going to class. Coming up with an excuse, sneaking out the door, and then trying to keep my parents from getting a phone call or note about my absence was way more work than just going to classes, so I went.

At college, that was no longer the case. In college, no one called my parents, most professors didn’t know whether you were there or not. The path of least resistance became not going to classes, and I didn’t go. My new pattern became:

  1. Go to class one or two times and get syllabus.
  2. Use syllabus to find exam dates and due dates of essays or projects.
  3. Stop going to class.
  4. Go to the class the day before the exam to get review sheets and any changes about what would be covered.
  5. Hurriedly read through the textbook chapters that would be on the exam.
  6. Take test.
  7. Surf the curve to a B or C.
  8. Start any essay or project the night before it was due. Work on it until it was “good enough.” Surf curve to C.

During my Junior year, I literally attended my Geography class 5 times the entire semester. I got an A.

The only exceptions were the classes where the professor actually took attendance and docked your grade if you missed classes. In every one of those classes, I got an A, because I actually went. Ironically, I seldom paid much attention while I was in the class. I read the student newspaper, worked on other classes’ homework, or just daydreamed. But, looking up at the board and hearing a paragraph here and there was enough to let some of the information sink in. More importantly, it was enough to give me an idea of what the professor felt was important.

For years after graduating, I proudly told anyone who asked that I graduated with a 2.14 GPA, but, I added, I never really went to class or did any of homework. I don’t know if anyone was ever impressed by that. Not that it matters.

The true tragedy is that I didn’t do anything else. There would be some redeeming value in how I spent my 4 years on campus if I had gotten in a 100 day ski season, or spent sunny days hiking, biking, or doing ANYTHING. Instead, I mostly slept in, napped, and messed around on my computer. The only good to come out of it was that in those days, the Internet was a text based Unix system. There were no web browsers, just FTP, vi editor, GREP, UUENCODE, and so on. In the end, I knew a lot about how to use computers, which meant I didn’t have to figure out how to get a job in Chemistry with no professor recommendation (none of them would have recognized me), no summer lab work, and no internships. Instead, I got a job as a computer administrator and quickly became certified in numerous technologies just as the technology bubble started ramping up.

Of course, the blaming cope strategy didn’t go away. I always felt that I should be the project manager or the startup millionaire or whatever, but I never was. The reason was simple, I could have been, but they just worked harder, tried harder, or refused to give up. Not me. Those suckers.

*******************

These days, I try not to blame others for their success, nor assume that I would be twice as successful under the “slightly different” circumstances of me actually busting my butt to make something happen. But, like most attitudes developed over decades, it can be hard to keep up, and even harder to see when it is happening.

Filed Under: ADHD Tagged With: ADD, ADD Books, ADD/ADHD, ADHD Diagnosis, attention deficit disorder, Treatment

Ever Been Distracted By Clip Art?

Written by ADDer 5 Comments

While finishing up the post from yesterday about what it is like to have ADD, I went to find a picture to go with the post.  I spent over 11 minutes on this screen. (I have an electronic timing software on my computer so I can bill clients for my work, and it catches everything.)

clip organizer

I didn’t find an image like the one I wanted.  Normally, that would have sent me off on an hour long search for better clip art, but I have implemented a rule for myself that when it comes to blog posts, I am only allowed to use Microsoft Clip Organizer for clip art.  It’s not that I think it is the best source of clip art, but I know that if I start looking at other sites, I’m going to find posts and links and pictures that intrigue me, and I will end up losing a lot of precious time by following and read each interesting item.

That is another example of what it is like to have ADHD.

Even with my rule, I still spent a crazy amount of time on that one screen.  Why?

It’s not like I remember every thought I had (ADD remember?) but I do remember some of them.  In no particular order, here is what caused my own ADD brain to get bogged down on this seemingly minor task.

  • The two images at the top with the gold globe head look like skeletons, are they?
  • Previewing the images says no, but they are really kind of cool.  I wonder if there is a way to search by who created the images because maybe there are a bunch of these and you could use them as a theme sometime on some project or website.
  • Why is there an empty boardroom table, but not one with people around it?
  • The cartoon ones in the middle aren’t even in a meeting.  There is just one of them, a boy one, and a girl one, holding a pen.  Doesn’t anybody proof these?  Maybe I should build a clip art gallery site.
  • An empty movie theatre type room is not a meeting either.
  • I wonder if Microsoft pays someone to draw these so they have a full clip-art thing?
  • Maybe I should check another site…oh,wait, I’ll just get distracted – Hey, that would make a great Addessories post.
  • Note, I was only supposed to write one post today.  I have other things with pressing deadlines waiting, and until I typed this sentence, I had forgot all about them.
  • Don’t worry, they are on my task list that I printed this morning.
  • And left on the printer.
  • I should get it.
  • Ok, now where was I?
  • Oh, man, how much more time did you waste writing this post?
  • Just finish up real fast.
  • What else was I stalled by on the site?
  • .
  • .
  • .
  • .
  • .
  • .
  • Oops.  Never mind, the word counter says almost 500 words.  Just sign off and get back to work.

Um…bye.  I have to go do…well, one of these things on the task list.

Now, I just need a clip art for this post…..

(Ed. note – there is no clip art because I was out of coffee and went to get some.  When I came back I wasn’t interested in this post anymore, so I used the time / task list as an excuse and just hit post instead.)

Technorati Tags: ADD,ADHD,ADD/ADHD,Distraction

Filed Under: ADHD Tagged With: Distraction

What Is It Really Like to Have ADD?

Written by ADDer 7 Comments

meeting The most frequently asked question about ADD / ADHD is what it is like to have it.

The catch is that most of the symptoms that make up ADD sound like regular personality traits or quirks that everyone has in some degree.  For example, the hallmark symptom of ADHD is being easily distracted.  But, many people will mention that they also get distracted.  In an effort to clarify, an example would be in order.  That is the second catch; it is tough to come up with examples of what ADD is like off the top of your head, because it something that happens every day, so it isn’t like anything sticks out.

People With ADD / ADHD Are Easily Distracted

The main symptom for ADD is distractibility.  But, doesn’t everyone get distracted?

The answer, of course, is yes, but it is how easily that one gets distracted, and what that distraction causes that separates ADD from normal distraction.

ADHD means being distracted by clipart

Example of ADD / ADD Behavior

Adam and Paul are sitting around a conference room table in a meeting.

Adam has ADD.

Paul does not.

The meeting is long and boring.  Both Paul and Adam are having trouble paying attention.  This is not ADHD or ADD, it is just a normal reaction to boredom and sitting still for a long period of time.

Outside, a fire truck drives by the window.  Both Paul and Adam look up at the sound of the siren and watch the flashing lights go by.  Both men are distracted from the speaker and the meeting.  Again, this is nothing out of the ordinary.

After a few minutes, Paul returns his gaze to his notepad and then turns back to listen to the speaker.  Paul is still bored, but he knows that his boss expects him to pay attention, so that is what he does.  For non-ADD sufferers, there are things that are distracting and it can be hard to pay attention to something boring.  But, when the realize they aren’t paying attention, they bring themselves back to the task at hand.

This is where Adam’s and Paul’s minds diverge.  Like Paul, Adam was distracted by the fire truck.  Unlike Paul, Adam still has not returned his attention to the meeting.  Instead, he is still looking out the window.

As the truck drove away, Adam tried to calculate whether he heard another siren or just the echo of the firetruck’s siren.  Then, he noticed the grass outside the window was browner than usual.  He thought back over the last week or two’s weather and didn’t remember it being any hotter than normal, so there was probably something wrong with the sprinklers.  That, or maybe they had just changed the settings to save money, or the environment.  In fact, he had tried to lower his sprinkler settings last week and his grass started to turn brown too.

That reminds Adam that he meant to fertilize his lawn last week and he forgot, again!

From there, Adam thinks about what else he needs at the hardware store.  He thinks about how the office supply store is near the hardware store and he needs toner too.  Plus, he was supposed to call his sister.

Then, a squirrel runs across the grass and up the tree.  Adam stares at the tree trunk even though the squirrel has long since ascended to the branches.  His gaze is locked on the tree trunk as various thoughts about what kind of tree that is, how old it must be to be that big, and whether or not the squirrel lives in that tree or just ran up it for another reason, all float through his head.

It’s been four or five minutes when Adam’s boss has had enough.  He has to say Adam’s name twice before Adam is startled out of his thoughts and returns his focus to the room.  He look’s up at his boss, now fully aware that he has not been paying attention.

“Would you like us to just finish this meeting so you can go outside for recess?” his boss says.

The Difference Between the ADD Mind and the Standard Mind

The difference between Paul and Adam was not that one of them was bored and the other was not.  Nor was it that one of them was distracted by the siren and one was not.

The difference is that Paul realized he had been distracted and manually forced himself to return his attention to the meeting.

Adam’s mind had did not notice that he had been distracted having left all thoughts regarding the meeting somewhere in the back of Adam’s mind.  Instead, it continued to pay attention to other things.

People who are ignorant about ADD often say things like, “Just make yourself pay attention.”  That is a good answer, but only if you realize you are not paying attention, and that is the crux of the issues caused by ADD.

Adam would have “forced himself” to pay attention if only he had realized he wasn’t.  But, because his brain was preoccupied with other things, he never had the chance to manually change his focus back where it belonged.

And that, is what makes ADD immune to willpower.

Filed Under: ADHD Tagged With: add adhd, ADD/ADHD, distractibility, Examples of ADD, Meetings

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