Your ADHD Can Actually Be An Advantage

Learn how to control your focus and motivation so you can start doing the things you want to do in Dr. K's Guide to ADHD and Doing Stuff: bit.ly/3dckUf2
▼ Timestamps ▼
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0:00 - Lecture Starts
0:32 - Why does ADHD exist?
14:50 - Diagnosis and Myths
18:45 - ADHD and Development
33:22 - Being ADHD in the modern world
49:09 - Questions and Discussion
54:42 - Is there a link between ADHD and giftedness?
55:10 - The role of medication in ADHD
56:25 - Why do people say ADHD is fake?
57:26 - Downsides to medication
59:20 - Would you recommend extending attention span?
59:52 - Inferiority complex in ADHD
1:02:30 - Tips for structure and discipline
1:03:54 - What effect does weed have on ADHD?
1:10:30 - Self-medicating for ADHD
1:12:08 - Is diagnosis possible during drug addiction?
1:14:39 - Can ADHD students succeed?
1:15:00 - Is ADHD diagnosed in Indian schools?
1:15:36 - Can Trileptal cause depression?
1:16:53 - Is it normal to diagnose ADHD through bloodwork?
────────────
DISCLAIMER
Healthy Gamer is an online community and resource platform for gamers and their families. It does not provided medical services or professional counseling, and it is not a substitute for professional medical care. Our coaches are peer supporters, not professionally trained experts, and they cannot provide medical service. If you or a loved on are experiencing an emergency, please call your nation's emergency telephone number.
All guests of Healthy Gamer are informed of the public, non-medical nature of the content and have expressly agreed to share their story.

[@evilbull8995]

Healthy Gamer: makes video specifically targeting people with ADHD Also Healthy Gamer: *makes the video over an hour long*

[@michaelatorn8380]

He is advancing from topic to topic fast enough.

[@ChupaLmfao]

@@michaelatorn8380 I forget if I have adhd, but he’s not boring so, but I personally can’t sit for an hour, or see livestreams, I wonder if it’s cuz of my adhd, or “limited time”

[@meatloaf_gaming1016]

Lmao

[@Darth_Insidious]

I have ADHD and am currently struggling to pull myself away from this video. Though if I stopped watching I would never come back to it.

[@sleepycritical6950]

Literally I was watching this, then a few clips on something else, came back, then two games of chess, then came back and so on haha

[@michaeltonel8694]

Who dropped what they were doing to switch to this video immediately?

[@angela76]

All of us. And I managed to sit through the whole thing. This was a joke, btw.

[@playknightboy]

Adhd gang assemble!!

[@NVikTuh]

I dropped my schoolwork. Immediately. Without a second thought.

[@MasterRuss]

I came straight to the comments to look for a tldw, even at 2x speed this is a long video..

[@bayraktarx1386]

Not me

[@Liverator]

I’ve found that an easy identifier of when my ADHD is bad is when I’m trying to read something that I really don’t want to read. I’ll gradually shift from reading normally to reading each word individually without actually processing the meaning of those words when put in a sentence. My mind just dumps any literary information the second I go to the next word, and looking back in the sentence, I couldn’t tell you a single word that was in it nor the meaning of the sentence. I would essentially go through the motions of reading.

[@hankmartin9455]

Man same. I "read" all the time

[@Apfelkaninchen]

And here I thought I was the only person doing that! Thanks for posting this :)

[@HVWW24]

@@Apfelkaninchen same here. This whole video has me rethinking my entire perception of my life. I thought I was just different from everyone else.

[@Apfelkaninchen]

@@HVWW24 yes, I thought the same. I remember it was the worst when I got those assignments like "read the text in 2 minutes and summarize the idea. What is the intention of the author?". While everybody is busy reading and writing down some notes, I was looking around and found myself re-reading the same 7 words without understanding their collective meaning.

[@hxxdiec428]

@@Apfelkaninchen OOOO SHIT i do the same. reading the same sentence for 10 minutes and everyone else had finished the reading assignment. i know somethings wrong in my head

[@FlakesJK]

One of my most common ways of explaining my ADHD is it does not let me do the things I want to do. I will sit in my bed on my phone and want to do school work but I simply won't get up to do it... FOR HOURS, I shit you not.

[@Sucellusification]

It's like, you get blocked by an impulse. I tried to explain that to my sister today and she doesn't get it.

[@kirk1007]

The struggle is real. I do the same thing

[@mjj7460]

When i feel sort of paralyzed like this I start to internally count down from 10 and stop what I'm doing at 0. It helps.. believe or not

[@person1171]

@@mjj7460 I do the exact same thing bruh

[@GiorggioMemes]

i know right? it's bizarre. I feel like an alien. I have a pile of stuff to do, but my brain decides to just don't do. It's exhausting

[@JordobagginsYT]

People often say ADHD is a gift. There are many times if that were the case, that I would like to *return* that gift 😂

[@GarethMcCumskey]

And I find calling it a gift insulting and misleading for everyone else out there

[@govindvivekjoshi]

@@GarethMcCumskey I understand your anger man. Often I wish I could just be "normal," or in the center of the bell curve. But there's nothing you can do to stop having ADHD. As Dr. K always says, Mental illness may not be your fault, but it is your responsibility. And I think it is important to let go of feeling sorry for oneself and instead really figure what you can do with what you have. I struggled with accepting that for a long time, but I think for us, it's the only way out of the suffering.

[@shutschools]

where's the gift receipt! I want an exchange!

[@savannaha5038]

@@govindvivekjoshi That doesn't mean you have to pretend it's a gift though. It's not a dichotomy between self-pity and acting like it's a gift.

[@sahar1213]

@@GarethMcCumskey after accepting that it a life-long disorder, you start to notice the positives in it.

[@softerroses]

almost burst into tears at around 19:40 talking about compensating for adhd by being a night owl because the fatigue slows down your mind. I haven’t been able to fix my sleep schedule for months because night time is the only time I’m able to function. the recognition was so validating it was both relieving and painful

[@duanedaxalexander]

This is me as well. Finally connecting the dots. Wish I understood what was happening sooner.

[@cullenpassmore610]

Same

[@Lamitoon]

Same, apparently there were signs but fell through the cracks I guess :c but I def have undiagnosed ADHD T^T

[@Sucellusification]

Yes, at night it's usually when I feel finally able to get to write or study. During the day my mind is a hurricane when this happens.

[@stix5472]

Yh raised a lot of emotion in me too

[@TravisStevens96]

I’m a paramedic, for a long time I’ve realized my brain worked tremendously better while on chaotic runs. I always told my wife “my brain just works at a different pace than everyone else’s”. As it turns out, that’s true! In fact if you polled paramedics at my work, about half of us have ADHD.

[@rajfromtechsuppport]

no way !! i really want to be a paramedic and i always thought it would be an issue !!

[@TravisStevens96]

@@rajfromtechsuppport it’s an issue in the class. I’ve taken loads of classes and have college degrees and paramedic class was the hardest 16 months of my academic career. If you want it, you’ll be fine

[@naomi9413]

@@rajfromtechsuppport good luck man!

[@desireer6915]

Thats funny because i have adhd and i work better under pressure than i do when i have all the time in the world. I also am good at responding quickly in first aid situations (unless its a family member, then for some reason I go into shock for a moment before i can snap out of it unfortunately)

[@sperez3275]

I was about to say. Online always says that’s one of the best jobs for people with adhd.

[@Jennifer-bw7ku]

Psilocybin saved my life. I was addicted to heroin for 15 years and after Psilocybin treatment I will be 3 years clean in September. I have zero cravings. This is something that truly needs to be more broadly used in addiction treatment.

[@APOLLINAIREBARTHOLOMIEU]

Psychedelics definitely have potential to deal with mental health issues such as anxiety and depression, I would like to give them a try but haven't found any legit grower to get it.

[@APOLLINAIREBARTHOLOMIEU]

@@michealharris3221Is he on instagram?

[@patriaciasmith3499]

The Trips I've been having have really helped me a lot,I finally feel in control of my emotions and my future and things that used to be mundane to me now seem incredible and full of nuance on top of that I'm way less driven by my ego and I have alot more empathy as well

[@elizabethwilliams6651]

@@michealharris3221Does dr.sporesss ship?

[@High.on.Life_DnB]

I've used ketamine before to relieve myself from depression, best anti depressant I've ever had.

[@0ktk]

Some people shame ADHD medication especially in regards to it’s application in children. Now this is purely anecdotal, but as someone who suffers from ADHD (predominantly inattentive in my case) and went undiagnosed all through school, I was slapped with the gifted label and went straight to advanced placement, but my grades suffered immensely due to constant distraction, procrastination, daydreaming, forgetfulness, careless mistakes, etc. What many people fail to realize is that from my perspective, I can’t get all those years of missed potential back. This disorder made a significant detrimental impact on both my performance as a student and my success as an adult.

[@pencilcheck]

But once you get out of school those with ADHD can easily find a job since everyone wants someone a specialist instead of someone who is a jack of all trade. School means nothing to be honest

[@drivitt]

@@pencilcheck See, this is where I get confused? Am I supposed to be a specialist? Becuase I have ADHD, and I’m a jack of all trades kinda person… I need to know how to do all the things, and I’ve never been able to stick to one job, becuase I get bored with it. I have quit all the jobs I’ve had at some point because it has become too routine, or too much responsibility has been placed on me…

[@0ktk]

@@drivitt I was in the same situation a year ago. Before that I was an IT assistant at a school. too sedentary. I would literally play basketball in the gym for my lunch break. Then I did oil changes and it was so monotonous and demanding. It's like fast food for cars. I've been an HVAC apprentice for a year now, and it's so much better. I get to see different houses, different people, every job I go on is unique. And I'm getting free school!

[@chaoticcordi9891]

I'm not diagnosed with ADHD, but what you described is literally my entire school experience. I am procrastinating right now because i got distracted by the bug flying around my room after an hour of hyper-fixating on my new favorite song.

[@Xervolmao]

@@chaoticcordi9891 yep, sounds like ADHD alright.

[@Pelu6cuerdas]

ADHD is so crippling sometimes that is hard to think of it as an advantage

[@averagegymenjoyer]

I have very hard autism and probably some degree of adhd, but after I learned how to weoponize it, I basically won life.

[@jomana1109]

Cause it’s not, and it will never be. Anyone who succeeds with ADHD does so despite it or around it like avoiding professions with lots of structure.

[@averagegymenjoyer]

@@jomana1109 I disagree. I work for a very huge bank in Model validation. It’s basically economics+coding. No one is better with numbers than me. The key is to be exited about your work/ study, only then you will outperform every normie by far.

[@Pelu6cuerdas]

@@jomana1109 Yeah, I do not think of it as an advantage, and to some degree, it hurts me that someone says that. I lived all my life without meds, started taking them at 25 so I know how it works and that I function better as a freelance than working for someone.

[@jomana1109]

@@averagegymenjoyer ok you’re smart, how is that because of adhd? You studied and made yourself a career, how is that because of adhd? And how do you know this means it’s an advantage? You could be an outlier. Also, the medical literature highly disagrees with you, look up Dr. Russell Barkley’s research. Succeeding in an area that accommodates ADHD misses the point that you’re deficient in things that should allow you to succeed as a normal person. If there’s any advantage at all, the negatives most definitely outnumbers them, because on average you’re 13 years short of life without treatment, more likely to fall into all sorts of addictions, drop out of college, not hold a job more than six months and the list goes on...

[@llDbGll]

Listening to this in the background while making a sugar cane farm in Minecraft was eye-opening. I've never been diagnosed with ADHD, but I relate with EVERYTHING HG said. From having to be sleepy or "slowed" to focus and be 100% mentally capable, having a bad memory and getting distracted easily, to loving videogames because they are attention-heavy activities that reward alertness and scrutiny. What an absolutely beautiful video this is. It's a shame many people will probably avoid it because of the duration.

[@rarogcmex]

I don't likely have ADHD, but I feel dangerously close to it because I have hyperfocus and difficulties with management my attention.

[@sleeve0]

i watched while playing breath of the wild lmao

[@desireer6915]

​@@rarogcmexi would get screened for it, because some of the main symptoms of adhd are the inability/difficulty both with managing attention and switching between tasks.

[@dawid1452]

dude i also listened to this while playing minecraft lol

[@HungryHungryDude]

What do you mean? I watched the entire thing…it only took me 6 hours, cause I keep getting distracted 😂

[@user-id7lu6si2g]

03:07 The bell curve of attention in population. 05:30 Farmer vs Hunter traits. 07:22 Farmers won, and thus we ended in a cities society. 08:56 School selects for ones who can sit in a chair for a long time. 10:05 Student-to-teacher ratio. 10:52 Disorder = genetic vulnerability + environmental cicrumstance. 12:34 Professions for ADHD people. 14:55 What is ADD/ADHD? 17:08 Hyperfocus. 17:45 Lack of focus. 18:22 Why ADHD is misdiagnosed. Grades. Class/environement. Developmental idiosyncrasies. 22:38 How ADHD is misdiagnosed. Behavioral problems, not listening as a defiance which gets shamed and punished. Forgetfulness. 25:46 How memory works. 28:53 ADHD and gaming. Disordered attention. Focus = bliss. Unfocus = anxiety. Flow inducing machines. 33:12 Being ADHD in the modern world. 35:04 Attention can be transformed both ways. 36:58 Content trends. 38:14 Discussion trends. 39:17 Dating trends. 41:01 Getting away from farmer principles. 43:23 Movement towards ADHD in society. 45:01 ADHD and work from home. 47:05 Block summary. 49:08 Questions section start. Can you have short attention span without ADHD? 51:46 Start of ADHD medication talk. 53:40 Brain development times. Delays in frontal lobe maturation. 54:42 Link between ADHD and giftedness. 55:13 Meds as a wheelchair for mobility issues analogy. 56:35 ADHD and neurotypicals. 57:28 Downsides of meds. 59:53 ADHD-caused inferiority complex. 01:02:32 Inspiration and environment beats structure and discipline. 01:03:55 smoking 420 and ADHD. 01:07:07 "Am I ADHD or just lazy?" 01:10:33 Self-medicating with caffeine. 01:12:08 ADHD and drug addiction. Mentioned video on this topic is here: /HNje-HuIYdI 01:13:52 Does Dr. K have an ADHD? 01:14:40 Can students with ADHD succeed at top universities? 01:16:29 Is it ok to check bloodwork before being diagnosed with ADHD? Mentioned lecture is here: /UOLB-4MbrSw

[@AdrX003]

Thankx alot

[@user-oz8eu4eb9q]

thank you so fucking much...

[@swissarmyknight4306]

Thank you, my ADHD (I named him Troy) can consume this content much more easily this way.

[@simsim876]

Love that, hi troy

[@jul.escobar]

You rock. Thank you

[@adamgreenhill110]

And people with ADHD need constant feedback. Like playing a game, and getting a constant response to your actions (good or bad). This fits in with the hunter mindset too.

[@getheidea]

god exactly. people always look at me weird when I say I miss school, but I genuinely miss the instant feedback of grades (even if grades themselves suck). Now I work a 9-5 where pretty much no one bothers me as long as I get stuff in on time, which would probably be great for other people, but sucks for me and makes tasks feel meaningless since i’m not getting any feedback on them

[@amp7980]

@@getheidea thank you for putting those pieces together for me. My lack of oversight at my office job leaves me constantly feeling like any day all the things I've done wrong will suddenly blow up in my face. Probably doing nothing wrong but how can I be so sure lol

[@adamgreenhill110]

@@FijyFilms That explains why I resent my parents... They ordered me to do things, like a strict teacher, but they never gave any encouragement or support. Or even praise after doing something good. Just criticism

[@kingfisher9553]

Okay, this is the only thing that convinces we I'm on an ADD spectrum. It makes me angry when I don't get feedback because I perceive others as stingy with information, territorial, unengaged, or controlling if I don't get a some clarifying conversation. Not remembering things, however, can have A LOT of different causes, including the general conversation being blah, blah, blah a 20-minute description of the drive to work, or a conversation partner that says "you feel me?" or "you know" or some other shortcut to being able to actually communicate. I often say (silently) "take me to coffee sometime and I'll remember your name". Most meetings/conversations are not important and a person only becomes important to me when he/she communicates clearly and intelligently. The person demanding my attention is most likely not even slightly interested in me, either. They won't remember my name and what they know of me is an instant classification based on . . . who knows? What color my socks are? What I can do when meeting people, what I have trained myself to do, is ladle out big servings of focused attention, ask them questions that show my interest in what they are saying (never know where the gems will be found). This sometimes makes them think we "know" one another. We don't. They just know I wore Christmas socks and paid attention to what they were saying for a few minutes.

[@NeostormXLMAX]

don't worry once world war 3 happens(SOON ™), and the earth turns into fall out + fist of the north star, and humanity goes back to feudalism. people will start to wish they had adhd

[@naryosh_]

As a junior in college with adhd, I can definitely agree that I have missed significant developmental checkpoints along the way because nobody thought anything was wrong with me until i hit a wall and started performing poorly

[@cvbattum]

Yeah bro same. It even took me 5 years of trying college on and off and then a full blown pandemic to make me realize that I wasn't really getting anywhere.

[@sylokthedefiled]

same. i’m not diagnosed yet because my parents think nothings wrong, but i’m gonna get tested at school to see if i have adhd or something like it

[@jasmincuevas6173]

@@sylokthedefiled how did it go?

[@sylokthedefiled]

@@jasmincuevas6173 i finished the testing phase and now i have to wait till friday to get the results

[@keylimepiepower58]

@@sylokthedefiled It took college for me to realize something was up, along with going to a therapist for depression and her mentioning I am displaying symptoms (also judging my past experiences) and that it may be helpful to contact a psychiatrist. Over the summer I tested and received confirmation that I have ADHD. I am attention deficit leaning, not really hyperactive. Comparing my test results to the control group was a good laugh for me. I'm happy to say that after understanding it more and taking medicine to assist (opted in for low dosage to try since I don't like medicine), I have improved my grades astronomically

[@jony1710]

I always wondered why I'm able to focus better sometimes when I'm tired

[@Dancestar1981]

Maybe because then you’re not fighting how your own brain works

[@insertname596]

I’m a 15 year old girl with diagnosed ADHD, Anxiety and depression. I’ve had depression since 3rd grade and still now in 10th grade. The depression is so bad the psychiatrist said I probably don’t know what true emotions feel like anymore. It made me feel very seen because that’s how it is. I struggle with overstimulation. I try to stay in my room because I know there is a certain safety to it. I now have a Vitamin D deficiency, so I’m trying to go outside more. MY room is MY controlled environment. I control 95% of everything that comes in and out. I’ve been placed in the “gifted” group of students. But I’m pretty bad at testing so my teachers always gave me help understanding instructions. Truth is I’m really struggling. I long to feel true emotion and true connection with people. I feel the constant need for feedback and and hate the feeling of rejection. I’m hoping the depression is just hormones and I grow out of it after puberty. I feel like I don’t really have true connections with friends. I long for a true connection. It’s all purple on my end though. I have a good effect on people while feeling like I’m drowning inside of my own head. I know this was kinda a vent but I want anyone who read this that your struggle is real. You’re not making it up, you’re not overreacting, you’re feeling ARE valid. I wish you the best in your endeavors. Much love ♥️

[@lucybuck8373]

Insert name - Thank you, and best of luck to you too!

[@peyton3364]

I’ve never been able to quite express these sorts of feelings but you’ve done it perfectly. I’ve also been diagnosed with anxiety, depression, and adhd and I struggled with this a lot growing up, especially through my teens. Now at 24, while it’s not gone, it’s gotten significantly better. I know how meaningless words like “it gets better” can seem sometimes, especially when depressed, but it does. And like someone else mentioned, using exposure therapy on yourself for anxiety is really the best way to help yourself on that front. I wish I had started doing that while I was a teenager as now that my depressive episodes have been less frequent, I’m even more aware of my social anxiety and lack of social skills from so much self isolation. It’s difficult and uncomfortable but so worth it

[@BongShlong]

After a lot of trauma and depression, I have had some success in treating depression with psychedelics. This is only for adults and ideally, if financially possible, with a licensed professional. What I'm saying is this: There is actually hope, this will not last forever. With AI and the renaissance of psychedelics the exploration/healing of the human mind will be way faster

[@hugofabian1146]

Literaly me, word by word, its insane 😭❤️

[@7177YT]

Yah, very similar to the alienation and disconnection I felt as a teen. I was depressed too I guess but it presented as white hot rage. It got better at the end of my teens, hope things will level out for you too.

[@MrValandas]

I have clinical ADHD and the work from home shift absolutely tanked my productivity. Yes the environment allowed me to be more flexible but the structured environment of the office kept me from getting too distracted. With virtually nothing stopping my attention from jumping to whatever it felt like I was more at the mercy of my ADHD than ever before and shortly after lost the job. I am genuinely curious the experience of others with ADHD on this matter. I feel like a lot of the listed advantages were actually places my ADHD is most vulnerable, and I would say less that society is moving towards a place where ADHD is advantageous but more towards where ADHD is exploited. Your attention is a currency now, and Twitter, Tik-Tok, KZbin all do an excellent job of keeping you distracted, and if you're prone to this sort of thing (ADHD) you're consumed by it.

[@duncanbug]

It’s not just you. The shift to online school got me finally diagnosed as an adult lol

[@japantiess9629]

yeah i think the hardest issue is like structuring an enviornment and schedule yourself that can cater to your needs that you force yourself to stick to. being constrained to a work place can really fuck people with adhd up (speaking from experience) but what fucks me up even worse is having no organization at all in an enviornment where i cannot achieve anything. imo the best way is to just take whatever workplace you think u did best at, replicate that but with adjustments that you think would be best for you. itll be really hard especially because of how much discipline and experiemnting it requires but i believe in u 😭 good luck with your journey!

[@tigherkai]

This is the best comment in this thread. Thank you. Completely agree with the WFH bit. My lack of productivity now that I WFH resulted in seeking counseling which ended in an adult ADHD diagnosis. 2. ADHD (or even attention generally) is being exploited and monitized, that's the perfect verbage for it. Tech CEOs have admitted as much.

[@liljatupsu]

I'm not diagnosed (though the school psychologist thinks I might have ADHD or ADD) but I still relate to this. I used to be really good at school but ever since online school started schoolwork became something that "could be done later" and even after we got back to normal school I haven't been able to get anything done. My grades went from "oh wow almost full points" to "yay I passed the test". I feel like a failure and guilty about doing anything I enjoy because I _could_ be doing something productive but I just can't bring myself to actually do it

[@wiegraf9009]

WFH is something that is listed as a potential workplace accommodation for people with ADHD, but like you I've really struggled with it. For the most part it's because there are so many things that I need in my work space that are provided in the office but which I can't provide for myself. Cleaning, cooking, all that kind of stuff. I also miss the stimulation of talking to colleagues in person throughout the day. Trying to find ways to make it work for me.

[@katherinehemken5544]

As someone with attention issues who probably doesn't have ADHD, I would like to add my two cents regardless: I think a reason people struggle so much more with everyday tasks if they have ADHD is partially because we are expected to be much more self-reliant. It is so much harder for me to stay on track with my chores if I have to do them by myself as opposed to a roommate doing them with me. This also goes for other things that require more attention, like watching a movie. Hunters don't hunt by themselves, but in groups and multiple brains are much better are conditioning and directing attention than one.

[@_lil_lil]

Question, what makes you think you don't have ADHD?

[@pootlovato8237]

yeah! im pretty sure its called having a body double. for example if someone is sitting next to you doing homework you’ll more likely want to do it too. i used to have my friend sit with me when we were studying and i would get a lot done edit: mistake of terminology haha

[@SebPlaysAnything]

@@pootlovato8237 body doubling

[@arcguardian]

Hmm as someone with attention issues who probably doesn't have ADHD, I'd say adding more ppl in the mix doesn't help in itself, it can and has easily reduced focus. No doubt there is strength in numbers, but following/forming a crowd isn't always a net good. Some hunters rather hunt alone and don't want others around as a liability. There are so many factors for the struggles, but honest interest seems to be a stronger factor for overcoming many of the struggles.

[@pootlovato8237]

@@SebPlaysAnything oh thank you ill edit my post !

[@legendsword7]

When he described anxiety as unfocused thoughts, and it sunk in, I could feel that part of my mind calm down immediately

[@matthewyacono1969]

how have i never heard of this man. he makes my mental "illnesses" feel much less like illnesses and more like differences that i can adapt to and utilize to my advantage. Every therapist i've had only tried to make me like everyone else and not help me work with myself

[@KateKanenator]

On meds vs CBT: this "medication is easy" perspective is counterproductive for a lot of people with ADHD. I spent 2+ decades trying different techniques (like CBT) because I had a similar perspective, but none of them stuck until I started stimulants. In an ideal world, maybe 9/10 of us ADHDers could use mental techniques to overcome the issues it causes, but we don't live in that world.

[@jessitabonita]

Agreed. I used to be adamantly against big pharma and avoided medication at all costs since adderall turned me into a zombie when I was diagnosed with ADHD at 7 years old… Until recently taking Phentermine, which not only helped me lose stubborn weight AND since it’s a stimulant: I’ve never felt better and more focused and accomplished.

[@Envojus]

I don't think it's the case of "Meds vs. CBT". I did therapy and it was useless. Yeah, I have all the knowledge I need to make changes and etc. but I don't have the capacity of implementing that knowledge in my daily life. I could try, but it's like blowing against the wind. But with Meds? You finally have the ability to not only learn, but also use all you have learned in to practice. And maybe in the future, once your life is more stable and you have managed to create healthy habits and routines, it's worth dropping the meds and see how you do.

[@MadMetalMacho]

Medication is not easy, it narrows the gap a little and leaves someone with ADHD less behind a neurotypical. But it's not perfect and there's a pre-diagnostic life of damage done to contend with as well. I also firmly believe it's your responsibility, if you have working meds, to be on them if you drive a car.

[@Pabat95]

You're exactly right. It's not that therapy and CBT have no purpose for people with ADHD, they most definitely do. But ADHD is a cognitive performance problem, not a knowledge or awareness problem. You can be aware of your ADHD symptoms, realize them when they occur and you will still fail to tackle them. You know you shouldn't procrastinate - skipping or doing things later hurts you - but you can't regulate your behavior. That's what ADHD is. ADHD is the most treatable psychiatric disorder in mental health with drugs and it's not even close. If you have ADHD please at least try medication. They are very safe drugs. Worst case you try a bunch of different medications and they don't work, and you're back to normal immediately after quitting the drugs. So many people experience transformative changes when they get on medication. It allows them to apply the things that they ALREADY KNOW, like normal people.

[@kinglewisjtl24]

Agreed, I’ve never heard someone say therapy is as effective for adhd. And cbt is different from adhd coaching where cbt would focus on emotional reasons for disfunction whereas adhd is not always rooted in emotional causes.

[@matchamixing]

I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was 4 and over my life i've found that times i'm at my best are the ones when I remove my distractions when i'm feeling a burst of motivation or focus. Once i get the ball rolling, things are easier but it's difficult to get there sometimes. Sleep and exercise help a lot

[@prachetasnayse9709]

Yes. Its the momentum. Once you've gained that, you just feel unstoppable.

[@JLchevz]

sleep, exercise, meditation, eating properly, reading, that works for me, but having said that I haven't been officially diagnosed with ADHD but I suspect I do have it lol

[@kayakMike1000]

@@JLchevz all of the above... Plus a few dozen milligrams of amphetamine salts and I'm good to go

[@bobobsen]

Nothing has helped me as much as exercising regularly. It's insane.

[@colinb8332]

Working out is vital for me. I struggled so hard at my first job because it was a desk job, hour lunch with no gym nearby, and I would get terrible anxiety during the day. When I started to work from home, I work out during my lunch hour and a night and day difference in my focus

[@starrychan33]

As someone with ADHD I self-medicated with THC for years for my executive dysfunction and my urge to smoke disappeared within 2 months of starting WellButrin as a prescribed med. Being so dependent on weed for so long also ruined the fun I used to have with it. Because now I associate it with being anxious about getting things done smoking for leisure results in me just feeling anxious more often than not now

[@Buttermi1kJesus]

I FEEL THAT! I'm still in the process of fully quitting. It sucks tho, cuz each time I smoke it makes me more anxious. It used to be fun, relaxing, a good way to have some fun with friends. Now it just makes me neurotic.

[@samann95014]

I have similar experience. I kicked my pot addiction with nootropics like memantine, psilocybin, lion's mane & other nootropics. Still have ADHD but I think that is essential for my creative side.

[@alienvomitsex]

​@@samann95014 Alzheimer's medication?

[@BongShlong]

​@@samann95014do you microdose Psylocibin or do you do smth like full dose experience ever X days? I feel that small amounts of Ketamine {2x weekly 80-10 mg)are great for depression. Small doses during the day are. Great for executive dysfunction but is risky because you might get psych. dependent. I'm very curious about microdosing since stimulants trigger my anxiety, weed does too unfortunately

[@takeupyourcross9597]

I've always thought of myself as being inferior to everybody because I was so bad at school and life in general, but now I realize that I've had ADHD all along and can seek out a treatment to help me get my life on track. You read me like a book Dr K. Thank you for all your hard work!

[@dragoninja5489]

The “high iq” and “hyper focus” part of misdiagnosis really resonated with me, my dad used to always say I don’t have adhd because I can focus on my videogames for hours, so glad I’m finally starting to get diagnosed and great video, very informative!

[@piotrmaj6706]

Feeling the same. When I wanted to speak with my parrents about the ADHD that I play with my grandfather chess and this is the 1st proof that I didn't have it. Altough many other things were different including selfharm when I did not win in a game of monopoly. Additionally I've made mechanism at school that really made me an introvert becase I suppresed most of my tghoughts which resulted even in some kind of mutism when I was really stressed out. On the flip side I work at the academia with ADHD on many non-related project which give me some kind of satisfaction. I discovered my ADHD when I had a mental break down when I was forced to focus on one project and boring stuff for a long span of time. After SSRI for anxiety it was even worse because I couldn't focus. Only after ADHD diagnosis and some stimulants I felt really alive without the need to supress myself. So really ADHD for life. Even with the mechanisms which suppresed hyperactivity I was dead inside and I felt miserable for most of my life without knowing what's the cause.

[@ViewtifulMartez]

Same boat as you

[@Singapore-Aviation72]

If i could, I would game literally all day. I can play a game I like for hours and it will feel like 30 minutes lol but if I have to do school work, depending on the time of day it will feel like time is slowing down and my brain is melting.

[@omran2507]

this is why im so jealous of streamers. imagine making money playing videogames while feeling productive about it

[@frugal9065]

@@Singapore-Aviation72 fr bro

[@GenghisBlond]

I still don’t quite believe that painting the picture of having ADHD is advantageous, sure there pros and cons. I certainly acknowledge the pros for sure. But learning for me feels like such a chore, particularly subjects that don’t interest me at all but I know would seem useful to me. My brain just seems incapable to learn and digest information that doesn’t have a dopamine driven incentive attached to it. I’m able to remember every combo and attack from fighting games I play, but read a book for 1 hour? I forget everything and I feel like I just wasted my time. It’s honestly disheartening and one of the main reasons I dropped out of college

[@GarethMcCumskey]

@cablecow15 And I haven't. Having ADHD is a disability because a lot of people, such as myself, suffer greatly for it. There is no advantage to it for ALL sufferers and to make a balnket statement that ADHD is good for you is ableist and condescending. I need assistance and accommodations because of my ADHD.

[@cammmn0]

@@GarethMcCumskey I don’t think the video was making the statement that adhd is overall good for you? I’m pretty sure he was more just getting at that there are some areas in which you can thrive if you have adhd.

[@GarethMcCumskey]

@@cammmn0 the title says that. That's what people will see and think regardless of the content and another destructive stereotype is propogated. People are not going to watch a 1 hour video. All they will take away is the title from a trained professional

[@cammmn0]

@@GarethMcCumskey I mean the amount of people who only read the title and don’t watch the video is minimal, and I don’t feel like you can fault someone because people take a conclusion from a 1 hour long video without watching any of the video.

[@GarethMcCumskey]

@@cammmn0 I guarantee you the vast majority of people do not watch the video and only see a thumbnail to a 1 hour movie.

[@duanedaxalexander]

I’m in my 50s an only just started meds. I’ve used a lot of CBT for years and I just wanted to wake up and have a day without needing to live in the mental prison i have to construct each week just to be productive. I described it to my doctor and my therapist as a house of cards I have to construct each day, and if I forget one card on a given day, it all comes crashing down with disastrous results career-wise.

[@coreystickland]

Wow, what an incredible of describing your experience, thanks for sharing!

[@monicabuckley5651]

I’m just learning that I have ADHD at 47 years old. One of the issues with getting therapy (likely a huge reason for a lot of people) is cost. I don’t have any coverage for ADHD therapy but pills are practically free. I didn’t hear you mention this and you just talked about it being easier. Thanks for this content, I’ll be watching a lot more. Cheers from a fellow Vata!

[@ChrisHilgenberg]

As a not so late diagnosed person (at 33) myself, it's absolutely insane that we have devalued (by many health coverages not covering it) therapy/coaching when studies had shown a decrease in life expectancy for it being untreated. Medicine can help with the condition, but many diagnosed later in life have to build up skills to undo a lot of the compensatory skills which aren't actually helpful.

[@ashleydevlaminck9430]

It took me until I was 32 to get the diagnosis. I had an old-school doctor so when my mom took me when I was younger in the 90s, our doctor at the time said girls couldn’t have it. Fast forward to when I was 22 and the doctor said that I didn’t have it bc I could sit thru schooling and for majority excelled. I got the diagnosis finally at 32 ( PTSD and other fun diagnosis came with it too haha ) I believe I was diagnosed so late because the lack of information at the time. Now I am noticing that my meditation actually doesn’t work the Luteal phase of my period and it started me on the path of understanding how hormones affect ADHD in women as well as ADHD medication. That’s how I ended up here actually, video popped up and I started listening. 🎉

[@Metqa]

how does one go about getting a diagnosis as an adult? do you just go to a mental health doctor and say "I think I have ADHD". ? How do you not get fasttracked out of the door as a drug seeking clown? I can barely get medical doctors to acknowledge I have physical pain. How can I get someone to believe my brain doesn't work when I'm able to take care of myself ( and the reason I'm curious is that I'm becoming unable to do that anymore and i've had issues for years but have coped for the most part but am afraid I can't do it anymore) . Do you have to have a breakdown before doctors will consider it or like, what?

[@ashleydevlaminck9430]

Your family doc can refer you to be tested. I went with the ADHD center of West Michigan and did a 2 hour evaluation online. They diagnosed and created a medication plan to give to my prescribing doc. They also offer therapy or coaching classes online. @@Metqa

[@werti4894]

I always felt that school was never for me, I always preferred doing a variety of things instead. arts, game design, gaming, working out. The daily school routine was so bad. Once I got out of school and started focusing on the things I love doing, life got so much better!

[@michaelatorn8380]

I can relate, i design games too.

[@itsoracle]

this is it this is the comment

[@ruben_seesaw6]

wow..... that was the same case for me i didnt like school and when i was in school i was always thinking about arts

[@thatcarguydom266]

It’s because the school system is designed for “farmers” instead of “hunters” This is something I’ve understood for a long time but could never put into words. With ADHD I can learn things at breakneck speed - if it’s with the right presentation and/or right topic Those who believe ADHD is “fake” aren’t too far from where I believe the truth lies. ADHD isn’t a disorder, it’s one of the ways our brains differ due to genetics between people, and it’s perfectly normal. Society has been engineered to suit “farmers” and so the “hunters” are considered “abnormal” when in reality, hunters aren’t just normal, but necessary to a functioning society. Hunters fight our wars, enforce our laws, and have the potential to become geniuses in their fields because of their ability to notice patterns, notice irregularities in their surroundings, and learn about specific topics proficiently, provided it’s something they’re interested in and can get hyper focused on It’s not that ADHD is “fake” so much as ADHD isn’t a “disabler”, it’s only a “disorder” or “disabler” because of how society has been engineered in the last couple hundred years, which is for people to become good factory workers and followers, rather than leaders. The “Rockefeller system” is entirely antithetical to the “hunter”, so the hunters are considered “abnormal” and treated as though they need to be “fixed”

[@tabyelox3649]

I've never been diagnosed with ADHD yet everything he has mentioned I too struggle with. I'm pretty sure I fall into that category of smart kids who learnt how to cope with it. I always had good grades yet some teachers were impossible to listen to do matter how hard I tried

[@dylanblomme4679]

It’s worth getting tested. I’m 24 and got diagnosed this past year, placed on stimulants, and it’s changed my life for the better.

[@zacharyb.3298]

There is a ted talk called adhd success story. The video made me realize that I have ADHD and talked about the things I couldn't understand was because of ADHD. Might be worth a watch. I'm actually diagnosed because of that video.

[@noktura2106]

Im the exact same, never been diagnosed but every time i see someone talk about ADHD i can relate to 99% of it. I especially struggle with reading, if i start reading something my mind almost immediately shifts to something else no matter how much i try and focus. I can also never sit still not that i get up and run around, but i always sit and fiddle with something or move my legs or arms rapidly.

[@sarapocorn]

I am exactly the same. I am a teacher now and currently work in a school which provides support for students who struggle in their normal school due to disabilities or being neurodivergent. I see myself in a lot of these kids and would love to hear you guys' ideas about how I could improve their experiences / what did and would have helped you. Feel free to let me know!

[@tabyelox3649]

@@sarapocorn I know this is a lot easier said than done but be engaging. Tell jokes, use body language, and try your best to capture the attention of those who seem the most bored. Thats what I would like all my teachers to do and the ones who are my favourites are the ones who do these things the best

[@itsgav2334]

Having ADHD really did make it difficult for me to study when I truly had to but I realized when I have an actual purpose, I managed to use my ADHD to my advantage. Maybe it was because of competitive nature. In high school my classmates would always compare tests, homework, and grades to try and gauge who is smarter (even though that stuff doesn’t necessarily determine that) and they would always try to call me stupid just to put me down but because of that it made me study relentlessly. That all changed when we had quarantine though. I was a sophomore in college studying computer science. Having to take 5 class online for math and computer science completely destroyed me. I was at the mercy of my ADHD. Nothing to stop me from playing the game, from clicking away from zoom and playing Minecraft or watching a video, grabbing my phone to go on Instagram etc. I ended up failing those classes and had to retake them 3 more times because I just couldn’t get it. I was supposed to graduate that year but I won’t be graduating until next year now. I even went to therapy and they prescribed me with adderall. After taking the first adderall I immediately quit it. I absolutely hated that idea of having to depend on medication just so I can be focused and have a successful life. I’ve learned over time how to keep my ADHD in check. I would take cold showers in the morning for 5 minutes every day. Meditating for at least 10 minutes also helped me. Going for walks really helped me too. Punching my punching bag REALLY helped. So I came up with an idea. I work or study for at least 1 hour and then when I take a break I can either go for a walk or go throw some combinations at my punching bag for like 5 minutes. After that then I go immediately back to work. That REALLY helped me. Doing that helped me release all my pent up energy and I made sure to go all out on the punching back so it would make me tired. I’m passing all of my class with good grades, I run my own digital consulting business, and I am happy. Good luck to everyone else with ADHD! I know how annoying it can be.

[@shyryTsr2k]

Same here... I struggled so much in high school that ultimately led to me dropping out because I couldn't understand what was wrong with me, my parents didn't seem to care and my depression got very severe. I'm in college now at 23 but still finishing up high school but I'm studying Marine Biology/Oceanography and applied for a paid summer internship at a research fellowship program at my dream University. It all sounds great and I'm grateful for all the experiences I've had but it's not easy at ALL and I just the other day saw a counselor at my school (who ironically Enough also has ADHD) and she referred to to the student accessibility services to seek accomodations... It took me years to ask for help because I admit I let my pride get in the way and I was raised by my parents to not show any weakness and that I had to just "suck it up" and go through it... Always got in trouble for not paying attention in school and my dad at times physically hit me for it so I felt asking for help wasn't an option for me.

[@itsgav2334]

@@shyryTsr2k there is no shame in asking for help especially if you want to better yourself. You are making it even harder for yourself and even taking a greater risk of messing something up by walking that path alone as a lone wolf. It’s ok to have pride, but have pride in right spots. Don’t be too prideful to ask for help, but instead have enough pride not let yourself fail. If you really are prideful tell yourself “I cannot fail. I won’t fail. I will do what I have to in order to succeed”. No one successful has made it to where they are completely alone. At some point that asked/received help from someone along the way. I know what you’re doing is hard, but it’s supposed to be. It’s not always going to be easy for you. If it was easy then everyone on earth would be successful and living the life. Would you want everything to come easy to you? Do you think you would genuinely appreciate and respect everything that was basically handed to you? You have what it takes in you. Too many people think “I have ADHD so there’s no hope for me” but that’s not true at all. Everyone has some sort of disability whether if it’s mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, etc. But it’s up to you to shove that aside and prove that you can handle it. Remember, you are not your thoughts. You are the thinker. Do not let your mind control you. You control your mind. Good luck champ, stay positive.

[@liskavanrijin]

The 4 Mins between 10:00 and 14:00 really just hit me like a bus. I was learning to be a teacher which I really thought to be my dream job - because some parts of teaching really are perfect for my ADHD. But the whole system and environment just made it unbearable to work in that job, which is why I quit and now I am working at a job which is much more like a "hunter" one. It combines event planning (laughed so hard when Dr K wrote down this one first), managing social media and advertising and all the press things and education (not only for kids, but for everyone that comes to the museum I work in). It is 3 jobs in one. I can just switch between them and follow ideas and impulses and its not so static like school is: lessons from 7:30am to 3pm, preapring your next classes / grading tests in the evening with no end in sight. This job, as much as I loved it, just KILLED my spirit and made me so miserable and sick, I still cannot believe that I forced myself into it. Now I can show up at work later, can switch to home office, can travel to meetings and classes to educate myself. I can talk to people all day long or just do stuff in my office by myself. it is truly about the ENVIRONMENT that needs to be fit for the people who work in it, not to make the people fit into the environment, making them sit still, do every day 9-5 and so on... I was diagnosed only a year ago and learned a lot through your videos, Dr. K - thank you so much. I maybe need to edit this comment over and over again because I will continue watching the video and there surely will be more moments in it that are blowing me away like those 4 minutes did. thank you so much. It helps me to understand myself and is very healing because I more and more not only get along with it, but can even embrance having ADHD and not only seeing it as a bad thing in my life. It has been quite the opposite so often. again: THANK YOU

[@BadSoulsGamer]

Lads and Ladies, if you have ADHD (as do I) and you feel you cannot continue this video as it is too long. Save it for later, it’s okay you really don’t have to finish it in one go.

[@thefull9746]

It's okay, I'm having an ADHD hyperfocus rn

[@pepsusser]

​@@thefull9746 same here. Got diagnosed and was upset so decided to learn everything about adhd. Yet i still remember nothing...

[@Itsamugsgam3]

Also you can try playing it in the background and just listening what I do with most of this long form content treating it like a podcast helps my attention span and 1.25 or 1.5 speed helps

[@PequenaNoobAmaPudim]

@@Itsamugsgam3 wait do people actually sit and watch Dr Ks videos instead of using it as a podcast???

[@Zeverinsen]

@@PequenaNoobAmaPudim An anomaly in the system.

[@monkiram]

The memory problems in ADHD aren't always caused by attention problems. Part of the executive function issues involve working memory deficits. Working memory is short-term memory, where you store information in your head for a short period of time. For most people, they can hold 7 (give or take 2) items in their brain at a time. People with ADHD are able to hold less items than that. People with ADHD may have a great long term memory, which includes semantic memory (memory of facts and concepts) and episodic memory (memory of past events) but their working memory deficits are real, not perceived.

[@InternetRando42]

This is true, but with a weird catch: hyperfocus. I''ve always been academically inclined, interested in words, puzzles, mysteries. As a child I could stare at plants, clouds, the strobing effect of wiggling fingers in front of a TV (back before HD and flat screens) for literally hours... and not notice that I was in my own world. But, at the same time, as a functioning adult who teaches science, on days where I give students some independent work and come up on grading deadlines, I allow them some time to let me know if they see any issues with their grades online. I'll have one kid come up to my desk, let me know a situation. "Ok, right, I'll get on that ASAP." I then need to write it down on some scrap of paper of something as fast as possible because 15 seconds later someone else wants me to fix something. And I know that if I let my attention waver for *ONE* second from writing down that last item, it will be *GONE* for eternity, and the student I just enthusiastically said YES to will be pissed at me the next day, or later the same hour. So I've learned to tell kids "I have ADHD, I forget things in like ten seconds if you tell me too much at once, just be patient while I [write this down/fix this typo/tap out a 30 second email] because you'd be mad if I forgot your request as well." And I can't handle 100 new work emails each day...

[@lpass1]

This exactly!

[@danielleary9533]

I feel this problem with working memory for sure. It slowed me down in school because when I'm trying to take in new concepts, I'll have to pause and digest what I just received, but then we're already on to something new and my mind is still behind processing the old information. Problem solving questions in mathematics are especially hard for me, because I struggle to juggle too many variables at once and how to keep track of where to go with all the information

[@angeldude101]

With the farmers vs hunters spectrum, it sounded like the farmers side is pretty close to have autism is usually described. The complication comes when autism and ADHD are highly comorbid, and someone who has one is very likely to have the other. This almost seems like a kind of paradox where one side is associated with the farmer mentality and the other with the hunter mentality. I personally describe it as akin to a conflict between chaos (from ADHD) and order (from autism). I'm honestly very curious how you would explain this apparent paradox.

[@_lexi]

i thought the same thing. i crave order and will shut down if things go off plan, but cannot stand monotony, its like torture to my mind

[@WilbanksUSMC]

This video was a massive emotional rollercoaster for me. Being happy that I realize that I am feeling exactly what he is explaining, but also sad because I realize that I DO have this condition and that it hinders me much more than it benefits me. Either way, thank you so much for providing this content to us! Also, could you do a segment on living with PTSD & ADHD and how they interact with each other?

[@TwistedReality13]

Try P - Q Q.. it auto deleted my last comment

[@MrZiljon]

As a person with AD(H)D I hate this saying. "ADHD is a super power", f that. I would love to transfer this super power to you for a day and see how you like to not be able to focus and accomplish/finish almost anything you want to do. I really love when I do things I enjoy and then all of a sudden get disinterested out of nowhere and can't continue, super fun. Yes for some ADHD can be an advantage in certain cases but people should stop generalize and realize that people are different. To me this is a goddamn nightmare and I would trade it away immediately if I could so I would love if people could stop spouting generalizing bs.

[@MrZiljon]

@@rangerkayla8824 Ye, I was taking elvanse for a while and it helped a bit with the concentration. Sadly I had to stop taking it as I also have bipolar disorder and elvanse doesn't gel very well with that.. There are a lot of things I wanted to do with my life but I haven't be able to stick with anything so far which sucks. The worst part with ADHD for me is how I loose interest in things that I really love doing. The only thing I think that could help with that is medication but so far I haven't found one that works in conjunction with bipolar disorder.

[@hypertxt3721]

I assume you didn’t watch the video

[@MrZiljon]

@@hypertxt3721 I assume you missed my point entirely.

[@kaeinnn]

Yeah, I assume what they mean is "there are positives" but it wouldn't be a disorder if it didn't affect our lives and function as a human in a negative way. Are there strengths shared by a lot of people with ADHD? Sure. But the negatives are what make it ADHD(isorder)

[@mammy24]

Or when you get LOCKED into something you don't really care about but because it's what caught your attention you are STUCK for hours frustrating yourself over something miniscule. I once got locked into changing my Fan profiles on my computer for 12 hours straight. Downloaded every program known to man, messed with every individual setting, and all of it FOR NOTHING. just to sit back and wish i hadn't done it, but proud that I now knew more about it... weirdly. seriously. I went back to the same basic program and settings I had in the first place. I can just HARD LOCK onto something and it becomes increasingly frustrating to not be able to pull my attention away. (games like minecraft and terraria are BAD for it. I've spent DAYS setting up modpacks, settings, servers, and configuring it all to my liking... only to be so BURNT from the hyper focus I barely wanna play anymore, and if I do it'll be another 8 hours before I can stop if i have the time) I've mostly been able to stop that hyper fixation, unless I have time off or am using it to ignore stress now that i've gotten older.

[@Rezzure]

The worst things that I experience with ADHD is forgetting things. Like my brain just selectively remembers the most random things.

[@omar2eighty]

Mines do to but its the small important shit

[@mammy24]

I can remember details about things that no one else remembers, and remember them for YEARS... But then there are things that should be immediately important to people around me that I will instantly forget. "I have to work tomorrow so i gotta get up early" "ahh yeah sucks" "I'm headed to bed." "wait what? why?" "I gotta get up early for work? I just said that?" "oh. right... yeah I did hear that."

[@solokom]

I recently forgot my credit card pin-just like that. I've been using this pin for years 4 to 5 times a week. Just gone. But I still remember the key assignments on the SNES controller for Zelda Link to the past. Thanks for nothing, brain! 😅

[@Singapore-Aviation72]

That shit is the worst. Even now that im medicated and take vitamins for memory improvement. I still forget shit and it makes me feel so annoyed with myself.

[@jordanzacher7289]

The worst for me is my room can be a mess, and I'll be able to tell you exactly where something is because I saw it 4 days ago when I was walking by. But when I clean and organize it, i don't remember where I put ANYTHING

[@jolene8497]

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for your videos. I cannot express to you how much they have helped me since I have been diagnosed. I am a mom to an ADHD son and was just diagnosed this year, at 38 years, old myself. My husband also has ADHD and I suspect my younger daughter may have it as well. I find myself clicking on one of your particular videos to gain some wisdom on my son, and then find that it helps me, or I click on a video for myself, and find wisdom for helping my son. Or I’m watching a video and randomly find information that helps me with my husband and our relationship. Not to mention that you’ve help me better understand my abusive childhood. You have a broad understanding of different parts that come together to create family dynamics, ADHD and related issues, entitlement, narcissism, trauma, etc. My major in college was anthropology, and I loved studying evolution, and how particular traits were selected for in given environments. What you said about farmers versus hunters post pre and post industrial era really resonated with me. I plan to look into that. Thanks again.

[@jbrain121]

The misdiagnosis that you talked about towards the middle of the video happened to me. I was diagnosed with ADD when i was 18 years old, and it should have been much sooner but I was also gifted which allowed me to get good grades meaning my teachers nor parents ever really suspected anything was wrong. I also never wanted to get in trouble because it made me feel bad so i would force myself to do what the teacher said at the cost of my mental health. One event that I always look back on was when I was in second grade, (this was before I was tested for the gifted program which is a whole other story because my first grade teacher refused to have me tested on the basis of my "good behavior." ) I I finished a math packet that was supposed to take us about half an hour in just about 5 minutes. I was so extremely bored and wanted to do something else, i even asked my teacher for more work because I didn't know what else to do. She told me to just sit quietly and wait for everyone else to finish. After about 2 minutes of doing that, I began crying uncontrollably. When she approached me to ask what was wrong I told her "I am so bored that it hurt." I was then tested and got into the gifted program at my school but I wasn't even looked at for anything to with ADD OR ADHD Looking back at this, I cannot believe that I was not tested for ADD or ADHD sooner because after listening to your lectures, I feel like I exhibited a lot of the tell tale signs but because I was so afraid to get in trouble, I suppressed myself causing inner turmoil. Thank you for understanding what I went through, and thank you for making me feel seen.

[@CorticeraEditing]

Idk if i'd agree with the notion that ADHD is an advantage, yes, it has it's advantages but do these advantages fit into modern society? Truth is, a lot of us aren't able to choose when and how they're gonna work, most of us will be stuck to a 9/5 or stuck in school, where the profile of ADHD doesn't really fit, so many of us end up having to fight the way we think which really isn't a fun road to down on. And fair enough, there are healthy ways to "fit" into what society wants, but if you have to fight your ADHD then it's not inherently beneficial, it only becomes beneficial AFTER you decide to wrestle with it. In that case, adapting to life with ADHD is beneficial, you can reap the benefits of your ADHD and try to compromise the cons and go on, but that doesn't mean your ADHD is inherently good for you. A big issue I have with people publically outing ADHD as a good thing is that when someone gets convinced their ADHD is a net positive, they won't want to work on the negatives, they just believe they're naturally advantageous when it's not. ADHD is a beast of it's own, and it's ruined many lives and has nearly ruined mine in the past, it's important people know it's not quirky, fun or a good thing to have ADHD, and that when it's left unchecked it can be EXTREMELY destructive to your life, but when it's properly managed, it CAN give you a jump start on many things other people don't have. It's a game of balancing the negatives and the positives, adhd isn't only positives.

[@maughtayo]

I have lived with undiagnosed ADHD for my entire life, and its driven me to the point of suicide twice before I was finally able to accept myself (along with 6-7 years of on and off heavy depression periods). It was absolutely brutal, and the fact that my parents never considered ADHD as the reason for my suffering didn't help make it any better.

[@jomana1109]

You talk about positives, what are they?

[@CorticeraEditing]

@@jomana1109 the ability to hyper focus, resilience, creativity, conversational skills, spontaneity and a lot of energy Problem is, these benefits only benefit you when you can control it, they don’t automatically benefit you just because you have it.

[@CorticeraEditing]

@@maughtayo I feel you, not a lot of people have a remote idea of what it’s like to literally be staring at your work, knowing you have to do it, and being totally incapable of moving an inch to do the work. Then you’ve got people who call you lazy for it, and if you don’t know any better it’s very easy to believe you ARE lazy and that you aren’t worth anything in society. This personally sent me on a suicidal path, and my parents didn’t believe in ADHD either.

[@CorticeraEditing]

@@acrane3496 nah, let’s just go back to the hunter & gatherer era since that’s what ADHD was made for 🤝

[@cleebe823]

ADHD here - I found physics really interesting, it was a struggle at times to start focusing, but when I found my flow I could work for up to 10 hrs straight, I think the level of diversity in the subject really helped.

[@maximus6791]

I'm the same but with math, i hate all other subjects

[@browhat6935]

​​@@maximus6791fr

[@granite_4576]

@@maximus6791 lol I found this but inverse. Back in high school I adored physics, until it just turned into pure maths. And then I despised it. I remember it reflecting in my grades, 100% one year, 60% the next. Meanwhile I went turbo in Languages for whatever reason. Funny thing is, years later I studied fashion design and part of that, pattern cutting, is essentially applied geometry and maths. And I excelled.

[@phog7375]

For me it was math for basically all my school years and picked up science at some point, sometime history, the rest was in the dumpster, then I became a mechanic, no need for as much science nor math

[@amayaperry]

I don’t know if i have ADHD but i can relate to the many interests factor. I never wanted to do just one job/career growing up. I was talking to someone today about what i am focusing on professionally and i decided to tell them about a new passion i wanted to focus on in addition to the other things i am working on - they didn’t take it very well. Mind you what im focusing on now is graphic design and video editing meanwhile i went to school for music and dance (which i still want to do but not professionally anymore) and there’s another thing i want to do somewhat related to graphic design but still with a clear difference… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@hussainshah5868]

Oh shoot do people not like that? I’m always bringing up interests and focus more on them in conversation than what I’m pursuing professionally.

[@thedude_96]

I had a recent ADHD and Autism diagnosis and I am loving this channel. I can just put it on in the background and passively absorb the information.

[@nthmost]

Pro tip: admitting you forgot a person's name and asking for it again, whether it's been 10 minutes, 10 days, or 10 seconds, is an easy way to make people like you. Think about it -- almost everybody has this problem and nobody wants to admit it. So be the one to admit it! I've literally never had someone be annoyed or angry at me for asking for their name again. Quite the opposite. Lean into the awkward. People like it.

[@jeffphillips1832]

Very true

[@vitamin9165]

I get my friends of like 3+ years mixed up all the time lol

[@nthmost]

@@vitamin9165 I like to say, “i know we’ve met before but i like you and i forget your name. could we meet again?”

[@megrocks3026]

People like you but dont respect you. I mean when you're awkward.

[@megrocks3026]

@@DivergentStyles Thats something I noticed in most people, they treat you the way you see yourself. If you enter a conversation and act awkward/nervous because of the person you’re talking to, people will actually treat you as if they’re better than you.

[@slamkam07]

25:10 Ohh man I wish I were perceived as forgetful. My dad never believed me when I forgot something because I was able to remember specifics about stuff I cared about. But then I get a 4 hour (no I'm not joking) long lecture about needing to take the trash out because he legit thinks I'm lying about forgetting about it. He actually thought I would rather get into a 4 hour arguement than take the trash out. I was diagnosed with ADHD at 9 too. He knew I had it but I guess he just didn't know wtf it was because I was abused my entire life for having it.

[@dragonrider1467]

Omg... sounds like my parents... And they wondered why I'd cry uncontrollably when talking to them (and get mad I couldn't stop- they were convinced I did it for attention, where really I just wanted them to leave me alone).... those hours and hours of lectures were traumatic!

[@ChaoticNeutralMatt]

Yeah. Those parents are idiots. Because something works normally for you, doesn't mean it does for someone else. Edit: It leaves marks.

[@shutschools]

🫂 my heart goes out to you for having to go through all that

[@slamkam07]

@@shutschools thank you, I do appreciate that quite a bit.

[@heroslippy6666]

that's rough

[@GaeModfrey]

Weirdly enough, I have a job in HR and I find it really good for adhd. I go from talking to people to doing all sorts of different project jobs and I'll work on like.. 3 or 4 different projects a day. Sitting for so long is hard, but if I get up and walk around the office every hour or so it's pretty good.

[@bet2da5th1]

My Adhd loves these long form self help videos to put all the shit spinning around in my in front of me to give me perspective, thank you for this.

[@healmyvision5941]

But western school system obliterates that advantage and turns it against you. School is basically at 30% speed of a Firemind So you get new shit the first or second time it comes up but are forced to sit still and wait for weeks or months until it finally progresses. You get punished when youre ahead cause youre not allowed to use advanced techniques or skip calculation steps. And im not exaggerating when i say long intense and forced boredom is literal pain and suffering for people with adhd. So you eventually reach a point where you have to stop listening and caring about school whatsoever. So school does its very very best to break ADHDs

[@shutschools]

This scenario you describe matches my high school algebra experience and I think its why I have terrible math skills. Too bored in class and distracted by my imagination to listen to the teacher so I started teaching myself as they lectured by focusing on the book. I found novelty there and it was working but the teacher noticed and took my book away. Back to not being able to focus, missed too many foundational math skills and now im just awful at it with resentment as a bonus. Didn't get diagnosed until well over a decade later

[@ersetzbarescrewmitgliednr.7063]

I feel you so much. Either I didn't understand what's going on because I didn't pay attention or if I understood it the lessons were progressing so slowly that I'd get bored and stopped paying attention which lead to me not knowing what was going on...

[@shutschools]

@@ersetzbarescrewmitgliednr.7063 🫂 sometimes I wanna go back and teach myself but it would just be for the spiteful principle of it haha.

[@ersetzbarescrewmitgliednr.7063]

@@shutschools Well for me school is over since summer. I've finished it... barely. I'm pretty sure that my teaches tweaked my grades a litte bit so that I would pass anyways and they wouldn't have to see me anymore xD But hey no problem the feeling is mutual 😊 Currently studying regenerative technologies / electrical engineering which lets me manage huge part of my work however I like. So I can and have to teach myself now. It's been a huge mess until now but I won't give up anytime soon. ^^ Edit: nice name btw x)

[@ersetzbarescrewmitgliednr.7063]

@UCZgVi-UrrUidcxOhJLnstZA Or wondering why we don't get homework on a day even though we usually get them hmmmm very peculiar 🤔 I remember passing that test the next day though... barely x)

[@jetjet6560]

But more often than not, it's not fun :( Even with medication, it's so incredibly hard to maintain a functional life. I'm a Comp Sci student (about to graduate), and I've had 3 internships so far; I've bombed all 3, cause at some point it just becomes incredibly hard to stay motivated and do work. Especially now with wfh, I just stopped caring about my jobs....this is a major reason why people with ADHD tend not to hold onto one job for more than a year. I have yet to watch the entire vid, but I hope to gain some nuggets of wisdom! 🙏🏾

[@rishab9761]

I am a Masters student (Embedded Systems) working on my thesis right now and it's extremely hard to stay motivated. Although I know what to do and I could probably finish it in a short time, I somehow end up screwing it up and delaying it. I have been extremely lucky to have extensions from the company I am interning at. Even with my previous internship, I had to extend a month to just because I wasted a lot of the initial months.

[@coinelias631]

Same here but with only one internship. I just got incredibly unmotivated and work became harder to work on. Day by day, it piles up, and you just ignore the pile even though it's there.

[@jessefuterman9598]

Not trying to make you feel bad. I have had my job at a big company as a coder for 3 years now. You have the motivation my dude. Let the anxiety guide you there. Anxiety and fear is the thing that lets me stay motivated.

[@jetjet6560]

@@jessefuterman9598 I know it's possible, but unfortunately my interests and passions don't always line up with the opportunities I have at hand... Unfortunately, I know getting a job is very hard, and rarely does the work you get align with your personal interests. Even things like fear/anxiety, I push away and say "I'll feel the fear later"...

[@rishab9761]

@@jessefuterman9598 But that doesn't help you all the time. I don't have the anxiety all the time to guide me. At times when deadlines are still considerably far, I tend to put off the work I have and just play video games/watch anime. The only way I think is to really force yourself and create habits. For me, it's hard to self regulate myself and always depend on external factors. At an internship, a supervisor of mine was really blunt and told me midway that I am really underperforming. That's when I felt shame and decided to gear up. It's always been that way for me.

[@ptrkmr]

At about the 15 minute mark, this hit hard. My sister has anxiety and that masks her adhd but she is off the walls and NEEDS medication (I say this as someone with adhd from a family of 100% adhd) and she wanted it too but she couldn’t get diagnosed because she was not disruptive. It’s so frustrating

[@gageburney4868]

It's always irritated me when my teachers wouldn't let me listen to music when I was doing school work because I used the sensory input to equalize my attention and it feels good to finally hear a professional tell me I was right

[@amiih.b1128]

I was recently re-diagnosed with ADHD-combined type. That being said, the entire 15 minutes I talked to the neuropsych himself at first, he was set to dismiss me like I’d been so much before. I explained my genetic disorder, severe stutter, motor control delay, social issues and apparently high IQ, but that was all erased when I mentioned I was abused by my mother and the people around me. This was after I explained the years of one on one counseling, mindfulness, meditation, and a form of EMDR called brainspotting that made me realize it wasn’t just my trauma, that it wasn’t all ‘my fault’ like I was led to believe and I was abused because I was different and not the other way around, which he decided it was. It was almost grossly unprofessional how after I was done explaining, said “Hmm, that seems like a psychiatric issue” with a very condescending tone. I stood up for myself right then and as eloquently as I could almost begged him to see past that. Weeks later I got my results, he said I ‘barely had’ ADHD and that I was able to ‘overcompensate’, AKA the RSD and trauma based decisions I made to prove I could be ‘better’, and that I was ‘too intelligent’ to have ADHD. He didn’t care that at home, I lose everything, forget often, have almost no organization or planning skills, and have pretty bad executive dysfunction. No look into the motor control delay or autism that is heavily comorbid with my genetic disorder that I also explained and my family history of autism, and he wrote it off as GAD and my pre-existing diagnosis of cPTSD. He also didn’t want to treat my ADHD. I felt really let down because I worked so hard to be taken seriously in every aspect of my life, it took me years to even get my family to believe something was physically wrong with me. I went to counseling almost solely to prove it wasn’t ‘all in my head.’ I feel so stuck and have dreams of being a software developer and 3d artist, but I will never be taken seriously with my disabilities if I don’t get some form of help. :(

[@sabastiankilgore781]

Our situations are eerily similar. I wish you the best and hope you're able to the help and healing you need

[@mermaidismyname]

Unfortunately it often takes going through multiple doctors to find ones that will listen to you, the best thing is to know what you need and keep insisting on it.

[@allycake8740]

i just wanted to say you are rly dang strong for pushing through and advocating for yourself, please dont give up

[@crankycal_]

i'm in a very similar situation, except i haven't even gotten past the convincing my parents and peers part yet, which has been really disheartening and made progressing in life even more difficult than it already would be (especially with covid and current economy). you're incredibly admirable to have gotten even this far, and i wish u good luck in continuing the direction u want to go! ur story makes me feel hope that i'll one day get there as well

[@georgekurgansky5986]

To be honest, look at how they treated you so far. Wonder to yourself, could it be that you are more able to help yourself than they are? I had so much crap and in the end what I do for myself is the most inventive and fun treatment lol.. I don't even know how some doctors keep their jobs.

[@llareia]

I never would have thought I was ADHD but you have described me and my struggles PERFECTLY. I sailed through school on intellect and love of learning, but really struggled with homework and studying. As an adult, I have to work jobs with high daily variety, and routine KILLS me. I was shouting "YES!" at various points. Eye opening.

[@nthmost]

right there with you. never had to "work" to get through school because nobody ever really challenged me. Then college was a complete slap in the face, hahaha :)

[@llareia]

Yeah college took some getting used to. I had to learn how to study in 20-minute bursts throughout the days leading up to the test, rather than binge study like most people did. The good news is that science supports that being a more effective study style, so yay! 😊

[@nthmost]

@@llareia what??? it is physical impossible to do something for 20 minutes. even for a computer. (j/k)

[@MonsterhunterFTWWTF]

I also sailed through all my STEM university courses with very little studying and did really well. I heard so many similar stories from people saying that college was a slap in the face, but don’t feel that way. I would get so distracted whenever I started to study that it was impossible to be productive. My strategy was to prep all the materials I needed to study for the exam then pull a 8-12 hr all nighter the day of the exam. The procrastination would be driving me forward and I could somehow scrape by with B or A on the same. When I work on something that’s driven by deadlines or interesting (a cool project) I’ll focus.

[@commentbot9510]

Every company needs to do what google does omg. I hate having to run on someone else's schedule. If I'm tired, I want to sleep. If I have higher energy levels, I will be able to work. I could be more efficient this way instead of being forced to work when I just want to sleep.

[@eli.s1098]

I love how you came at this subject! It’s very enlightening you dissected and separated and explained unbiased facts about ADHD one of the best compare and contrast of every explanation you’ve just done thank you !

[@KestrelHime]

This makes so much sense!! I am... pretty damn sure I have undiagnosed ADHD. I really liked the part you were saying about night owls and fatigue.. I've always been a night owl but i din't realize that might be why!! Another reason I think I work best at night is because it's a "deadline". We need deadlines or nothing ever gets done, and the night is the "deadline" of the day. So I probably won't get anything productive done before the evening... when the deadline of the day is approaching!

[@omar2eighty]

Same

[@chilanya]

32:03 this might also explain the deep hatred people (like myself) have of "commercial breaks" when you're in the midst of a good thing. The worst is that you can't even shut off all your attention but have to keep a halfeye on it to know when the commercials are over. Maybe the same is true in a sense for cliffhangers that entice us to bingewatch.

[@heyheyhey0220]

I can't stand commercials. I lose complete interest in the content I was trying to consume

[@FirstLast-gk6lg]

I absolutely loath commercials, I think of them like mental graffiti. And yeah I have the same experience where even if I mute the computer or phone, I still feel like I am paying attention to it out the corner of my minds eye

[@johnmickey5017]

@@FirstLast-gk6lg “mental graffiti” is a great analogy for them :) I’m really lucky that I can pay to obliterate youtube and spotify ads now

[@cayleece7890]

Me too. I always mute them, (even if it's just for 5 seconds) then skip. I also try not to look at it, and cover the screen except for the skip button. I hate having my focus interpreted.

[@mellowbeatz93]

16:45 about the hyper focus its so trueee omg. Its like you are in your own world and blocking everything else

[@Swindysux]

The worst is when as a child you honestly say sorry i forgot, or i don't know, or i got distracted, and then your parents tell you they're sick of your excuses. Like... C'mon i literally forgot! I don't remember! Im super distracted! It's so frustrating and it makes you question the veracity of your own internal diagnosis. As a child you learn you can't trust yourself cuz your honest answer was "just an excuse"

[@diab8008]

Calling ADHD ‘an advantage’ feels like a slap in the face to those who struggle with the crippling aspects of it. Like yeah, it sounds cool that in theory I could study hours on end and retain every bit of info by hyper-focusing, but we can’t tell our brain to do it on command. More often than not, it’ll work against us, which is why it becomes so exhausting.

[@omartamez1395]

😢I’m tired

[@90sajen]

The point was that it is an advantage in specific environments. In a world where school and work are deprived of novel stimulation and you have a mobile device that has a neverending pit of one, it causes major issues.

[@shelleybell8729]

Do you think there could be a world, especially for kids (i.e. changed school structure) in which it would be less crippling?

[@90sajen]

@@shelleybell8729 Not in a world defined by corporate greed. It seeps into every corner of society and culture how subtle it may be.

[@danielcox7629]

The point is people with ADHD are specialty tools, they don't do well with normal things because they aren't meant for normal things. And most of life is normal things.

[@CaptainElizaye]

HealthyGamer and How to ADHD have helped me a lot in this journey of ADHD (got diagnosed in adulthood). Idk what I'd do without these, so thank you!

[@angel2641]

I felt this on a spiritual level Adhd has been a blessing and a curse in my life. People would consider me as multi talented I can hyper focus and I’m very good at what I do. But other things like daily tasks are very hard for me. This videos explained everything so well.

[@lanrico]

I used my undiagnosed, most likely ADHD, hyper-focus to learn everything there is to know about health and fitness. I went super hard in the gym and curbed the depressive side of ADHD for the most part. After being obsessed for a few years, I've become more lax with the gym, but at this point I can't stop because it is a habit to go now and I don't want those depressive thoughts to come back. Any time away from the gym just makes me want to go back even more.

[@joeprado3614]

So it really does come down to- _”The industrial revolution and it’s consequences…”_

[@sea_biscuit0547]

Alternatively: _Revolt Against The Farmer World_

[@JLchevz]

and advantages

[@TG-vt7ue]

reject humanity, return to monke

[@Envojus]

Thank you for the ADHD content. I am 28 y/o, always had my suspicions, but my Intellect and artificial boundries pushed me through. Now that I am an adult, my life started crumbling since I can't "Adult" (Pay bills, find and keep a job and etc). Started even going down the path of substance abuse. I finally got diagnosed a few weeks ago and started meds (which are changing my life). But obviously it's not enough, so your content is really helping me.

[@sahar1213]

Medicine is super helpful, but managing it is still a big task. Finding a way to be productive with ADHD is essential for success.

[@duncanbug]

Same Age! We got this!

[@cosgrovebabay]

Manual labour jobs. He says plumber, I love being a plumber everything is a puzzle, no job is the same but the concept of it is. It's not just poo, it's water lines, gas lines, I also love the mud I get to get as dirty as I want and I get praise for being covered, doing commercial work you don't even deal with live sewer mains mostly. I have but I sign up for them because it's funny as hell there's poop everywhere.

[@jeric8692]

What meds do you use. And can you explain how different your mind works now.

[@kaseygrace1396]

this video helped me understand why i’ve always done so poorly in school but so great at work (barista). that kind of fast pace, on your feet, lots of little tasks type environment is much better for me than long term projects and sitting still.

[@lemonlemon8272]

Finding the right environment thing is so true. I tried to fit in and did all this 'farmer' work and failed miserably all the time. I was blaming myself for not being "normal" to the point of severe depression. But I've recently decided to stop caring for those things. Like, yeah, I lose things all the time but I always find them eventually. Yeah, I can't sit though a lecture but, seriosly, why should I if I can read this stuff anyway. When I stopped thinking that I owe the society something and started focusing on what it gives me in return I realized that I should not try very hard to "fit in". Other people also need to put some effort into understanding my needs and my feelings if they want me to care about theirs. I always treat people with respect when I meet them but once they show that they want me to "fix" myself I just stop talking to them because I got enough of this bs in my life. And I think that my adhd is an advantage most of the time. It makes me creative and more adaptable. If there were no school (I mean if I was home schooled for example) that scared me for my life I would not be depressed and miserable, and also I would propably achieve much more in life. Thank you for this video

[@DeeJay_USA]

this literally describes my entire life. every aspect of my personality and thought processses i hate. Everyone says be yourself and then wants you to be like them, but it makes life hell for people like me. Ive spent my entire life living in shame because im been brute forcing myself to conform to societal norms, yet im surrounded by activities that just make my ADHD worse.

[@nthmost]

Most of my best conversations happen with people whose attention is "sliding scale" depending on how much they feel like donating to the topic at hand. Dig this: incentive salience regulates how much you make decisions for things to do based on how big the reward will be. E.g. in dopamine-knockout rodent studies, the control group rodents always do a task with the highest-calorie rewards, whereas the dopamine-knockout rodents basically pick a task at "random". In reality it's not random, it's based on interest. You just can't incentivize these particular rodents to do something they're not intrinsically "interested" in doing. The rewards help; they're just not AS salient to the decision-making. Think about this in terms of human society. If we didn't have pockets of humans who couldn't be swayed only with tangible rewards (gold, prestige, donuts, whatever), we'd be way worse off. You wouldn't be able to have far-reaching conversations that conflict with status quo concepts of profit and hierarchy, for example. ADHD isn't a "superpower" but it does seem, to me, evolutionarily necessary for the well-being of society.

[@jeffphillips1832]

I found this comment very insightful. Thank you.

[@hussainshah5868]

Cool comment, but it’s really fueling my superiority complex lmfaooo

[@dariabrowczenko9682]

Man, you just explained my entire life. I never understood why it would seem like I perform much better when I sleep 3-4 hours or stay up very late.

[@mybestalopecialife5570]

Anyone else feel a marked improvement in their adhd watching/listening to this video with proper focus? I felt very proud of myself. My teachers never would have believed this. But it's educational content, combined with positive self awareness. A total level up for me. More more more!!!

[@Voltaic314]

Dr K, I have went to college both in brick and mortar physical college and online college (not covid zoom university, I'm talking about actual college designed to be online). and I gotta say with my ADHD, online college has been a god-send. Professors upload all their lectures as videos in smaller packets, and upload all the homework assignments, reading material, and quizzes and exams online. It's asynchronous so you can log in whenever and do it whenever as long as you get good grades and you're done with the stuff by the deadline, it doesn't matter. I absolutely love it because I can rewatch a lecture 100 times if I need to, and if I need to pause in the middle of the lecture I can. It also allows me to take frequent breaks when I'm having a hard time focusing. I really quite enjoy it and can't recommend it enough!

[@joylox]

I'm asking one of my profs next term if she can have recorded lectures. Mostly because my other classes are online and bus schedules and detours aren't easy for me, but it's nice to have.

[@joelman1989]

Another interesting thing about misdiagnosis is ADHD among black and Hispanic kids is significantly lower despite studies showing that they are just as likely to have it. It suggests that cultural and ethnic factors likely contribute to the perception of symptoms and misdiagnosis. For example we know that black and Hispanic kids are disciplined harsher for similar behaviors to whites. So it makes sense that we are probably seeing behavioral problems where mental conditions better apply.

[@alienvomitsex]

Women too

[@alexanderfortner1062]

I have ADHD and this hunter explanation realy realy explains a lot. I have always had a desire to free to break from same thing over and over.

[@johnmoore8500]

Been avoiding this video for like a month since It was like an hour long but I just happened to have missed the time duration on this again when It popped up, so I put It on in the background and next thing I know I’m like an hour through. Definitely worth the watch and thank you for clarifying so many things. I really want to get through this without medication, so just being aware of things that you’re not made aware of (like being productive at night because of being tired enough for your brain to slow down) helps soooo much

[@MuricaTurkey]

I wonder what this means for people like me, who are both ADHD and on the Autism Spectrum. The doctor who diagnosed me with ADHD (I was Dx with ASD first, though both were later in life, around age 30) said it's actually not uncommon to have this happen...but they are kinda at odds. So it's a weird experience, imo. I get bored of some stuff, but I also crave repetition and routine. I'll want mac n cheese for every meal for like 5 months, then switch to tacos (just to use a random ex). I don't mind repetitive jobs, as long as I get to switch to something else for a bit. Idk. It's very confusing and frustrating trying to keep a balance that I can thrive on.

[@awarn38]

I'm in the same boat, diagnosed with ASD and ADHD. It seems like I'm on one of the extreme ends of every 'characteristic', yet sometimes I can't even tell which of the two extremes I am. I can list all kinds of rules, habits, etc. to describe my life to someone, but half of those rules are gonna contradict each other

[@christmas-carol5292]

Same. I was diagnosed with ADHD combined last year and am currently in the process of getting diagnosed for ASD. After reading more about what works for ADHD folks, I have decided to try having multiple parttime jobs. I now work 2 days a week as a production assistent and 20 hours in customer service from home. It might sound strange, but despite not being able to keep track of my own agenda, I am quite good at keeping track of other's people agendas and systems. As a production assistent I have many different tasks, but I am also like a secretary for my boss and I am the one who has to remind her to do stuff. It might also have to do with ASD and keeping up routine. Also, during meetings I am the one who has to take notes. During university I struggled with paying attention to one lecturer for two hours because there was not enough stimulation. But somehow, paying attention to what multiple people are saying during a meeting and typing it out works quite well for me (when I'm on meds and have coffee). About the customer service job: initially I got that job during quarantaine to pay the bills, but now I use it to my advantage. I schedule those hours 5 times a week in the morning to force myself to wake up early. Moreover, because it is kind of a 'low brain energy job', I multitask during it with breakfast, podcasts, stretches, small tasks, etc. And yet, after a few months I'm now starting to miss the 'novelty' so I am currently looking for side jobs, preferably a more physical job like working at a food truck or acting. I'm still trying to figure out what works for me and I wish you the best on your search as well!

[@umiluv]

The Dr’s advice to someone that was super helpful with this was to have multiple projects going on at a time. So that when you’re bored with one project, you go onto the next. Then you focus on that one and when you’re bored with that, you go onto the next. But limit yourself to a few - like 5 so that when you’re bored with project 5, you go back to project 1. Then it’s a loop. And because you’re doing multiple projects, you don’t get bored and you can accomplish them over time. I’m like you. I don’t mind repetition but when I get bored with it, I can’t do it anymore. What helps me with repetitive tasks like chores is listening to podcasts or audiobooks while doing them. My husband has adhd and is a musician so he likes listening to music while he’s doing chores.

[@VexAffect]

I am exactly like this 🤔

[@marcinczapski8547]

@@umiluv can confirm. I got photography, writing, exercising, reading and listening to music. I keep switching it up with my hyperfocus and its not a problem in the long run.

[@megarotom1590]

As someone who struggles with ADHD. Medication was often ineffective or sucked while therapy often just didn't work. My main thing is just trying new strategies, not because the strategies themselves necessarily worked but because doing something new did.

[@Catstimesinfinity]

This is so informative, thank you. You actually spiritually woke me up and im happier than I've ever been. I grew up with adhd but only realized at 32 that I have it. You can imagine the work that's gone into existing. I'm so happy. Thank you. Thank you. Also, I'm a janitor and I work until midnight. Its amazing. I'm moving all the time and the exercise helps my adhd symptoms a lot. It is the same thing day to day but I trying to switch it up often so that it's not boring. Example, ill treat using the floor scrub machine like a puzzle, trying not to go over what I already did but being efficient at the same time

[@darkrebel123]

As a student who made it through college with undiagnosed ADHD and graduated summa cum laude, looking back it makes so much sense. I used compensatory mechanisms in my life such as group studying, and using my fear of boredom strategically to motivate myself to do study. I call the techniques I used "outsourcing of executive function" or "externalizing of executive function."

[@westganton]

I love my ADHD. My mind never gets bored and my imagination churns out ideas like you wouldn't believe. Sure it's hard for me to realize any of them, but I've learned to surround myself with people that can or at the very least take time to listen. I had a hard time with school but if anything that has only helped me professionally in the tech industry. I'm an INTP according to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, maybe that pairs well with ADHD or something, because I wouldn't trade it for anything. It's just who I am

[@Xoulrath_]

Man, I've got tons of ideas for great stories. I've been told that I could be a writer before. The problem? Once ice basically fleshed out the story in my head, or even going so far as to write down plot points, I'm good. I know how the story ends. I tell myself the stories for my own amusement. It seems like way too much effort to have to take those ideas and fully manifest them, with all of the work that goes into a final print of a novel.

[@greatwavefan397]

I'm an INTJ with ADHD, and often get stuck in a liminal space between wanting to carefully research for planning and just skimming over articles or videos to move onto the next. I have so many things I think about optimizing, it overwhelms me.

[@syedrafsanimam7406]

Dude im intp too and i also suspect myself of having adhd

[@lilychen2590]

there’s actually a correlation between INTPs and people with ADHD! I’m also an INTP .

[@syedrafsanimam7406]

@@lilychen2590 i thought the same thing haha

[@sanegayguy]

adhd can be an advantage for those who are more into non-academic careers or at least non-traditional academic careers. Some famous content creators thrived because their ADHD gave them ingenious ideas that made videos blew up in popularity. While those that are art inclined could think of drawing/making art pieces that look amazing that those without ADHD wouldn't even think of. There's always a certain blessing in disguise whenever people have these conditions that made able to be use to their advantage.

[@bobbybushwhacker]

I prefer these long form videos you do. I can actually slow down and relax finally. Learning about this makes me more optimistic, and i forgive myself for a lot of things in the past

[@aka_MrDurden]

I was diagnosed and found that being a mechanic works well for me. I actually have owned a shop for 11 years now. Great video 🙏

[@whowhodoo]

My adhd makes me feel like a hammer in a world of screws, but the more the world shifts to rapid moving technology more and more nails are appearing. Edit: also a thought, maybe the more extreme cases of adhd is an over expression of the hunter gene.

[@amaurys93]

I say this carefully to not deify the humble work Dr. K has gone about, but truly I feel to be a changed man after only following a short year ago. Even my peers can note change in My general disposition towards life, and I think that my being here is no accident like the rest of You. Thank You for being a part of this journey alongside Me, to each of You, and to Dr. K - Peace in the Middle East.

[@MarioGuitarChannel]

After watching this video, I completely understand my past Drug Use, you said that a certain amount of fatigue slows the mins enough for people with adhd to focus. Well, I used to take stimulants, but not to feel energized, what I was actually benefitting from(at least in the beginning) was the stimulant comedown, I always wondered why this part of the effects would feel the most useful to me, even though for other people, thats the worst part of stimulants. Thanks for explaining this so well

[@LordOfLemon]

This lecture really helped me in realizing I DO have ADHD and also some really bizarre ways of dealing with it. Thank you so much, I can use this as a stepping stone to improving myself and my life

[@BathingZooZoo]

I think gender should definitely have been addressed in the list of reasons why people are undiagnosed/ misdiagnosed, as symptoms typically present differently in girls and are reported less frequently due to several different factors, namely societal expectations of girls and women. I’m sure this is the case with autism as well. The ratio of boys who are diagnosed is much higher. I think the exhaustion that accompanies “masking” would also be a fascinating topic.

[@Zeverinsen]

I literally saw the difference before my eyes, where I had to struggle for years to _finally_ be diagnosed at 23, while both of my younger brothers were diagnosed before their teenage years (One with ADHD and one with autism). The worst part is that my ADHD symptoms were worse than my brother's, but I was forced into compliance by the weight of "womanly expectations". Instead of helping me, I was indirectly shamed into trying to hold myself under wraps (We all know that's impassible), but my brothers weren't. They were allowed to be weird and irresponsible, I wasn't. The amount of times I tried so hard to be quiet and demure, only to fail again and again, has only made me feel guilty every time I talk to people for some time. Neither of them feel that way, _because they were _*_allowed_*_ to be like that._

[@kinglewisjtl24]

I am glad that Russell Barkley got brought up. I am surprised that brain chemistry has not been brought up. The solutions of therapy and technique teaching has been studied and is helpful when medicated but the effects typically disappear when unmedicated- Training and planning the week for adhd without medication has been studied and I’ve never seen a study show that it is effective. Barkley example of adhd being like glasses is better than a wheel chair- especially for adults with adhd- Adhd is an executive function disorder and is a memory disorder- I think changing the name would be beneficial. Can you have Russell Barkley on your show? I would love to see you two discuss adhd and introducing him to your community would be great for both of you!

[@joelman1989]

@jimmy you’re confusing two concepts related to memory. ADHD is absolutely a memory disorder in that those with adhd have a more limited short term memory than NT people. Because ADHD affects executive functioning and short term memory is a part of executive functioning. What Dr K discussed is that sometimes people think we are forgetting when we are actually getting distracted. And that’s true, but also, short term memory plays into why we “forget.” Think of this example. Your dad tells you to get the phone from the other room. That command is stored in short term memory along with some other things. You get distracted half way there by your own phone. Because your short term memory is limited, your dads command may get booted out of short term memory in favor of this new thing. You just got distracted and you forgot to get the phone. So yeah, distraction plays a part but everyone gets distracted from time to time. They usually keep more in short term memory which allows them to recall things “remembering” after the distraction.

[@skatebait]

This really explained why it took me 15 years to get diagnosed with adhd, along with a lot of other things like my past substance abuse problems or addictions to video games and the internet

[@totallypreposterous]

I’m inflicted with the ADHD superpower and the video is spot on. I’ve found that it’s how you use it rather than simply having it. When people target unique qualities of others rather than even bothering to foster qualities by allowing outlets, I loudly declare them as lazy and selfish and dismissive of others. They cause harm whilst falsely accusing others to be harmful. The dysfunctional are those seeking to control others, for they wrongly assume and abuse an authority they have no capability with.

[@Sleepy_Cattt]

If I don't like something, it's really hard to post attention to and do If I like doing something it WILL be done to the best of my ability, I will not think of anything else but the thing

[@Zzslayr]

Things that I notice about my ADHD symptoms that affect me everyday: 1. Leaving things in places accidentally (forgetfulness) like milk on the counter, laundry, trash in general. 2. Having difficulty telling a story with eloquence and tact. 3. General impulses like shopping, saying something without thinking, running from point A to B because faster = better. Those were potentially disadvantages, some advantages I've noticed are: 1. Being able to talk with strangers without discomfort, good soft skills. (I'm a technician) 2. I love problem solving, and I seem to be really good at it. 3. I have many interests, which develop into being able to connect with more people through your varied interests.

[@Zzslayr]

I also just recently noticed I'm a much better story teller through text rather than verbally as I have time to gather my thoughts in a coherent and chronological way. Oh I'm also hilarious (thank you lack of impulse control for giving me perfect comedic timing).

[@Storkshark]

@@Zzslayr Dude, wahhh o.o?! Out of all the adhd narratives I've come across, that's the most hit-home anecdote I've seen 🤣I thought heightened textual articulation along with absolutely dookie speech patterns was a me-problem. Also, we might as well ban walking as a whole. First Newton proposed this whole 'gravity' thing, and now he wants to make us UNfashionably late to every event ever -.-

[@purpledragons6669]

I have never related so hard to a video. I can't fathom how much he said struck a bell and years of memories and traits I've developed during my life. Only recently have I been thinking about adhd as I was never really aware of it until people in my life said I might have it. Sure enough I do and it has affected nearly every waking moment and memory I can procure, I can't thank you enough for this video it's simultaneously a relief and amazing yet bittersweet. So kind to create a video this in depth that affects so many people❤

[@purpledragons6669]

I literally broke into tears halfway through this video with relief and realization. So much makes so much sense.

[@WNFpker]

I recently got diagnosed with ADHD and am being medicated. I am so happy to have run into your channel. I realized that I’m not mental and instead learned what ADHD really is

[@werdox]

Dude i just have to say this guy talks soooooooooo good that i just want to watch him talk about these stuff ALL DAY LONG

[@josephstanichar5434]

As someone with an anxiety disorder, ADHD-I and ASD, I really appreciate Dr. K opening up therapy to "the public" but am also saddened by the fact that therapists and psychiatrists as excellent as him are so expensive. I'm basically being forced to go to college and I'm finally taking classes that I enjoy and that are relevant but at this point I'm too burned out to care.

[@squidee]

As someone who's been medicated via methylphenidate for nearly 12 years, i can give my experience 1.) Yes, ADHD stimulants can DESTROY your appetite. I wouldn't say that it's a reduced appetite, it's more comparable to forgetting to feed yourself. For the longest time, I always had an underweight bmi and pretty poor cardio stamina. Right now I'm 5'7" and have a healthy bmi. I probably could have sprouted up a few more inches if i ate better in my younger years (but fellow short guys, there's nothing wrong with how you are. Embrace it!). I think for children on medication, it's important for parents to make sure they're eating meals and healthy foods, but also not medicating on the weekend so they can fatten up a bit. 2.) Stimulants have caused sleep problems for me. Growing up i took supplementary melatonin to make sure i got a good rest. I was never really a nap person but nowadays I'm warming up to them. 3.) This was my biggest issue growing up; irritability. Adhd medication makes it 10x easier to get overstimulated. Growing up with 3 loud dogs didn't help either. All i can say is find what works best for you. I've used noise cancelling headphones, i used the basement as my quiet space, and i always communicated to my parents when something was bothering me. 4.) I like to call these "the spookies." Meds will make it easier to channel hyperfocus for better or for worse. If something startled me when i was younger, it plagued my mind and terrified me. It got really bad in middle school when i was home alone hearing creaks in the house and i thought there was an intruder in the house. 5.) You're either spontaneous or you're not. It seems like sometimes your personality completely changes while on meds. In school i was usually dead silent

[@webbugt]

I am a web developer, who probably has ADHD (almost impossible to get adult diagnosis here). I'm always late with deadlines, projects get delayed a bit etc. But where I shine is when the whole team gets stuck on a problem and it takes an extreme level of out of the box thinking to diagnose the issue, let alone fix it. I'm also the 'idea generator' in the team. I tend to go overboard, but my neurotypical organized coworker politely reminds me of kiss methodology xD