#adhd hyperfixation brain means forgetting things from this week

[moxleyrollins]

#art imitates life... except for when it imitates itself apparently (aka a petition for sami to start price checking wardrobes again)

FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN | 05.05.16 MONDAY NIGHT RAW | 04.28.25

[imshymorph]

HI LOVE!!!! 🥺

if ur taking requests, could you pls do husband!Price with a reader who has ADHD? I myself have ADHD and am extremely forgetful, and tend to feel emotions more intensely than others, which means I cry a lot and get told I’m over sensitive haha 🥺❤️❤️😭

Hi darling! My requests are open, I'm just loaded up with uni work. So sorry it took over a week for me to answer. (But if you don’t mind the wait, 100% send in requests!!). I hope I portrayed it properly, I kind of fall in the adhd spectrum myself but it can really vary from one person to another, so I hope it's relatable!

Anyway, here’s some soft!Price with ADHD!reader

I think he’d notice pretty early on, maybe not specifically labelling it as ADHD, but he’d pick up on the forgetfulness and how quick it could change to a hyperfixation. I think he’s observant enough that he’d kind of be able to pinpoint the moment in your thought process where you jump from the thing you just said you were going to do to whatever other task popped in your mind that pulls you away from it.- - - - -

He would grow used to it pretty quickly, used to sharing space with all kinds of people at base and adapting himself to better work with them. I also lowkey headcanon that Soap has ADHD so he’d already have an idea on how to work around it and some strategies in place to help you with it. 

Although I think his main worry would be supporting you with the emotional side that comes with it. He’d be there for you at any time. It doesn’t matter what it is, he’ll dry your tears and talk with you about it. If you don’t want to talk or maybe it’s one of those days where you don’t even know why you’re crying, then he’ll just hold you close for a bit and help you get distracted when you feel better. 

I think that even if he doesn’t fully understand it, he can get a grasp on how overwhelming it can get. He’d notice when you’re starting to get frustrated, when your brain just can’t find something that releases enough oxytocin to keep you entertained for long enough. He’d swipe in then, bringing up one of your special interests or one of the hobbies you gave up on a few months back, to see if it sparks some joy again. If it doesn’t he’ll find something new that you both can try together or somewhere to go and explore. 

And don’t  you dare apologise for any of it, he’d give you a full on scolding on how it’s not something to apologise for. (That’s who you are and who he loves, darling). He doesn’t care that you forgot to close the kitchen cupboard for the fifth time this week, nor that the clean dishes still sit on the dishwasher, nor the pile of folded clothes that still sit on top of the dresser. He’s happy to have you with him, to share space with you and he’d take a messy living room and arrive late to your reservations on date night every single time if it means he’s with you. 

Also, he’d absolutely change things around the house and in his schedule if it means it makes things easier for you. He’ll change the organisation in all drawers and cupboards that need it so it’ll be easier for you to remember to put everything in its place. He’ll sit with you while you do work or chores, having casual conversation to keep you entertained and focused while you finish. Will sit there for hours if he has to, listening to you infodump about whatever thing your brain has last fixated on. And hold you for as long as you need when your emotions get too much and make you cry, one warm hand on your hip to hold you close while the other rubs your back. 

And relating to the crying. Poor soul, the one who dares to call you oversensitive in his presence. He’d absolutely rip them a new one, ready to start a physical fight if it is necessary because (how dare you judge his love for something out of their control). As soon as he’s satisfied with the scolding the other person got, his full attention is back on you. 

He’d pull you close, cup your cheeks and gently dry your tears with his thumbs. A small smile appearing on his lips, “don’t listen to them, love. You’re perfect just like this.” He presses a kiss to your forehead and lightly pinches your cheeks to get a smile from you. “Come on, let’s go home so you can tell me more about those books you have been reading.”

And the way your small pout and teary eyes change to a smile makes his heart soar. He throws an arm over your shoulders and holds you close as the both of you walk home, happily listening about the character arch of one of the main characters you tell him about. He’s already planning on wrapping you up on your favourite blanket on the couch while he gets ready some of your comfort food, how you’ll eat it together while you cuddle and watch one of your favourite shows or movies. 

[cringelordofchaos]

Common ADHD traits/experiences I've heard of !!

(I was gonna make a post about why I might be neurodivergent but I figured it'd be going a bit too personal. Also this is just easier)

(ADHD is much more nuanced and complex than I may make it appear in this post. A lot of ADHD people don't have a lot of these traits or have traits not mentioned here. For example there are three types of ADHD (inattentive, hyperactive and combined) and most inattentive adhders are not going to be hyperactive lol)

Warning: badly worded (I'm stupid that's my excuse). also I'll go on personal rants as to how some of these may apply to me (whilst I can reasonate with each point listed here I won't go on a rat on all of these)

Physical hyperactivity (inability to sit/stand still (I used to think this meant that people with ADHD were incapable of. Sitting down (while constantly fidgeting or not) for one whole class)(I was an idiot)(I still am)). (Just overall constant , movement (I might have it idk I'm ALWAYS

Excessive talking

Stimming, fidgeting, general and overall repetitive movements (such as flapping hands, pacing, clasping hands together, etc)

Low attention span regarding things that don't garner much interest to you

More likely to be autistic, have anxiety or depression (or generally have other diagnostic conditions)

Ability to Hyperfocus on specific things, at times out of their control

More likely to have a lower Performance in school that most people

Proneness to addiction

Rejection sensitive dysphoria/RSD (really sensitive and afraid to rejection or criticism or disapproval or stuff like that. I'm questioning if I have it and I'm pretty sure I do bc i would have a whole breakdown bc i accidentally had a bad unintentional thought about this cool person I didn't want to hate me)(it's complicated)

Emotional disregulation (easily irritable, excited, stressed, stronger emotions, more likely to lash out, etc)(people with this are usually described to be much more emotional)

restless leg syndrome (except it's permanent lol)

Lower memory spans regarding most things

Forgetting to fulfill basic needs (such as eating, drinking, showering, etc)

Women/AFAB people are more likely to be diagnosed with inattentive ADHD (this of course does not rucking mean afab people can't b hyperactive my god)

Mental hyperactivity (racing/constant/overlapping/repetitive thoughts or stuff like that)

Impulsivity (doing stuff without thinking them fully though or not knowing why)

Sensory issues (sensitivity to sensory output such as noise, brightness, etc)

Easily bored/underwhelmed/understimulated - more likely to want to seek constant dopamine (due to l

Easily overwhelmed (whether itd be due to aforementioned sensory issues, emotional disregulation, rsd or stuff like that)

More likely to be perceived as "childish" (from what I've heard obviously this and many other things listed here don't apply to everyone)

Executive dysfunction (can't do shit at all)(ok it's more complicated than that just Google it up or something)

Having Hyperfixations (things you're DEEPLY invested in for a period of time, it can be a few days, weeks, months, sometimes more than a year, depends rly)(I'm still questioning if I'm neurodivergent but like I'm pretty sure I was in a DEEP hyperfixation mode when it came to sonic for like. A YEAR. like I literally it was literally the only thing on my brain the only thing in my life. and I would get realllytyy excited about learning obscure information about it or infodumping and I would flap my hands bc of how excited and passionate I was Abt it)(man I miss the times when I was so passionate about stuff I liked it was so fun :(( )

Higher/lower levels of empathy (I've seen this moreso been brought up with discussions regarding autism but I've also seen it brought up with ADHD itself too)

Lower levels of dopamine

Impatience

More likely to be a maladaptive daydreamer

Its cause is usually heavily genetic (meaning if your family or a family member has ADHD, you are more likely to have ADHD yourself)

More likely to have insomniac/have general problems with sleep (I'm questioning ADHD. I'm writing this like... Five hours before I'm supposed to wake up for school. Great.)

There is also a higher relevance between ADHD and PTSD

If I missed something important let me know!! Also if you don't know some of he

This post is not meant to be used as a substitute for self nor professional diagnosis, though if you feel like you might have ADHD because of this post I recommend further research and conversations with trusted advisors such as parental figures or therapists/doctors (not me not listening to my own advice)(<- that was me regarding my latter advice)(I'm too scared to tell my parents about it man)(idk why)

Things to note:

ADHD is not just about little elementary school hyperactive white boys !!

There's a lot of things I mightve missed

Not everyone with ADHD has all these traits (obviously)

Some of these traits may be common due to the commonness of ADHD + autism overlap (idk though)

Apparently it's one of the most diagnosed forms of neurodivergence in kids (about 7-10% of kids in the USA are diagnosed with ADHD)(APPARENTLY idk)

There's more but I'm tired right now byeeee

[user-needs-new-hyperfixation]

Hey hey heyyya! Glad to see you're back. I don't know you, and I was introduced to both you and seeingteacupsindragons through a.. mutual. Point is, I remember not too long ago seeing a post from seeinteacupsindragons and it mentioning weekly chats or something with you, to manage expectations or something. I don't really understand much, and I'm not gonna pry haha. It's just good seeing you're back, and I thought it may make you guys happy if I mentioned how I happy I get seeing yalls interactions.

Please keep taking care. I don't think there was an issue or anything don't get me wrong, I just thought letting you know seeing all this cheered me up whilst I'm personally in a bad place yk. Stay gay lol, and much love to you both! Also, I keep forgetting messaging is a thing and I don't have to send an ask haha, sorry about that. Am too lazy to go copy paste it to messaging though, so here!

(Unrelated but affitionally cause adhd and sidetracked lol, but I love how true to your name your posts are. It resonates with my adhd brain in a good way I love it haha)

Oh yeah no, nothing's wrong or has been wrong, and I've been here the whole time haha!! (though definitely posting WAY less Moriarty the Patriot stuff since that particular hyperfixation has been hibernating a bit lol).

I actually wanted to make a post about this anyway so thank you for the prompt! The way my brain works *gestures to a heaping thrift store clothing bin of assorted undiagnosed neurodivergent traits* makes maintaining friendships very hard for me. I tend to slowly psych myself right out of them. Either I feel so much pressure to maintain constant communication that I run into some kind of executive dysfunction standstill and can't make myself do it, or I worry so much about being too much that I barely talk at all so that I don't become annoying. I find actual conversation (as opposed to just yelling random thoughts from the stage of my blog lmao) very easily becomes overwhelming, and I quickly run out of things to say and become convinced that I am the most boring person in the universe and no one would really be interested in being my friend anyway. Also life is just really damn busy sometimes! Adulting™! @seeingteacupsindragons has been amazing about working with me to figure out what works: for me, a scheduled chat day every week means we have lots to talk about, I have the energy to talk about it all, and I don't freak out about whether I'm communicating too often or too rarely. And it's ended up being one of the most wonderfully enduring and consistent friendships in my life. Marr is an incredible and patient friend and I am so grateful to know hir!

Anyway, thank you for your kind words, and I'm glad you like the blog! I will probably be making some more Moriarty posts now that I've got myself deep in writing another longfic, and then of course once the 2nd part of the manga starts up! 😊

[featherlinnea]

Adhd thing

Mhm after researching and watching a lot of ADHD memes...

Can ya all stop being relateable lmao. Apparantely I don't hang around neurotypical at all- no wonder this is/was all normal to me ;'D (I don't really have friends- so only family to be around- which are all like this lmao, no wonder no one noticed haha)

Like - wait normal people don't do all of that?

-They can like grab a coffee... wait for the coffee and not get distracted and forgetting you are making coffee??? You are not walking then petting the cat, doing something else and then go, ah right coffee?

-Ya'll telling me you are not having music running 24/7 in your head, while talking to yourself in your head 24/7 with unrelated daydreams- excessive daydreaming and imagery that is not related to either 24/7, which also makes it hard to fall asleep?

I mean at least realized, that the maladaptive daydreaming was bad haha

-Also you guys can do texts and phonecalls without overthinking and then worrying you are upsetting the other person with whatever reply and just end up texting later or ghost 'em???

-You can go to appointments and be like doing other stuff and not going, welp that is the day???

Mmm not very neurotypical of me-

---

But yeah I am getting that checked out haha Time to no longer self-sabotage my life wooo

I'm not one to advocate for self-diagnosis, it can help you make the first steps when finally talking to your doc. I won't say I have it until a my doc confirms it, but like... ya ADHD folks are way too relateable haha

Also I'm having the appointment soon, but damn am I impatient about it haha Like sure I said it is fine to have it in 2 weeks, then realizing I hyperfixated myself learning about and reading about adhd all day since the first appointment a week ago and I just want to do my work haha

I want my brain to just shut up and be productive in a - actual productive way not just switching my hobby from my rooster for the x-time.

Btw. fixation of the last two weeks- month? Was animation haha, go check my youtube out:

Ah realizing this is yet again an impulsive oversharing post oh well.

[neurodivergientqueerthoughts]

Introduction

Have you been wondering what ADHD is really like? This will not be biased towards one minority of people who have ADHD. It will be focused on the big picture.

This document will explain the seriousness of ADHD and everything that may come with it. Make sure to do more research into ADHD, as I am not an expert (although I, myself, have ADHD). In this, I go into detail about different aspects of ADHD and why it should not be taken lightly.

What is ADHD?

(Note: Not everyone with ADHD has these symptoms. They can vary from person to person.)

Constant activity going on internally (Hyperactivity)

Hyperfixations

Hyperfocusing

Depression (Co-occurring)

Anxiety (Co-occurring)

Sensory Processing Disorder

Executive Dysfunction

Auditory Processing Disorder (Co-occurring)

Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria

Insomnia / Sleep issues

Inability to focus

Difficulty switching tasks

Inability to stick to one task

Mood swings

Difficulty regulating emotions

Choice paralysis

Problems with focusing

Poor impulse control

Trouble recalling things, such as commonly used words

Exhaustion levels

Imposter syndrome

Overwhelm

Overstimulation / Sensory Overload

Understimulation

Memory issues

Motivation issues

Time blindness

Poor sense of time

Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome (Co-occurring)

Extreme boredom

Going into Detail

Executive Dysfunction/ADHD Paralysis:

A feeling of constantly ‘waiting for something’, without knowing what or why.

Confusion as to how to start or do a task.

A feeling of being completely overwhelmed, even by mundane tasks, to a point of being unable to do the task or function.

A very good description of how this can feel is “a fuzzy-restless feeling when you need to do something but your brain won’t focus on anything… you’re silently begging yourself to just do one thing but instead you’re [sitting there] even though you don’t even want to be. It’s like your head is filled with heavy electric cotton… you’re both uncomfortable and unable to stop.”

This is not the same thing as procrastination or laziness. This occurs with tasks that the person is afraid to do, does not want to do, or even wants to do. Laziness means that a person does not feel like doing something, but they could if they wanted to. Executive dysfunction/ADHD paralysis can be described as something a person has been trying to do for [insert amount of time between minutes and months/years], but they physically cannot do the task and end up feeling like a failure because of that. It is debilitating.

Hyperfixation/Hyperfocus:

An extreme obsession over something. This can be creating something, finding out everything about something, or just something that creates extreme emotions in somebody.

This obsession can easily become unhealthy as the person may forget to take care of themselves due to it. However, these hyperfixations cause extreme joy or curiosity in the person.

Difficulty switching tasks:

“When you have ADHD, task switching can often be difficult. You might feel like you're stuck in a gear. It might be you're trying to start, and your gears just keep on grinding. Other times you may want to stop but the gear just stays in place because you're hyper-focusing on whatever you're doing.”

Inability to stick to one task:

People with ADHD often have issues with motivation, which leads to many unfinished projects.

If a task does not give a person with ADHD dopamine, they are often unable to complete the task (i.e. homework; chores).

Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome:

Instead of having a regular circadian rhythm, with sleeping hours from 11 pm to 7 am, people have an irregular pattern of 2 am to about 10 am.

These times are flexible. However, this means that people with ADHD tend to have issues with falling asleep at a “normal time”.

Extreme boredom:

People with ADHD have issues with dopamine and serotonin.

There are moments when boredom can be painful. People with ADHD can be bored to tears due to extreme emotions and a lack of dopamine.

Time Processing:

If somebody has to leave at 8 am and they wake up at 5:30, they will think that they have two hours or less to get ready. Time seems to pass without a pattern or rhythm.

“Today is Monday, but tomorrow is Tuesday and I have class. After that is Wednesday: I’m having lunch with my mom. Then on Thursday, I have a night class which means it’s basically already Friday and this week is already over.”

Time Blindness:

Not knowing how much time has passed based on their ‘internal clock’; they don’t have one!

Being completely unaware of how much time something will take.

Memory issues:

With ADHD, memory can be greatly affected. Some things will be forgotten very quickly, and some things can be over-remembered.

Difficulty regulating emotions:

“Processing emotions starts in the brain. Sometimes the working memory impairments of ADHD allow a momentary emotion to become too strong, flooding the brain with one intense emotion.” -Thomas Brown, PhD

Brain imaging shows that delayed rewards don’t register for people with ADHD. They are more motivated by the instant gratification that strong emotions deliver.

As a result, a person with ADHD may struggle to deal rationally and realistically with events that are stressful, but not of grave concern.

Motivation issues:

People with ADHD have much lower levels of dopamine than those without ADHD. This causes the brain to constantly crave dopamine.

If a task is not providing the dopamine the brain wants, it will make a person with ADHD less motivated to complete the task, or even start it.

Overstimulation / Sensory Overload:

Information reaching the senses feels like an assault of competing stimuli.

Understimulation:

Outside stimuli are dulled, as if a shade has been pulled over the environment, muting sights, sounds, and touch. These people crave extra stimulation to feel alive.

Exhaustion levels:

Feeling fatigued and tired all the time can actually be related to ADHD. Due to low dopamine levels, people with ADHD can feel exhausted even after getting ample amounts of sleep.

Ironically, people can get bursts of energy from ADHD as well. This can be from hyperactivity or high amounts of dopamine.

Imposter Syndrome:

Feeling like a fraud and doubting your own abilities.

Somebody who is intelligent and who has ADHD can have imposter syndrome towards both. They are not related to each other, but the ways they are portrayed in media causes imposter syndrome.

Auditory Processing Disorder:

Things can take longer to process when somebody hears them than when they see/read them.

The amount or complexity of noise around somebody can affect how they hear things.

Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria:

Extreme anxiety towards being criticized or rejected by others, despite their relationship with the person.

Extreme pain or emotional sensitivity is caused by a sense of ‘rejection’.

Hyperactivity:

This is not always visible, if at all. There is constant activity going on inside of a person’s head when they have ADHD.

This creates difficulty with sleep and relaxation.

If visible, it usually takes the form of fidgeting or stimming.

“Dealing” with ADHD

ADHD cannot be fixed, but some things can help people work with it. The coping mechanisms vary from person to person, and they aren’t always going to work. Getting diagnosed with ADHD is the best step to take before anything else, as trained professionals can help with ADHD symptoms.

It is important to understand that ADHD is a learning and doing disability. It affects every aspect of life, but it isn’t a bad thing! Many things with ADHD can be positive as well. Hyperfocusing can lead to a lot of productivity! Additionally, people with ADHD are known to be more creative and inventive (according to numerous studies). Empathy and compassion are higher in individuals with ADHD. People with ADHD even have a stronger moral compass!

[thegingeralien]

Thought I might share my “doing homework with adhd” tips in case the might help even just one person (because that would make me feel happy).

Who am I to be giving you advice? Good point! I am still terrible at studying and I’m 26 and at University for the millionth time. But I have studied A LOT in my 22 years of schooling with varying degrees of success.

I see a lot of people, especially teenagers or first year university/college students, with ADHD asking for tips on how to study. But if you do a google search most of the websites and advice that comes up can be extremely ableist. So I hope I can help someone!

TIPS TO HELP YOU STUDY WHEN YOU HAVE AN ADHD GREMLIN BRAIN!:

1. Chewing gum!

- This might come across as a weird one, but it has actually really helped me. I use it as a form of stimming to help keep me focused and concentrating. Other forms of stimming can potentially end up being more of a distraction when you actually need to be reading or writing - but they can help if you just need to be listening. Try not to get a bubble gum or fun flavoured one though - as they can end up making your mouth feel dry, lose flavour quickly, and just give your brain way too many sensory things to become distracted with.

2. Buying colour coded stationary!

- New stationary can make me really excited to start studying, but that excitement never lasts long and the act of buying stationary can sometimes become it’s own hobby. That’s not what we are going for here. I really recommend, especially if you are a visual learner like me, to buy colour coded stationary. This means removable page markers, different coloured post it notes, highlighters, sometimes even pens. This way if your mind jumps from one topic to the other, it doesn’t matter. Go with the flow. Forcing your ADHD gremlin brain to focus can be extremely counter intuitive. So pick a colour for each topic, and stick to that system to find organisation among your own chaos!

3. Buy a really cheap, boring year diary with hardly any writing inside.

- Not sure if your school/university has their own diary but they can be perfect for what I am on about. Generally you can find them for really cheap, soft cover, no writing or designs within the dates. Just dates, days, weeks and lines where you can write your homework. This helped me a lot in High School. I wish I had kept doing it in University, but I am good with giving advice, and not so much with taking it. I used to decorate the outside of it however I wanted. Some years I would redecorate the same diary every semester. In the public holidays or holiday days I would colour those lines in with different highlighters to make it look like a rainbow. But every assignment due date, homework, draft, rewrite, form I had to bring back, library book due date, school activity days, ANYTHING to do with school I would write in there with reminds and check lists. Important due dates would be highlighted, general homework and daily to do lists t(o help me not leave my assignments to the last minute) would have a tick box beside them (because ticking tick boxes is free dopamine). Try to not put birthdays or fun things in it. This is a small way to stay on track so it helps you actually stay on track with the big things when you’re home.

4. Big whiteboards stuck on the wall where you can’t avoid it.

- This is not something I had in school, but I so wish I did. I have been using this recently to keep on top of house work (as maintaining your own house is tiring) and my small business or other things I really can’t avoid. If I physically write it down (not just in my phone) it psychologically does help you commit it to memory. Again, physically putting a line through a task you just completed is a hecking great rush of dopamine. But the biggest reason I love my white board, I can’t ignore it. It is stuck to the wall and is never out of sight, out of mind. I can’t put my phone or diary down and then refuse to look at it until I’m past the due date. Again, I’m not a perfect person, there are days where I don’t do anything I have written on the white board. But the great thing is, I don’t have to continuously feel like I failure, as I can wipe it all off the next morning or week and start fresh. I also put important things I have to remember that I’m doing during the week so I don’t forget them.

5. Icky Medication.

- I know not everyone wants to be on medication, and I understand. I am not forcing you to. No matter what your opinions are, you lovely gremlin who is still reading this post, regarding medication, you are valid and I respect you. My personal experience with medication has not been the best. I have been misdiagnosed for a severe chunk of my academic life which has seen me trying to focus and maintain school work under some even worse states then I am unmedicated! However, since receiving my diagnosis and finding the right ADHD medication for me, I have the ability to get so much work done without having to unnecessarily struggle. It’s unfortunately not magic, it will not turn me into a robot that makes me do work and turn out incredible, noble peace prize winning assignments (as much as I wish that were possible). I still have the ability to be a lump, doom scrolling through tumblr, forgetting to eat, and ignoring responsibilities. But it really helps me when I sit down and start that thing that isn’t fun. Yesterday it helped me hyperfocus on cleaning my office which was a terrifying room to be in. So it’s pretty close to magic in my opinion!

6. Accessing Disability Support at your place of learning.

- Not all of you taking the time to read this will have either a) an offical diagnosis or b) a good disability support available to you wherever you are completing your studies. And that is okay. This dot point just won’t be for you right now. But keep it in mind for a time when it might apply to you, as it’s something I never thought I would need, but will never take for granted ever again.

- If you have an offical diagnosis and Disability Support, make an appointment with the disability support adviser. DO IT NOW! Get your psychiatrist to write a diagnosis letter outlining that you have <enter superpower that makes you hilarious here> and that you are receiving <enter x,y,z treatment here> and that you would benefit from receiving <enter what you have always wished you had on the days you can’t make your ADHD gremlin brain do the thing here>. Now these benefits can be, but not limit to: automatic extensions on ALL assignments, extra time on exams, extra breaks to walk around while taking exams, special consideration when marking assignments, my university allows me to take exams in a separate room with only the other students in my subject who also have disability support (occasionally I have taken an exam alone with only a tutor present) so I don’t get distracted, permission to take fidget items into class or exam (I have the option to wear headphones, as long as I can display that they are not connected to anything). Maybe you can come up with some great ones for you with your disability advisor or your psychiatrist.

- The disability advisor will often go through your course outline with you at the start of each semester or year. This is annoying and a great time for disassociating, but can be useful in hindsight because you are made aware of everything that will come up during your class so you are not surprised. Because lets be honest, it is unlikely you are going to look at the course calendar too often.

- Side Note: I make an appointment every semester with my disability support officer for my area of study to make sure I have my special considerations for the year. Now I may go through the whole year without ever using my considerations. However, the fact that I know they are there takes an insane amount of pressure off of myself. If I’m having an insanely screwy loony tune mental health moment, I can email my coordinator my disability plan and say I need an extension due to personal reasons, and WHOOP, there it izzzzz.

7. Dedicated one thing or a few things that have nothing to do with food/alcohol/other substances to reward yourself with for doing the thing!

- This may not work for everyone. It doesn’t always work for me. I used to reward myself with food, but that only reinforced my stimming with overeating and my already bad relationship with food. And I feel as though that would be the same with any other substance that can be linked with addiction. (Addiction is a tough word, cause what aren’t I addicted to, I have ADHD, but hopefully you get what I mean!).

-Now, boring try and not choose this aside, lets think of somethings that work really well as rewards!

- My partner likes to come give me a kiss and a hug when ever they have written and reread a paragraph, you might buy a book when you get a really good mark, you might want to go make a cup of tea and watch an episode of your hyperfixation after studying for <enter a good period of time here>, you might allow yourself to partake in an activity you usually do while procrastinating (but at least this time you know you aren’t putting something off), talk to someone who you know will tell you they are proud of you as they understand the mental struggle you go through to concentrate (if you can’t think of anyone, it is 110% okay if that person are the amazing people on tumblr or the adhd tumblr chats. We will freaking pop a bottle of champagne for you cause we get it!).

- Try and make what ever you choose be something in a different room or away from your working space. Getting out can really calm you down.

8. Don’t be afraid to ask for assistance.

- This is true for anything, but I don’t mean just asking your teacher to give you extra help understanding the task and marking rubric. Many people online, tutors, librarians at your school, past or present students offer assistance rereading and making small edits (they won’t make it magical unfortunately) to your assignments. If you are like me and once you have written or completed the dreaded thing, you can not imagine or force your gremlin brain reread or edit the thing. So it can help to just delegate this to someone else, who hasn’t read it before, so they won’t disassociate or skim read it. They will often notice things you never would have even if you were neurotypical as that is just what happens when you have been working on something for so long.

9. Repetitive music.

- It generally helps if this has no lyrics. Lo-fi is amazing. Classical is alright too if it works for you, but both my partner and I agree that it can really assist you to keep up pace and focus when the beat is a high and repetitive (almost meditative) tempo.

10. Limit your screen space.

- This is a tip completely from my partner @dr-adhd who also has ADHD, is an avid PC gamer and is consistently in a battle with their gremlin brain to focus on completing their PhD. They have discovered that it really helps them to limit their screen space - simply put, work on one screen only. They have done more work more easily when they have their one screen on their laptop to focus on. Whereas their office has multiple screens so they could be playing runescape, watching YouTube, listening to lo-fi and doing work - which never worked (shocking right hahaha).

11. At the risk of sounding like a Mum... Put your phone and other electronics other than the assignment necessary one, away.

- I am a Mum, but to a fluffy puppy dog, so I hate to sound like my Mum when I was in high school, but she was right. Mobiles are the single easiest and biggest distraction in ADHD history. I often, even at coffee shops, have to turn my phone over so that I am not consistently looking at it every time the screen lights up to say the pizza place has sent me a coupon, or a carpet place that has been having a sale since I was born is... still having a sale, or a friend from school wants you to watch this TikTok. Even though you might not want to ignore your friends, because people pleasing, difficulting making/keeping friends and RSD are hecking real things, but they can all wait. Trust me, none of them are urgent. That TikTok will still be funny in an hour or two. And I’m probably completely right when I say that whomever just messaged you, never replies as quickly as you want them too. So I doubt they are going to think twice if you are MIA to finish your thing.

My partner or I might add to this later, but at the moment I already know that I probably wouldn’t read this wall of words if I was the one reading it, so if you are still with me, THANK YOU and I really hope I might have helped you. Sorry for the mound of words, but maybe you can reblog, screen shot, or save this and read a dot point at a time or refer to it when you need. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, I promise what ever it is, I’ve asked the same thing once in my life or something MUCH stupider.

[gh0st-patr0l]

ADHD in DSMP

So about a week back, I made a post about Karl Jacobs (a bit of a passive aggressive one, I’ll admit, but I think it was justified), complaining that a lot of the ‘criticism’ I see about Karl is actually rather insensitive towards his ADHD. I got a lot of responses to that post, and the most common sources of confusion I saw were:

People not understanding what I was saying they should avoid being judgmental of, or-

People who didn’t know that Karl had ADHD or didn’t understand which behaviors were caused by it.

First of all, Karl has confirmed that he has ADHD.

(NOTE: Yes, I know he said ADD. ADD and ADHD used to be categorized as separate disorders, but in the most recent edition of the DSM, it was decided that they are both simply subtypes of the same disorder- ADHD is the correct technical term. ADD is still sometimes used as shorthand by some practitioners to diagnose primarily-inattentive ADHD, but it's a bit outdated.)

Secondly, that original post made me realize that a lot of people who may be well-meaning may genuinely not fully understand ADHD and its symptoms as well as they want to or think they might. If you aren’t aware, Karl isn’t the only one in the DSMP with ADHD- to my understanding, both Technoblade and Dream have confirmed that they have it as well. So, I thought it would be helpful to put together a comprehensive crash-course on ADHD symptoms and how they effect people’s behavior!

Now, before we go further, I want to address something- as I said earlier, I saw some people unsure of whether certain behaviors are ADHD or “just his personality”. I feel the need to point this out above the read more so people will see it. To answer this question, as someone with ADHD;

A lot of times, it’s both. ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder, meaning that it’s caused by the way your brain developed from birth. A lot of the symptoms and effects of ADHD are extremely influential towards the way we think, act, and behave, to the point where “symptoms” and “normal behavior” really don’t have a clean differentiation. This is why it’s technically classified as a ‘disorder’, instead of an illness. While certain aspects of it can require treatment, the condition itself as a whole is not something to be mitigated or eliminated- it’s a part of who we are as a person. This is also why sometimes, even if you don’t have ADHD, you’ll look at certain specific behaviors or experiences and go “Oh, but I do that too!”. A lot of ADHD ‘symptoms’ are just a bunch of normal traits or behaviors, but in combination with each other and some actually problematic aspects, form the appearance of the disorder.

So, what are you allowed to nitpick about it? Well, there’s no real ‘authority’ on this, and even if there was it certainly wouldn’t be me. But if you want my opinion? Nothing.

See, here’s the thing- what I was trying to say when I made that post was not that you can’t be critical of Karl. If you want to say something about his Actions, his Ideals, or the content he creates- sure, go for it, that’s fair. I will agree that there are some very valid and constructive points to be made. But when you post ‘criticism’ about the way he speaks, his interests or preoccupations, his personal behaviors? That’s not criticism. That’s just judging someone.

And you’re allowed to think that stuff! Nobody can control what annoys or bothers them. It doesn’t necessarily make you a bad person. But you don’t need to be vocal about it. You can keep your mean thoughts to yourself. And if you do make posts or communities or whatever about judging someone for things they can’t change about themselves, don’t call it “criticism” or try to morally justify it. It’s not productive or righteous, it’s just rude. Nothing else.

Anyway. Back to Education!

The following will be a descriptive list of visible ADHD behaviors, using Karl’s behavior as examples.

I feel the need to add a disclaimer here- I am not a mental health professional. However! I have ADHD myself, I have taken some psychology courses and done a Lot of research into this stuff, and I’m the daughter of a therapist with access to a DSM. While I’m not an expert, I’d like to think I’m fairly well versed and knowledgeable on at least ADHD. (That being said, if by chance anyone who Is a professional sees this post and notices mistakes, by all means let me know and I’ll fix it!!)

WHAT IS ADHD?

You’re here for the behaviors more than the science, so I’ll keep this short and sweet. ADHD is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (Known in the past as Attention Deficit Disorder). Despite its name, the root problem of ADHD is not in the person’s ability to pay attention, but their brain’s capability to manage itself. In simple terms, people with ADHD have a lot less control over what their brain does and wants. This results in some behavioral differences along with some personal challenges, namely a difficulty with attentiveness and self-discipline.

Now, onto the symptoms!

ATTENTION

This is perhaps the most visible and pervasive of the ADHD symptoms, hence why it’s the namesake. Inattention is a lack of focus and an inability to stay present and occupied with certain tasks or thoughts.

Because ADHD impairs self-management of the brain, people with it have an extremely hard time directing themselves anywhere but where their brain instinctively wants to go. This results in inattentiveness and the easiness of distraction that is often mocked or stereotyped for people with ADHD.

Here are some examples of how Karl can sometimes display his inattentiveness;

When he has an idea that he seems passionate about, only to drop it or switch to something totally different without warning soon after (either forgetting or getting bored of his original idea).

When he sets out to do something like a build, works on it for a short amount of time, and then immediately gives up or gets someone else to do it.

When someone else is talking and he totally zones out. (NOTE: While I wont make a whole section for it because it’s not easily observable, maladaptive (constant and intrusive) daydreaming is a common ADHD symptom as well!)

It’s important to remember that the whole problem with ADHD is that we can’t control when or what we focus on. When someone with ADHD zones out during a conversation or activity, it doesn’t mean they’re doing it on purpose, and they likely don’t mean any offense! We often are trying our best to listen or participate, but our brain just wont cooperate.

However, inattention is not the only way ADHD effects our focus. There’s also what’s called hyperfocus or hyperfixation, which is when we are so absorbed into a single subject, task, or idea that it is extremely difficult to get us to think about or do anything else. This is usually because our brains have found something that is getting those satisfaction chemicals flowing, and it’s clinging to that with everything it’s got.

People with ADHD will often experience brief periods of hyperfocus. Think of how Karl talks about spending hours straight working on a build or project without eating or drinking, or how he’ll sit down to play a game with someone and end up going six hours without even noticing.

There are also hyperfixations, where someone with ADHD becomes extremely preoccupied with a certain subject, topic, etc. for a period of time. These can be short term- personally, my hyperfixation can sometimes change as quickly as a couple weeks at a time. However, it can also be long term. Karl has been obsessed with Survivor since the second grade- not to mention his memorabilia, rambling, and constant references to Kingdom Hearts.

HYPERACTIVITY/STIMMING

This is a BIG one for Karl. I should clarify; ‘stimming’ is not a technical term, and in professional situations these behaviors are just referred to as Hyperactivity. However, I personally like the term stimming much more and find it far more accurate to what the behaviors actually are, so I’ll be using that instead for this post.

If you’re not already familiar, ‘stimming’ (derived from ‘stimulation’) is an unofficial term used to describe consistent and abnormal patterns of physical and vocal behavior typically expressed by people with ADHD and ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder). This includes things that people usually call fidgets or tics.

(NOTE: There are differences in how people with those two disorders stim. This post will explain stimming specifically from an ADHD perspective! ASD stimming is caused by very different factors and presents itself in much different ways. Do your own research if you’re curious!) 

There are two major observable forms of stimming- physical and vocal. Karl expresses both VERY often! I’ll use examples for each type;

Physical Stims: Flapping his hands/arms, jumping up and down when he’s excited, twisting around into odd positions in his chair, throwing, hitting, or tapping things, standing up and pacing around when he’s hyped up or laughing, twisting his rings, etc.

Vocal Stims: When he gets excited and repeats a certain phrase incessantly (Think any variation of “I’m popping off”), making certain repetitive noises while he’s focused on something or bored (”la la la”, the meow-noises, the weird heart-beat noise, etc.), singing or humming, tongue clicking.

It should be noted here that it’s pretty common for people with ADHD to get “stuck” on certain phrases or noises, and be unable to stop repeating them (reminiscent of echolalia, a symptom of ASD, but not the same thing). Think of how Karl might sometimes keep making a weird noise for an extended period of time even though it’s not that funny, or that one time he was physically struggling to keep himself from singing the Bakugan theme. These repetitions are completely impulsive and trust me, we usually know how annoying it is while we’re doing it, but we physically cannot stop.

ADHD stims are caused by the fact that the barrier between our brain and body is much weaker than a normal person’s. Because of this, most ADHD stims are actually very positive expressions of joy, excitement, or enthusiasm! Y’know how when you get excited, you feel like you wanna jump or dance? The ‘hyperactivity’ of ADHD is basically just that, but we don’t have the self-control to Not do it.

Stims can be caused by negative feelings like overstimulation, but in ADHD this is not nearly as common. Usually, the most negative reason we’ll stim is when we’re bored- in that case, our brain isn’t getting the Constant Stimulation that it naturally wants, so stimming is a way to make our own.

Whatever the cause, stimming is natural and impulsive. While different people experience it to varying degrees, those who regularly stim typically have little to no control over it. Suppressing stims is very hard and very frustrating to do.

Besides that, like I said- ADHD stims are often an expression of joy, excitement, or enthusiasm. They’re a beautiful thing that shouldn’t be seen as shameful or annoying!

BEHAVIORAL DIFFICULTIES

ADHD is a disorder which causes a lack of self-control. Naturally, this means that people with ADHD are inherently reckless, impulsive, and struggle with a lack of self-discipline that they cannot fix.

Of course, people with ADHD do still have some level of self-control, and they are still responsible for conscious, long-term behavioral patterns and decisions. However, in regards to most things, they are much, much less capable of controlling themselves than an average neurotypical person is.

These are some examples of how this will often present itself in Karl;

Excessive rambling, dragging on a joke or conversation when it could and should probably have been dropped, etc.

Speaking over or interrupting other people (NOTE: As someone with ADHD- THIS IS ALMOST ALWAYS UNINTENTIONAL. I know it can seem rude or annoying but I promise, 90% of the time if someone with ADHD talks over you, they either didn’t realize or physically couldn’t help it. Please try to be patient!)

Lack of awareness towards social cues (NOTE: Unlike ASD, in which the person is incapable of/has problems fully understanding social cues, ADHD results in a lack of awareness. For whatever reason, we’re often just not paying close enough attention to pick up on things like body language, tone of speech, and facial expression as well as we would normally.)

Indecisiveness and overthinking

Bluntness, lack of subtlety

Unintentional dismissiveness, accidentally ignoring things/people (NOTE: Again, this behavior is purely accidental. In this case, it’s usually just the person genuinely not hearing or processing things.)

Making noises, speaking, joking, etc. at inappropriate times

There’s probably more, but I think you get the idea by now. A lot of the time, behavior which results from ADHD can be seen as rude, lazy, dismissive, or otherwise intentionally harmful. In reality, we just aren’t wired to navigate common social interaction with grace.

In Karl’s case, he’s clearly an incredibly sweet, empathetic, and kind-hearted person, if the various close friends who have talked about him are to be believed. Just because he talks over people or makes a poorly timed joke, that doesn’t mean he meant any harm. 

I think that’s about it for how much I wanted to point out! You can do more research if you’re curious, but I feel like this post should be enough to tell you what to keep in mind and be understanding about when talking about/making judgements on Karl, and other people with ADHD.

[snootsshiftingspace]

𝐇𝐢, 𝐦𝐲 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐒𝐧𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐬. ＼（＠￣∇￣＠）／

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

Today I wanted to blab about my progress regarding shifting, because shifting is something that I've grown very passionate about very quickly. I didn't really expect to stay around too long at first; I'm prone to hyperfixations and mistakes take the fun for a lot of things away from me. Well… let's just say that sticking around is now a part of my plan.

╔════════❁❃❁════════╗ 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐫 There is no universal experience! This is just my personal one. It's cool if you relate, and it's cool if you don't! I'm rather new to shifting, so this will definitely have wonky areas.

╚════════❁❃❁════════╝

Shifting is rewarding for me in a way that I find difficult to put into words. When I try something and it doesn't work out the way I want it to, I usually feel discouraged and frustrated, whereas when I 'fail' to shift, it just feels like another learning experience. I never feel like I'm failing anything if I ended up getting some decent feedback out of it (insert me looking at school with disappointment here).

One of the areas that I have yet to improve on in my attempts is my perfectionism when it comes to how I put my preferred methods into action. There's a post out there somewhere that opened my eyes up to my issue, but I didn't feel like putting everything into a single comment.

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐦 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐀𝐧 𝐈𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐞 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐌𝐞

When I say perfectionism, I am not referring to script things or affirmations (examples: "my body is perfect" "my life is perfect for me"). Instead, I'm referring to the unrealistic expectations I put on myself and my shifting journey. I mean, expecting myself to shift within like a week was an idea I IMMEDIATELY scrapped because I knew that changing my mindset would absolutely not happen that fast, but alas, I still faced difficulties.

I was listening to this void state guided meditation on YouTube, and for me? I was floating, I was everywhere and nowhere, I felt my thoughts fade away… I have no clue what the void state is supposed to feel like but I certainly felt SOMETHING. And I really, really, really… really really really wanted to feel it again. The exact same way. …You can see where this is going.

Yeah I tried to replicate it as close as possible the next night. Same position, all lights off, same clothes, same meditation, same routine… big surprise to nobody, it didn't work.

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

𝚆𝚑���� 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍𝚗'𝚝 𝚒𝚝 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔?

Because for one I can't go back in time /lh

My second issue was how I put all my concentration into the method itself, completely forgetting to be in the moment with my mind (contributing to that, my ADHD brain did not like listening to the exact same thing again, and it got bored, and it let me know very rudely).

…and lastly, I kept getting frustrated that my blankets weren't straight. The last point seems kind of stupid or petty in hindsight, but at that time it legitimately ticked me off that they wouldn't flatten out in the way I wanted to. My mindset was totally off and my need for perfection accentuated that.

Weird addition maybe, but I've noticed that usually when I attempt to shift, time just flies by. In this case, it was not flying. It was crawling sadly on the floor. Business was not booming. · · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

𝙷𝚘𝚠 𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚌𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚙𝚏𝚞𝚕?

It helped me realise that I can do whatever the heck I wanna when it comes to how I shift! It's not necessary to get all the little details right because the goal is the big picture. I can vibe on my side instead of my back if I want to. I can use a weighted blanket if that's more comfortable. I don't need to experience the same symptoms every time. I can do new and different and spontaneous things whenever I please and that is a very spicy conclusion to come to!!

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

𝙳𝚞𝚍𝚎, 𝚂𝚗𝚘𝚘𝚝𝚜, 𝚠𝚑𝚢 𝚍𝚒𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚙𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜?

Nobody has the same journey as somebody else, but some of us have similar struggles. I hope that sharing this will help a person or two feel less alone!!

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

Anywho, I'm done for today. Thanks for reading the blog, and don't be afraid to send feedback!

𝐓𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐬~ - 𝑠𝑛𝑜𝑜𝑡𝑠

[notmanagingmymischief]

Taking a break.

So...this really hurts to say. So I think I should give some backstory first.

Hi. I'm Bex. And I have really severe and clinically diagnosed ADHD, along with multiple other mental illnesses. Now I don't want this to be taken out of context; I know there is a huge stigma around the statement "mental illness", which we as a society really need to work on. I of course don't mean this in a negative connotation, it's simply the best way to describe it. I am mentally ill. There's nothing inherently bad about that, but it poses more than a few issues.

The biggest one for me, personally, is hyperfixation(s). A hyperfixation, by definition, is "being completely immersed in something — whether it be a video game, movie/TV fandom culture or a hobby like crocheting." And I suffer from these hyperfixations a lot. I find a TV show, movie, book, whatever it is, and attach myself to a certain character. I can't prevent this, I can't help it, as much as I wish I could just watch something and then forget about it, I just...can't.

Now why is this a problem? Everyone has interests and things that they get hyped about for a while, so why should this be any different? Well the thing is, with me, these fixations can last much longer than neurotypical people's do. They can last for months, years at a time. I get so attached to a character and I hold onto that attachment until it's borderline obsession. This can get so bad that I will get physically ill, have panic attacks, go into complete mental breakdowns and depressive spirals, because it will suddenly without warning hit me that these people aren't real. See, I don't get fixated on real people or things; it's almost always fictional characters.

My most recent infatuation has been Miss Alma Peregrine. It started off as "Oh, she's hot. I should write fanfiction for her." And that was it. I was attracted to her and wanted to imagine being with her. But within the past few weeks, this interest has turned extremely dangerous. Sure, I'm not in any bodily danger, but when you're throwing up, hyperventilating to the point of fainting, and crying yourself to sleep nearly every night over a fictional woman, that's when I have to put my foot down. This is affecting my personal life, and with school having just started, I need to back down.

And it hurts like hell to have to post this, to have to step back from one of the only things that makes me happy, but if I don't then I'm afraid this will become too much to handle. Every song I hear makes me think of her, every time I see something pretty I think "Oh, Alma would love this," and it's hard to separate yourself from a fandom when everything makes you think of another scenario that you'll never be able to experience, and that hurts. It hurts so, so very much. And I know this will upset some of you, since I know that (and I'm not trying to be narcissistic) a whole lot of people really enjoy my writing, especially my Miss Peregrine stories.

Just the other day, I cried for most of the day over the fact that I'll never be able to meet her, never have her hold me and wipe my tears and tell me it'll all be okay. Because she isn't real. And sure, maybe shifting is real. Or maybe it isn't. I'm starting to think I imagined the whole thing, and that's affecting my mental health even more. It feels like I'm going crazy.

Like I said, this isn't something I can just stop, flip some switch in my brain and just forget about her. I wish like hell that I could, because that would make all of this so much easier. But that's not how ADHD and fixations work, no matter how much I and everyone else around me wants it to.

In conclusion, I'm going to be stopping my writing for Miss Peregrine, indefinitely. At least until I can get over her and stop my entire life from revolving around her and that universe. This doesn't mean I'm stopping writing for anyone, not at all. Unless, of course, this happens again with someone else. I'll be posting much less frequently, of course, what with school starting and all that, but I promise that you'll still get at least short imagines for other characters.

I'm sorry. I am truly sorry, from the bottom of my heart.

Please forgive me. I'm sorry.

[adamsvanrhijn]

Always interests me when people are like "with ADHD in ye olden times I would just spin yarn (or whatever) all day and get to daydream about my hyperfixation the whole time" like wow your brand of ADHD must be very different from mine. If I lived in Colonial America or something I would get bored so fast. I'd spin uneven yarn with careless mistakes in it because I just wanted to be done so I could go work on knitting some stockings or whatever but then while knitting I'd be like "this is taking too long I miss spinning yarn," and I'd also be pissed off about all the slubs in my yarn even though they were technically my fault. then my friend Beddie (short for Obedience) would come knock on my door and she'd be like "hey girl did you forget it's Wednesday again? you're late for bible study" because alarm clocks didn't exist yet and it was June and I had lost my perpetual calendar again like in February and still hadn't finished cross stitching a replacement yet even though it should have been done by March because that was the deadline I gave myself because even though they changed the calendar when I was a kid my brain still associated March with the new year but now that it was June it was like, okay well I missed it so I might as well wait til next year even though all my friends were getting pretty annoyed with me for getting the days of things wrong all the time and I literally had like 6 months before the new year so it was definitely enough time to do it but I just couldn't get myself to start for some reason. Then at bible study we'd be starting talking about the Gospel of Luke but I would keep bringing up the conversation we hadn't finished about the Gospel of Mark the previous week because I'd spent the last seven days coming up with new arguments in my head because Tabitha had been like, objectively wrong about the theological implications of him leaving out what the women saw in the tomb on Easter morning but everybody agreed with her because when I explained my position the first time I kept jumping around and talking too fast and no one could understand what the fuck I was trying to say even though I was definitely right and also Tabitha had LITERALLY quoted the verse wrong and hinged her whole entire explanation on that but when I called her out on it because I was apparently the only person who noticed Chastity had been like "it literally doesn't matter it's just a word, you're taking this way too seriously" which was stupid because it changed the meaning! But it had been a week since that had happened and nobody else cared anymore even though I had basically put my entire self worth on them understanding me. Then after bible study I'd go home and I'd realise the only thing I had to eat for supper was salt jerky because I was supposed to go to the market that day but I hadn't because I had lain down on the floor reading Sophia again (fourth reread) from start to finish instead. And then I would have a meltdown because it was Wednesday and you weren't supposed to eat meat on Wednesdays.

[cronchy-bones]

Adhd things that need to be talked more about (because adhd is more than just not being able to focus)

Short term memory loss. Seriously, I forget things that are said to me 5 minutes ago or will forget I opened a soda and will have 3 open cans by the end of the day with none of them finished. A lot of people don't know about this, and so they think that I don't care enough to listen to what their saying (which I do!!! I just can't remember it) or that I'm lazy because of all the things I don't end up doing because I forgot I had to do them.

Lack of motivation. Listen, I honestly can't do anything on my own for the most part. I have to have someone else tell me to do something or have them set goals for me because it's so damn difficult for me to do it myself. Again, I'm not lazy, I just have trouble doing things on my own

Language processing difficulties. Sometimes, English and words in general don't work out in my head. Reading or even listening to someone talk can be extremely difficult for me to understand because my brain just won't work. Why? Can't tell you 99% of the time! It's not that I need to focus, it's that my brain is just buffering.

Needing multiple forms of stimulation at all times. I have a tin of putty that I keep in my book bag and a smaller one I keep in my purse at all times because of this reason. If I want to learn anything at school, I have to be able to look at something, hear something, and have something to do with my hands. Otherwise, it's probably a big nope for me. What's frustrating is that since this isn't talked about enough, I often get called childish or get looked down upon because I have to play with silly putty in a highschool class.

Hyperfixation. Adhd can mean not being able to focus, but it's also focusing too much on something! This can mean anything from a certain interest someone is in to at that moment, to something like a song that has been stuck in your head for a week. People seem to not understand this and think that we're boring and have nothing else to talk about or that we're annoying because we keep bringing the same things up over and over again but that's not the case. Trust me, I'm annoyed with the hit or miss song too, but at least it's not playing in your head constantly like it is for me

These are all the ones I can think of right now, but it's really important we talk about this stuff more. All of these things that come with adhd can be very frustrating for those around us because they don't understand that we can't help it. To an outsider, it may just look like a person with adhd is just lazy and doesn't care, when it's actually just how our brains are wired. None of us want to be frustrating to others!! In fact, all of this frustrates us too!! But since adhd is just known as "not being able to focus", people don't realize what all comes with it and how it can really fuck everyone over.

Please add more if you can think of anything else!! I'm horrible with lists lol

[saundraswriting]

Missed Signals Chapter 1

SUMMARY: Reki might have a problem. He gets hyperfixated. He is too loud. He has a delayed sleep schedule. He forgets to eat and drink sometimes. He zones out a lot, and even more when he tries to pay attention. He fidgets with his hair and his clothes and his skin to the point of injury. His brain works, sometimes. Other times he has to fight it. He has learned to cope enough over the years but just like everything else, some days are better than others.

WARNINGS: Nothing too grand, descriptions of ADHD symptoms,

NOTES: I am trying to cope with what I am thinking is undiagnosed ADHD by projecting onto my favorite characters. I mean no harm and no offense.

Ao3 // Missed Signals Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Next Chapter

With the sound of the last bell, Reki and Langa tore off to the skate park. They had just finished mid terms. Both boys were lookin forward to the three day weekend. They both missed going to 'S' and the skate park and even Joe's place, trying to studying as much as possible. Langa was still terrible with his Japanese and Math even though he was getting better. Reki's English and Biology scores were dismal, but he seemed to be scoring consistently well on his other tests.

"Hey, Langa, Reki! Over here!" Joe called. "Long time no see." The four other skaters were standing near a bench in the skate park all seeming to wait for the two high schoolers.

"Joe! Cherry!" Reki's bright grin was visible to them from the entrance.

"Shadow! Miya!" Langa was a little more subdued in his greater but no less enthusiastic.

Both boys felt a weight shift off their shoulders at the presence of their friends. They were really finished with midterms, they had three days to hang out and skate with each other. Their week of hard work seemed to finally pay off.

"Hello there, boys. How did midterms go?" Cherry asked. He was dressed in his robes but had his hair up.

"I think we did okay. It helps that we struggle in different subjects. I am glad we decided to take the days to review things." Reki said.

"It was a smart idea to use past test to study off of, instead of just notes. Your notes are also so lacking but you do so well on the tests." Langa commented absently as he bent to retie his shoe.

"What do you mean?"' Joe asked Langa. They all watched as Langa fiddled with his shoelaces.

"Oh. Um. Reki often forgets his homework or his notes are very scattered. Rarely does he remember his homework and take good notes. But he scores high on his tests. I even overheard the teachers discussing that if he applied himself and did his homework and took better notes Reki easily could be a top student." At the second mention of his name, Reki stopped looking at his phone and came back to the conversation, glancing at Langa who was sighing at his shoe.

"Langa, your aglet is broken. You'll need new laces. but for now I think some tape will do." Reki said. Everyone looked at him confused. "What? The thing on the end of your laces is called an aglet. It is derived from old French meaning 'needle' or 'pin' designed for lacing shoes or bags easier. Originally they were for ornamental reasons." Reki rattled off unprompted into the silence. His face grew pink at the attention of the others.

"Reki, why do you know that?" Miya asked.

"I had a period of time where I customized shoes for people. I liked how different it was from doing a board. I could show off my art skills better and helped steady my hand a bit more." Reki shrugged, not seeing the big deal.

"You know the old French origins of a part of a shoe no one cares about but you can't be bothered to learn English?" Cherry demanded.

Reki shrugged again, rubbing the back of his neck, embarrassment evident. "I don't mean to not do it. I sit down and I get ready to do it but then my mind blanks. Sometimes I can force myself but then I am frustrated quickly and easily irritated. Sometimes I work on it at school but then my notes are shitty." Reki rubbed his forehead, voice hard. "Sometimes the lights are too bright. Sometimes my brain says no to English but yes to physics and even sometimes my brain says no to everything and I just sit there telling myself all the things I need to do but it is all too much and not enough." Reki's hands begin to shake, while Joe and Cherry share a look over his head.

"Skating is the only thin that helps. But when I skate I give up time that I could be studying or working on the homework. I don't mean to be bad at school, just sometimes I can't help it." Reki seemed to curl in on himself, drawing his shoulders up and ducking his head down. His voice grew small and weak.

"Reki we didn't mean to make you upset. We were just curious. You aren't the only person that has issues organizing their thoughts or staying focused. Has this been an issue for a while?" Cherry gently asked. Reki seemed to relax when the group stayed quiet, seeming to expect derogatory comments.

"I think I began noticing in my second year of middle school." Reki spoke to the ground, unable to look at anyone in the eye. Langa could see his muscles tensing, sensing Reki's desire to bolt.

"That is enough of that. We came here to skate. Let's skate." Joe broke the tension seeming to sense Reki's urge to flee.

"Yes! I have something I want to show you slimes." Miya skated off after joe towards the halfpipe, throwing taunts over his shoulder as he went. Reki and Lana flew after him, throwing their own teasing comments at Shadow, who deemed himself the adult supervisor of the rowdy children.

Cherry and Joe hung back a bit, watching them all tear off. The previous conversation still lingering in the air. Both adults tracking a brightly laughing Reki as he skated around Miya and Langa.

"Poor kid. That must be so frustrating. He tried to make it out like it was no big deal but even if he learned some coping mechanisms, they won't work all the time if he doesn't know what the source of the problem is." Cherry said.

"He won't. He isn't self aware enough to know that he even has symptoms. He seems to have an executive dysfunction though." Joe said, thinking back to his high school days, where everything was too much and not enough, the days of skating until the small hours to hopefully be able to focus, the cooking and baking he did to keep from tearing things apart.

"Maybe we can help him? Maybe if we play our cards right he will even let us. He is so smart, it must be terrible to be stuck in your own head like that." Cherry said, finally picking up his board. Joe followed suit.

"The hardest part is the executive dysfunction. You need and want to do the thing but because you're frontal cortex didn't develop fully you completely freeze and your brain checks out and you are worthless all day. No one else can really get it unless they know. It is hard to explain it to neurotypicals." Joe tried to explain to the best of his abilities. Cherry nodded and made a mental note to research neurotypicals and neurodevelopment disorders.

The two adults finally made it over to see everyone was in the middle of a trick imitating game. Miya was keeping the tricks to a lower difficulty than normal so Reki wouldn't get to disheartened Joe noticed. Langa was doing pretty well, some of the more subtle footwork tripping him up since he wasn't a long term veteran. They skated for a few more hours before finally taking a water break. They were leaning against the fence or the bench or even each other in Reki and Langa's case. Langa had his full attention on Reki as he lectured on another topic, Cherry wasn't sure but it seemed to be about the manhole covers in the streets.

"They have to be round cause any other shape will fall in when turned upright. It is to save the people who are in the pipe below it." Reki was saying. Langa soaked up every word, and Cherry almost felt sorry for how gone the kid was for Reki.

"Honestly kid, why do you know that?' Joe said, looking just as interested. Cherry could only sigh and hope he wasn't as readable on how gone for his idiot gorilla.

"I collect interesting facts. I like to keep them in my brain, never know when you need them." Reki said. Joe just smiled down at the young man, fondly.

"Of course you do, kid. Of course you do."

[feliciamontagues]

adhd father brown hcs??? sign me tf up!

Okay, so I’ve had most of these thoughts/interpretations for awhile but I was not expecting to morph into such a ginormous post

A few caveats before we begin.

1) Obviously due to the period drama setting, Father Brown would likely never be officially diagnosed as having ADHD, as the disorder as we know it today only started to be seriously studied in the 1970s.  Furthermore as I mentioned before, I head canon him as having either the “primarily inattentive” (what used to be called/separately diagnosed as ADD) or the “combined”  subtype of ADHD , which  statistically  fly under the radar more  than those with more “hyperactive” symptoms. 

2) I don’t think he is intentionally written and/or performed as ADHD-coded and I don’t expect canon will ever  “confirm this.” A LOT of character types/ tropes in fiction have developed around characters that display neurodiverse  symptoms that may not be immediately obvious to neurotypical content producers or consumers. In particular the “brilliant-but-lazy” and/or “charmingly eccentric” character shows up frequently in detective fiction.  (Other examples: Hercule Poirot is pretty regularly interpreted as having OCD and Sherlock Holmes as having ADHD and/or autism spectrum disorder). 

3) There’s a bit of discourse about the word “neurodiverse” and who should be “allowed” to claim it. Some people consider it a term that should be exclusively used to describe  people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, most experts believe that “neurodiversity” encompasses a much wider umbrella that also includes ADHD, OCD, Tourettes/tics, dyslexia, PTSD, various sensory and processing disorders, and more in addition to ASD. 

For the purpose of this, we will be using the word in the broader, more inclusive sense that includes ADHD and other similar disorders.  We will also be using terms such as “special interest,” “hyperfixation,” “comfort object,”  “stim/stimming” , etc that are more commonly associated with ASD--but that are also present in many individuals with ADHD. 

Now to the main event. (below the cut because it’s really long.) Also feel free to comment or add to this post.

Father Brown & ADHD (head canons, symptoms, and interpretations)

He is absent-minded and easily distracted, especially when it comes to mundane day-to-day tasks.  I can’t even begin to count the number of times Mrs. M has to remind him to eat, sleep, clean, have something repaired,  and/or do paperwork And it’s pretty strongly implied that the squad’s interventions (and especially Mrs. M) are just about the only thing keeping him on task.

Special mention has to go to the time where he just straight-up LEFT MASS in the middle of his homily, because he’d suddenly thought of a potential lead for the case and needed to investigate it immediately.  (”The Jackdaw’s Revenge”)

Another special mention has to go to the sizable pile of overdue library books that he’s supposedly “been meaning to take back for ages” but kept forgetting. In this same scene, Mrs. M specifically refers to him as a “hoarder.”  (“The Lepidopterist's Companion”)

He is fairly observant when hyperfocusing and tends to notice details and inconsistencies that others might not. He’s also very good at making surprising and unexpected “bigger picture” connections. He’s also more likely to consider multiple possible theories at once rather than focusing on the most likely, obvious one (as the inspectors do). 

His permanent special interests are mysteries and theology. Interestingly, his theology interest extends beyond Christianity/Catholicism--as he is also very knowledgeable and curious about several other religions/denominations/ways of practicing faith, as well as atheism and more generalized spirituality. He was even willing to give Kalon’s “so -obviously-a-cult-and-not-even-a-cool-one” organization a fair shake at first. 

In addition to his permanent special interests, he is also very curious in general about a lot of  different things and will often develop brief-but-strong interests in something pertaining to the case of the week. 

He stims primarily by riding his bike everywhere. The fact he loves his bike enough to name it (”Bucephalus” after Alexander the Great’s horse) suggests that it may also be a comfort object for him.

His other major stims are eating (more about that later) and touching his umbrella.

Speaking of his umbrella, a decent case could be made for it as a comfort object.” Father Brown takes it with him whenever he needs to leave St. Mary’s/the presbytery, even on occasions where he’s unlikely to encounter rain. The few times he is separated from his umbrella we are meant to see this a really big deal.  His lending Flambeau his umbrella in “The Judgement of Man” is presented as a gesture of true kindness and friendship. When Father B. is forced to leave his umbrella behind in “The Whistle in the Dark,” Bunty immediately buys him a new one. 

His two biggest vices are his tendency to overeat (especially his love for sweet things) and his interest in listening to the horse races. Fortunately, neither of these things has become a big problem as of yet (especially as he’s content to listen to the races without betting on them and has Mrs. M to stop him from eating too much sugary treats). However, it is worth noting that people with ADHD are especially susceptible to overeating,  gambling, and other addiction problems, as they are constantly seeking stimulation.

His relationship with Rejection Sensitivity is  somewhat unique. Because he has such a strong support system, he seems to handle personal rejection fairly well. However, his RSD  still manifests in terms of redeeming others. He seems to hold himself personally accountable for every soul he is unable to save.  This may explain why he is so tenacious when trying to getting people to confess and repent their wrongdoing. We see this particularly strongly with Katharine Corven (which was always a lost cause) and with Flambeau (who he’s had much more success). 

Father Brown  quickly forms strong bonds with other characters who are canonically identified as being neurodivergent.  Examples of this include: Lucia Galloway (dyslexia) from “The Face of Death,”  Jeremy (brain alterations  due to a childhood automobile accident)  and Sarah Mulgrew (ambiguous disorder but shows possible signs of PTSD and autism )  from “The Maddest of All,” and Arthur Malmont (ambiguous disorder but possibly autism and/or another developmental disorder) from “The Labyrinth of the Minotaur.” 

In “The Maddest of All,” Father Brown is admitted to a mental institution as he is showing signs of “impulse-control disorder.” While he is largely exaggerating his symptoms so that he can be admitted and investigate, it makes sense for him to simply exaggerate symptoms and tendencies that already exist rather than completely “fake” a different type of disorder entirely. During his evaluation with the doctor, he even admits to overeating and kleptomanic tendencies--both habits  that Fr. Brown partakes on a fairly regular basis even when he isn’t “faking.” (Granted the kleptomania is usually just clues for a case or deserts left unattended, but it’s still worth commenting on). 

[starrynyxa]

adhd bellamy blake + spacekru/the ring

Surprisingly, Bellamy keeps better track of the days up in space. Back when they first landed, the days just blurred together into a stream of yesterdays, todays, and tomorrows. Nowadays, he keeps count. 1 day since Praimfaya, 2 days since he closed the rocket door, 3 days since Clarke died, and so on. Who knew that being able to tell what day it was would come with a cost?

Murphy and Emori quickly take to poking around the Ring, scavenging for anything useful, and somewhere along the line they decide to start bringing him any books they find. Bellamy thinks its their way of showing they care, without explicitly saying so, like a wordless “hey sorry about the fact that we left the love of your life on a burning planet to die that’s super sucky but here you go xoxo”. He doesn’t know how to tell them that books are a no go for him nowadays (he can’t make it past the first paragraph without the words getting lost in his brain) but he thanks them anyways. It’s the thought that counts.

He’s never noticed this before, but not long into the five years, Bellamy finds out that Monty is Like Him. Maybe not in the same exact way but...Similar. He sees himself in the way Monty goes on and on about his algae, and the wincing when the Ring’s soft machine hum gets Too Loud, and it feels....nice to know he is not alone. 

Bellamy sometimes comes to hang out while Raven works, but she quickly starts getting annoyed with him idly fidgeting/messing with her tools, and decides to make him (and Monty) stim toys to keep him Away from her things. At any given moment now, Bellamy will have at least one either in his hands or in his pocket.

Bellamy can’t decide whether his RSD is better worse on the Ring. It definitely helps that there’s no impending life-or-death situations in which there are no good choices. It does Not help that he is stuck with these people for the next five years, and the lot of them are prone to having some spats every now and then. He has far too much time to overthink every single interaction he’s ever had and to worry if Raven’s tone of voice slipped just past playful when she told him to fuck off, or if Harper is actually annoyed with him for forgetting it was his turn on dishes again.

Hyperfixations, honestly, are the only thing that keeps Bellamy going, when there’s Literally Nothing Else to do aside from day-to-day maintenance, and he drags the rest of spacekru along for the ride.

Movie nights are organized, in which Bellamy forces the rest of the gang to watch whatever it is that he’s hyperfixating on. He’ll find out as much as he can on the topic and come up with his own theories and spout off about them while they watch.

Weirdly enough, Echo seems to enjoy hearing him talk about his special interests. Or, at least, she seems somewhat content to just stand there and stare out the window while he tells her about the Amazons. He’s unsure whether or not she really listens but it feels good to just let it out, and perhaps he just imagined it, but he catches a sliver of a smile as she stalks off to probably go spar with Raven again.

Occasionally, Bellamy will come across a song that just has such Good Vibes and he decides that he Has to listen to it all the time, which means blasting it on repeat for hours until he finally gets sick of it. Spacekru cannot name more than three lines to We Didn’t Start the Fire, despite having heard it probably more than a hundred times because of him. Murphy is more than content to make up his own lyrics.

Harper is, actually, the one to get him into Percy Jackson. She brings it up when he’s off on a tangent about Kronos, and suddenly the two of them are scrounging the archive for the show and then binge watching it all within a week. When Harper offhandedly mentions the series, Bellamy reads a whole book for the first time since he was a teenager. She does not mention that a dark haired boy and a smart blonde girl taking on the world together hits a little too close to home, but she knows and hugs him when they fall into Tartarus and for that, Bellamy is thankful. 

[mcrmadness]

I should go to shower now but it's constantly reminding me of how big my water bill for this year was and I was actually trying my best to keep it smaller but no, it was actually over 50e more expensive than last year. I could try reducing the amount of water I use but 1) I am ALWAYS freezing in the shower 2) my bathroom is always cold so I am freezing even more 3) feeling cold is maybe one of the worst feelings ever and 4) executive dysfunction keeps me from turning off the shower before I feel that I'm not gonna freeze to death during the time I apply shampoo etc. And after shower I'm always feeling way too warm and I don't want to get out of the shower because I hate the sensation of dry fabric (towel) against my skin. Kinda wanna test the bucket method with shower but IT’S ALWAYS TOO COLD FOR ME TO DO THAT.

This water bill kinda ruined the ending of the year for me. Along with the fact I was so exhausted I didn't check the messages from social security agency and yesterday I finally did so and noticed they have canceled some of the welfare I get because I got disablement pension welfare which is why I can't get the normal welfare for living (the money mainly goes to rent), but had to apply for another living welfare "for people who get pension", so I did that now. And I still haven't sent them the application for occupational therapy, because I originally should have printed that out and it felt too much, so my therapist actually printed it out to me but it still feels like too much because I should fill it, put into an envelope and attach a stamp on it and send it to the social security agency. Not to mention the fact I just never remember the application exists and it you can get the therapy only for the month it is received, and once the month starts, I'm like "oh I don't need to hurry I still have 4 weeks to go" and then it's 1 week and I'm like "oh I didn't remember doing it this month? Well whatever, better luck next month then" and I still don't do it because I have 4 weeks to go.

Another thing that is now bothering me is that I think I have gained weight again which is not a surprise since I literally never go out and sit in front of my computer 24/7 doing nothing, and I just... don't know what to do with this. I don't want my weight to go up any more but I don't know what to do about it. I have never ever been able to find motivation for sports because I don't get an instant rewards so my brain thinks it's boring after 1 week of trying. I have an exercise bike but I can do that max 30min before it starts to be too painful (plus I sometimes get migraines from sports) and I have to stop, and even then my brain thinks it's waste of time and I can't use it until I multitask - which usually means I watch TV and eat something meanwhile.

I can't force myself to go outside because I hate walking and sweating, and my camera doesn't motivate me enough when I feel that there's nothing to take photos of, and all of the photos turn out bad. Plus walking hurts too. And my head cannot understand why should we leave place A only to walk back to place A when we can just not waste time for walking and stay in the place A the whole time. I always have to have a mission before I go anywhere, preferrably more than one to make it worth it. Like if I go to therapy, I often go to grocery store afterwards because leaving only for grocery store feels like it's not worth it until I go to several shops or do that because my mom needs to go to the grocery store too. I always ask people if they need anything from supermarkets, grocery stores or bookstore or whatnot before I leave there because I make myself more motivated when I'm not doing that only because of me but because there's more than one reason to do so.

+ The fact whenever I do anything sports related, then my health anxiety will kick in and tell me I'm gonna die if I continue. So I can't even reach the state where the moving WOULD be efficient because my anxiety won't let me. Instead it thinks it more healthy to sit in one place and not move because at least my heart rate won't go up then.

Gotta love medical trauma. And executive dysfunction. And adhd which will not hyperfixate on sports no matter what and can only hyperfocus on something for a little while until I find something else and forget that I even own an exercise bike and realize I haven’t been using it in a month.