Re:Ask HN: What should I say to my manager when my performan...
by adhdsufferer on Tuesday June 29, 2021 @04:55PM
(#27681611)
I didn't say they did or didn't have anything in particular. Normal people don't get fired, or quit to avoid getting fired, from every job they have. You have some kind of problem if you are experiencing that. It is not necessarily a "disorder," but there is clearly some mismatch between what you want for yourself and what you are able to actually do, a mismatch that is apparently not about lack of innate intelligence but something else. That is exactly the kind of thing a mental health professional is there for.
I said:
>For what it’s worth, you might have ADHD if you’re always quitting or being fired because of an inability to perform to your own abilities. Or you might have some other different issue.
I stand by that. Someone suggesting that to me is what finally got me help.
HN has a growing problem where ADHD is suggested as the root problem on virtually every question from someone struggling with work lately. We really need to stop suggesting this diagnosis for everyone and leave it to the professionals.
I’ve seen too many friends and peers mistake burnout or depression for ADHD. There’s something about an ADHD diagnosis that’s easier to accept than depression or burnout. If someone specifically seeks an ADHD diagnosis instead of presenting the root problem and letting the professionals diagnose it, they could miss the real problem and worsen their situation.
Worst case, I’ve seen many people mistake burnout for ADHD, seek stimulant prescriptions, and then try to use increasing doses of stimulants to power through the burnout. This doesn’t work, and actually leads to much deeper and more prolonged burnout when tolerance sets in. Please don’t use stimulants to try to overcome burnout.