Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard
The textbook symptoms of ADD — inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity — fail to reflect several of its most powerful characteristics; the ones that shape your perceptions, emotions, and motivation. Here, Dr. William Dodson explains how to recognize and manage ADHD's true defining features.
The DSM-V – the bible of psychiatric diagnosis – lists 18 diagnostic criteria for attention deficit disorder (ADHD or ADD). Clinicians use this to identify symptoms, insurance companies use it to determine coverage, and researchers use it to determine areas of worthwhile study.
The problem: These criteria only describe how ADHD affects children ages 6-12, and that has led to misdiagnosis, misunderstanding, and failed treatment for teens, adults, and the elderly.
Most people, clinicians included, have only a vague understanding of what ADHD means. They assume it equates to hyperactivity and poor focus, mostly in children. They are wrong.
When we step back and ask, "What does everyone with ADHD have in common, that people without ADHD don't experience?" a different set of symptoms take shape.
From this perspective, three defining features of ADHD emerge that explain every aspect of the condition:
1. an interest-based nervous system
2. emotional hyperarousal
3. rejection sensitivity
Not precisely news but damned if it's not an interesting read if it has any relevance in your life.
Source: https://www.additudemag.com/symptoms-of-add-hyperarousal-rejection-sensitivity/
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 16 2018, @01:45AM
Sometimes the stigma is the lesser of the two evils. But, it really depends upon the situation.
I can't personally recommend people going unless it's a severe illness as the way that mental health professionals treat the mentally ill is shameful.
ADHD in particular is an issue because there's so much ignorance about what it's like for adults, they want to treat it like it's the same disorder as you see in children, but due to the coping mechanisms and responsibilities that come from being an adult, it's more or less completely different.