#adhd-c

[cloudofbutterflies]

ADHD is one of the most fundamentally misnamed disorders. 

Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Let’s unpack that.

Attention-Deficit. This in of itself is misleading. I, as someone with ADHD, do not have a deficit of attention. What I do have is an extremely hard time choosing where to focus it. I can focus, for hours, with more intensity and more productively than most neurotypical people, but only on things like good books and video games and my writing and wikipedia rabbit holes and music. I cannot focus on things like homework and my job and keeping my room from turning into an absolute hurricane-level disaster and ordering my groceries. It’s not a deficit of attention, the attention is there, it’s just that I do not get to choose where it is focused. 

Hyperactivity. Hyperactivity is a type of ADHD. I have combined type, so I am hyperactive, but my best friend? They have inattentive ADHD. They can sit still, and don’t need to fidget, and they are not hyperactive. But they still have ADHD. Hyperactivity is a type of ADHD, not a fundamental part of it. It’s like calling all cake “chocolate cake” even if some cakes are vanilla. 

My suggestion for a new name? SRDD. Self-Regulation-Deficit Disorder. If you disagree, I’d love to hear why, and if you have another suggestion instead! Just be civil. 

[fancytrinkets]

adhd thoughts - adult diagnosed

I have been learning more about ADHD since my recent diagnosis, and though it doesn’t totally make it easier, I now have some better ways of understanding a bunch of things in my life that always felt awful. 

For example, I’ve been having a really rough time these past few days with shame. I’ve been feeling like the worst person in the world — all for a couple of relatively small but careless mistakes I made. 

And it’s just... a lot to process that maybe I’ve developed this unrelenting shame response because of a lifetime of untreated ADHD. That maybe it’s out of proportion, yes, but there’s a reason why. And it’s LOGICAL. It’s because without the lifetime of unrelenting shame, I simply am not capable of meeting other people’s expectations of conscientious behavior. I’ve had to beat myself up as an attempt to make up for a disability. And that’s just like... FUCK. Sorrowful and freeing all at once. Because it means I’m not a bad person on purpose.

[alighted-willow]

It's interesting how cultural norms, even subcultural norms, can effect how even the most benign and simultaneously fundamental aspects of the self.

Case and point: a classmate of mine back in an art course two years ago conversed with me briefly while naturalistically observing me (as in, you know, existing in the same area as myself for a short time) and asked me before the end of class if I was Italian (I am).

Everyone else asks me when I'll go to counseling or start taking meds to ‘fix’ my fidgeting.

Now, to make an obvious point, those things can be very helpful! I'm actually starting Adderal tomorrow morning to help with my unspecified sleep disorder, memory issues, and proprioception! But it's such an insult to be told or have it implied to you, constantly, that the way I express myself is a problem because it is “counter to societal norms”.

If they were intrusive or disruptive I would get it, but we're talking about drawing while watching movies with the family or cooking while entertaining guests (the food being for the guests)— I'm talking about swaying when standing, talking with one's hands, or pacing a room when laughing. I love these things! People are always saying that we need to move more and that living a too sedimentary life style is damaging, but then they see someone who does that and suddenly the problem is ‘moving too much’???

Unnervingly often of late, folks have been pointing it out to me. Oh no, I sat forward in my chair again. Oh no, I stopped sitting cross legged because it started hurting my hips. Oh no, I made a "clack" noise instead of saying “eyup”. Whatever will your fragile, insecure self doooooo?

I'm talking about this mostly because I've brought up that I'm seeking treatment for my memory issues (ADHD), proprioception (ASD) and sleep troubles (hiiigh, Long-Covid) to a few friends, family, and medical professionals— and the responses have been staggeringly consistent. My online friends have been absolutely lovely in their support and actively helpful, giving me advice where I needed it and helping me maintain my spirits as time dragged on. In person folks… did not.

The first friend I talked to, while meaning well, could only respond with how much less I'll squirm once I get the proper medication. I love her, but I really wish she phrased things differently. My bio-Mom (long story) has been pretty firm in being against me getting treatment (but I'm an adult so she can go pound sand) and has routinely pointed out little quirks or oddities in my movements (such as the sitting forward thing). The nurse practitioner I saw tried to convince me that my issues were all stemming from anxiety and that all I needed was counseling to help me conceal my hyperactivity and so that I could “learn to live” with all of the issues I had gone to her for. My doctor, thank the stars, vetoed her when I wasn’t around and so I received a call a few hours later telling me to go to the pharmacy in a day or two.

Is there a point? Did I have a reason for writing this all out other than to vent out my frustrations? Not really. I've been waiting for my lentils to boil and then cool so this was just me waiting out the clock. The closest thing to a moral is this: if someone reading this has a problem with one of their friends jittering their leg, ask yourself why.

Why are you so offended by someone standing when your sitting? Why do you find it annoying when someone's drawing instead of watching? Why are you so incensed and offended when someone does something as innocuous and benign as walk from one end of the room to the other and back? Ask yourself that and go fix your problem so that you stop nitpicking and brow beating the people around you.

[tvcore-productions]

Welcome to the Ramblings of A confined TV

How I’d describe myself is basically that my Bones/Folder are string mixed with silver and rose gold. And as you put it in a bead spinner but with random objects/aesthetichs/cores/trinkets

I’m basically a randomized interest of things I like and love (both different but ill put it in the bead spinner.)

My hook picks up Moths, Vintage objects like tear catchers, Breakcore, Cottagecore, Emos, Goths, bones, EIGENGRAU #16161D,  Mushrooms, Object-Heads, Retro, Wolves, Cats, Goose, Snakeys in sprinkles, gemstones, History books, Sharks, BLÅHAJ PLUSHIES, I have a lot of plushies, SPY X FAMILY, Lucid Dreaming, Splatoon Octo’s, Kadabra & Gengars(Ultra Favs) Eevee-(Sylveon) pins, noob and guest keychain.

I’d drink poison if it taste sweet

I am professionally diagnosed with ADHD-Combined. Love referring to my brain as dave, “Oh shit Dave we forgot our bag at home.”

Aha...Schools around the corner, That means school work, anxiety, maladaptive daydream, practicing to be bored, AND FRIENDS- oh yeah I get to be the one creating Mental health Pisters because their was Abelistic posters Yay!

MY SCHOOL HAD TO CHANGE THE SCHEDULE TO HAVE MATH EVERYDAY BECAUSE IT FALLOWED AMERICANS SCHOOL SYSTEM ! HAHEKIABAISBKS... I should get into coding clubs ^^

What you'll get is rambles & drawings of squirmles.

Story's half baked and will be updated a multitude amount of time with the [ MetroDemo Work In Progress.TVCore ] A game on the roblox platform, that's like Piggy with squirmles and Idols

Which is one of the things I'm baking right know, posted on Qoutev.

This is for fun so I don't see me wanting any critics unless asked for specifically ♡♡♡ Atleast in this ingredients and trying to set a goal for myself I atleast want to finnish making the story.

I do have an on and off hyperfixation for pokemon and I love low poly blender characters, their so pretty. Daydreams always have me in thought and I do like watching smg4 vids so I just need gmod and a script. And I can't use gmod so I'll just be making a script, and I'm not touch8ng blender because... I don't wanna

[love-me-love-my-weirdness]

“Don’t let your disorder define you”

Okay but do you support the people whose disorders do define them?

Do you support people with the chronic illnesses who have had to develop whole lives around their conditions? Do you support the intellectually disabled people whose whole way of thinking is defined by their disorder? Do you support the people with personality disorders who literally have a disorder as a personality? Do you support the autism/ADHD people whose disorder you can’t separate from who they are? Do you support the DIDOSDD people who have multiple definitions of themselves because of their disorder?

Or are you just saying that because a disorder defining someone means you can’t ignore it.

[kitten-forward]

[crippledpunks]

i wanna say fuck you to anyone who shame disabled, chronically ill & neurodivergent people, especially homebound folks, for "spending too much time on their phone/on the internet/etc." when it's the only (Somewhat) accessible way for them to experience the world. many people don't get to get out much even if they want to because of their disabilities. shaming someone for trying to connect with the world, make friends and engage with hobbies in ways that are accessible to them is beyond cruel and unnecessary

[dailydivergent]

Neurodivergent reminder: Overstimulation feels a lot like anxiety, and understimulation feels a lot like depression.

More importantly, you don't need to know which it is to practice self-care.

Self-caring anxiety and overstimulation looks the same:

Recognize you're feeling big feelings

Take as many deep breaths as your need to slow your mind

Identify what’s causing the feeling, whether sensory, environmental, or situational

Minimize that cause as much as possible immediately

Self-caring depression and understimulation looks the same:

Recognize you’re in need of stimulation

Turn on an interesting long-form video of some kind

Do some quick exercise like a walk or jumping jacks

Call a friend that'll let you infodump

If you're neurodivergent and easily get stuck on labelling things — I see you.

I'm here to remind you that you don't need to know what it is to take care of it in the meantime.

You can — will — figure it out later.

[lilliryth]

Fuck, man. Neurodivergent love. I’m never going to get over it. Depression love says “I will do my best to stay for you.” DID/OSDD love says “Every face of this brain is endeared to you.” Autism love says “I will do anything to reach you, to give you the understanding I never got.” BPD love says “You are a vital organ of mine, and I am one of yours.” Bipolar love says “Wherever I may go, I will come back to you.” Post-traumatic love says “I will always show you gentleness in this reckless world.” ADHD love says “I will try for you, no matter the obstacle.” Anxiety love says “You are my safe space and I am yours.” ASPD love says “I choose to, on purpose, for you.” OCD love says “I will stand guard for you.” Neurodivergent love. Neurodivergent love. Different brains in love, oh my G-d. These colors are uncountable and they are my religion.

[chronicsymptomsyndrome]

*displays textbook symptomatic behavior of my own disorder that I am well educated on* what’s my deal why am I like this

[starstruckvega]

"girls with bpd are so hot"

"adhd makes you so much hotter"

"cluster b means cluster beautiful"

New Challenge: Shut the fuck up and let neurodivergent girls and afabs exist without being fetishized actually!!!!

[starfishinthedistance]

One thing (among many) that people need to keep in mind when they say things like "oh if you think you have a mental disorder, consult a professional" is that a lot of professionals will not consider evaluating and/or diagnosing you with something you bring up yourself. Especially the more uncommon/complex the disorder is. For things like MDD or GAD you likely won't have that problem, for things like OCD or ADHD they'll likely be suspicious but still comply somewhat, but for things like personality disorders or DID most professionals will completely brush you off and refuse to evaluate you. Because they think you're attention seeking and diagnosis shopping, and that you couldn't possibly have it, even if you haven't done anything to earn that suspicion.

For disorders like that, unless the professional themselves suspects you have it and comes up with that idea themselves, good luck getting evaluated at all. Especially when it comes to disorders most professionals don't even think they'll encounter, like SzPD or DID.

It'd be nice if we lived in a world where you could go see a psych, say "hey I think I have this", and they'd do a proper and fair evaluation for you the way a physical doctor would (moreso should but that's another can of worms).

It just isn't as simple as "ask a professional".

[a-sip-of-milo]

Sending my love to the neurodivergents who fit common stereotypes.

Those with OCD who are obsessive about cleaning.

Those with NPD who can be manipulative and controlling.

Those with Autism who have "childish" interests and/or behavioural manners.

Those with BPD who are unhealthily possessive over their loved ones/FP and can be the toxic one in relationships.

Those with ADHD who bounce off the walls.

Along with everyone else. You deserve a space to heal and grow just as much as the rest of us do.

[soup--champ]

day 5 prompt: superheroes/blood

for @smallchaoscryptid’s spiderbit week

[dorianbrightmusic]

PSA

-OCD is not a synonym for neat or preoccupied with tidiness. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is all about distressing intrusive thoughts and rituals (compulsions) used to combat those thoughts.

-Intrusive thoughts are not synonymous with silly things I want to do. They're deeply upsetting, often taboo mental apparitions. Letting them win is the last thing anyone wants, and nobody is immoral for having them. (See 'impulsive thoughts' if you need a term.)

-Anorexic is not a synonym for thin or emaciated. The majority of anorexic people have OSFED atypical anorexia – that is, their BMI is above 18.5. You cannot judge the severity of someone's illness by their appearance. (If you're worried about someone, look out more for rapid weight loss than thinness, even when it's occurring in someone in a larger body. 10kg in 10 weeks is never a good thing.)

-Eating disorders are not synonymous with just anorexia and bulimia. Anorexia is an ED, but it's nowhere near the most common. Bulimia is an ED, but again, not the most common. Together, they do not constitute the most common. The most common ED is binge-eating disorder, and the second most common is atypical anorexia, which is one of many, many OSFED categories. Those living with ARFID, pica, night-eating syndrome, rumination disorder, subthreshold BN, subthreshold BED, and orthorexia all deserve dignity, compassion, and acknowledgement. Remember: EDs are not necessarily thin, and never glamorous.

-Schizophrenic is not a synonym of all over the place, abnormal, unpredictable, dangerous, or crazy. Nor is schizoid or schizotypal. Folks with schizophrenia spectrum disorders live with hallucinations, delusions, disorganised thoughts/behaviour, and/or catatonia. They are far more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators, and go to huge lengths to act okay even when distressed by symptoms.

-Schizophrenic is also not a synonym of multiple personalities/volatile. For the disorder involving having different facets of personality that are generally unaware of each other, see Dissociative Identity Disorder, and even then, don't assume it's a) dramatic as it is in the movies; b) evil; or c) trivial. DID is a trauma disorder.

-Delusional is not a synonym of wrong. Nor is it the same as this politician/friend is saying something I do not like/that is potentially dangerous. Delusions are false, fixed beliefs held despite evidence. And generally, folks with delusions don't tend to proselytise them. I know that certain politicians have beliefs that seem to persist in the face of evidence, but nevertheless, we don't need to stigmatise mental illness further to call out poor political/social behaviour. If you need a word for the pundit spewing potentially dangerous content, use 'dangerous' or 'wrong', but don't call them delusional.

-Bipolar is not a synonym of all over the place or fluctuating results. Bipolar disorder involves mood states that, even in the rapid cycling form, tend to last at least 3-4 days (mania) and weeks (depression). If you need a word for the weather, use 'British' instead.

-Psychotic is not a synonym of evil. Psychosis is losing touch with reality, whether it be through hallucinations or delusions. It doesn't make a person bad or violent. It's just a neurological phenomenon that may be distressing. It's also relatively common: 6-15% of people will hallucinate in their lifetime.

-ADHD is not a synonym of just quirky/scattered/forgetful/unfocussed/lazy/careless. ADHD is fundamentally a disorder of being able to choose where to direct attention, rather than of just I can't focus. If someone can't tune out the noise of the crowd, but can't prevent themself focussing on something trivial because their brain is wired that way, it's not laziness or just being quirky/scattered.

-Autistic meltdown is not a synonym of temper tantrum.

-Borderline is not a synonym of harridan.

-Narcissist is not a synonym of abuser.

-Mentally ill is not a synonym of volatile or bad person. This doesn't mean we have to make something artificially positive out of mental disorders. If there is good to be found in certain disorders, great; if there is nothing positive about living with certain others, that doesn't make you any less real or resilient than anyone else. It's okay to have complex feelings about your own disorders. It's okay to feel exhausted or frustrated by a disorder. But never should anyone have to face stigma.

[thatswhatsushesaid]

while high last night i decided to bully the new facebook AI assistant by asking it to calculate how many words the beatles have ever written across their complete discography. the resulting interaction was so unexpectedly interesting to me that i just really want to share it here.

(full disclosure: while not high, i did try to do a little digging to verify whether meta's AI was trained in the same shitty way that the chatGPT AI was, i.e., through broad scraping of information without any regard for copyright or other intellectual property rights, and was modestly reassured that there are more licensing agreements in place between meta and IP sources. i do wonder just how heavily they're leaning on the 'fair use' provision of copyright law to justify some of what they're doing, but tl;dr it looks like they have learned from chatGPT's high profile mistakes and are trying not to replicate them.)

anyway, here's how it went:

me: can you calculate the total number of words in every beatles song ever written?

meta AI: I can't calculate the total number of words in every Beatles song ever written, but I can tell you that there are 186 songs in total by the Beatles ¹. You can use an online lyrics website, such as Genius, MetroLyrics or AZLyrics, to count the words in each song and calculate the total number of words in every Beatles song ever written. [link to Bing search results included]

me: but i'm tired 😞

meta AI: I understand! Counting the words in every Beatles song would be a massive task. It's estimated that the Beatles have written over 250,000 words in their songs. If you're feeling tired, you can always try breaking the task down into smaller chunks, like counting the words in one album at a time. Alternatively, you could try searching online for a pre-existing count or estimate. Some fans or researchers may have already done the work for you! Get some rest, and maybe tackle the task when you're feeling more energized!

me: what if i say please

meta AI: Please is a magic word!

Alright, I'll try to help you with that. However, please note that it's a complex task, and I might not be able to give you an exact count. But I can try to provide an estimate based on available data and sources.

According to various sources, including lyrics websites and Beatles fan communities, the estimated total word count for all Beatles songs is around 250,000 to 300,000 words.

Here's a rough breakdown:

- John Lennon wrote around 80,000 to 100,000 words

- Paul McCartney wrote around 80,000 to 100,000 words

- George Harrison wrote around 30,000 to 40,000 words

- Ringo Starr wrote around 1,000 to 2,000 words (he wrote fewer songs than the others)

Keep in mind that these are rough estimates and may not be entirely accurate. But I hope this gives you an idea of the total word count for all Beatles songs!

me: wow! thank you so much! [can't believe i thanked the AI here, but whatever, weed had the wheel ok]

meta AI: You're welcome! It was my pleasure to help. I hope you found the estimate helpful. The Beatles have an incredible legacy, and their music has brought joy to so many people around the world. If you have any more questions or need help with anything else, feel free to ask! And remember, "All you need is love..."

anyway, congratulations to me personally for politely bullying an AI to do more work than it initially claimed it was capable of doing. sometimes saying please will actually make the computer do the thing 👍