A Deeper Dive into ADHD

By: Norah Papademetrious '32

When people think of ADHD, they might think, “That person never has any motivation or focus.” But the truth is, they don’t lack focus or motivation. They simply put it into the 'wrong' things. For example, when they find an interest like crocheting, they put all of their focus and motivation into crocheting.

Another thing that comes with ADHD is executive dysfunction. Executive dysfunction is when a person has a list of tasks and can't figure out what to do first. If a person with ADHD gets a list and it says, “Do the dishes, feed the dog, and pick up the toys in the yard before the storm.” They might feed the dog, get distracted by something, start crocheting again, do the dishes, and by the time they are done with the storm would have blown the toys away. In summary, having ADHD is like having a tab limit on a browser, they can only have so many things going on inside their head.

Even though there are many other traits included in ADHD, the last symptom is hypersensitivity, and rejection sensitive dysphoria. This means people experience emotions stronger and are more sensitive to rejection. For example, if someone tells a person with ADHD, “I don’t really feel like hanging out tonight.” The person with ADHD might take that as, “I don’t wanna hang out with you.”