You Don't Have ADHD - An alternative to an overused diagnosis

Many adults come to a point in their lives where they are wondering if they have ADHD or ADD, and want to find out if this is true. It’s said that AD(H)D in adulthood can be more internalised; where children show busy behavior, adults have more of a busy mind and less visible symptoms. People often want to know if they have AD(H)D when they have too many thoughts and a sense of restlessness. Like I explained in my previous post, people make the mistake of thinking that the diagnosis would explain their symptoms, when it merely describes their symptoms.

I think it is often better to think of them as character traits instead of symptoms. I think these people usually don’t have AD(H)D, but rather the character trait of being highly sensitive to external and internal stimuli. The overlap between AD(H)D and high sensitivity is huge, as shown by the following is a list of things that describe both:

• Zoning out, not listening
• Chaotic mind, too many thoughts
• Easily distracted by the environment
• Mood swings
• Chaotic, forgetful
• The desire to withdraw
• Fully emerging in something, being taken in by activity
• Great imagination
• Sensitive, emotional
• Tendency to stare, seem distant, absent
• A lot of thoughts at the same time or in rapid succession
• A feeling of being overwhelmed by what happens
• Feeling of being overwhelmed somewhere busy/loud/bright
• Distracted by sounds/sights/internal stimuli such as physical discomfort
• Physical/mental restlessness
• Full of energy of totally exhausted, no middle ground
• Difficulty to relax

People who experience these things don’t necessarily have a disorder like AD(H)D. A lot of these can be temporary signs of stress. But they’re usually signs of being more sensitive to internal and external stimuli than most people.

Experiencing these things can partly be caused by your surroundings, instead of just being character traits. If it’s busy, loud or bright around you, or stressful in any other way, why settle on ADHD and blame it all on your brain? Why should it be a disorder or illness? The modern world can be a difficult place to be in, especially if you experience everything in it intensely, like highly sensitive people do.

If this sounds familiar, then there’s probably nothing wrong with you! If you want to read more about this I recommend this book by Elaine Aron, who has done a lot of research on the subject.