Re: Anger due to the differences between severe and mild sufferers

[Bibliophile]

It is interesting to see how my rant developed into quite a diverse and lengthy thread. In typical ADHD fashion, as many of you will know from your own experiences, my emotions are always ready to rise up and are not well regulated; venting is always cathartic provided I am not penalized for doing so. It has been an enlightening look into each one of your predicaments and views on ADHD.

I tend to agree with Wgreen that the broad spectrum of the disorder is likely to be narrowed into more discrete groupings once science has properly identified the afflicted neural pathways, chemicals, and areas of the brain. We really need biological tests for ADHD so that no one, be they gifted or learning disabled, is misdiagnosed.

@wreckedangle Thank you for the reply. While I am very much an atheist, much of Buddhist philosophy is comforting. I have long ago come to grips that I will never be able to engage in meditation or any lengthy quiet activity. Knowing there are others out there in similar circumstances is somehow comforting.

One thing that I think differs for the more detrimentally impaired members is that we recognize that we are gifted at certain things, be they computers, music, arts or organizational theory, but the inability to stay on task, to read the necessary material, to devote the time to develop the required skills, the necessity to work at a desk in a traditional office environment, or even to practice an instrument etc., impedes our progress. The environment or repetitious tasks required for mastery cannot be changed because we want to be doing X, but find that no matter how hard or long we try, our minds prevent any progress. If one switches instruments every week or fixates on only one aspect of the instrument, one will never attain mastery of a single instrument. If emotions aren’t kept in check, working in a fast paced, successful office might be impossible because there is too much stimuli and too many opportunities to say the wrong thing to the wrong person. But working in such an office might be the only way to succeed at X, which we are both interested in and show an aptitude for.

I would like to add that seeing ADHD symptoms in your children, the same symptoms that have held you back or made life so much harder than it needed to be for you, is the most heart wrenching thing of all. You can try and help to mitigate the problems and teach coping strategies, but you can guess what their life outcomes are going to be.

Due to the lack of emotional regulation, ADHD people must be horrific poker players. That would be an interesting research study to read.

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