But the inability to maintain focus held me back for many, many years as my parents did not believe ADHD was a "thing". I didn't get medicated until I was in my 30s and it has made a world of difference. It's not a panacea and I still have my own tendencies, strengths, and weaknesses. But it's more like wearing glasses instead of having to squint for my entire life. Sure, I'd survive without it, but it's a tool to somewhat make up for a biological shortcoming versus the accepted norm.
I wish you luck in your pursuit of self improvement and I hope you discover effective ways to get closer to where you want to be. It's a good thing to explore and learn about for sure.
According to various sources, ADHD is the single most treatable psychiatric condition. But I guess what I expected from treatment, and what technically constitutes as treatment were misaligned.
I also do really believe we should be meditating more or something similar - when I try to read a novel these days (even one I am interested in) I find it is significantly more difficult to do it than it was when I was much younger and had generally lower reading comprehension.
Me personally, being on HN, I started to believe I too had ADHD reading peoples' stories on here. After a lot of therapy, and even going for an ADHD evaluation myself (a huge pain in the NHS), I realized it was more a result of burn out and depression. Thankfully, with a lot of therapy (almost a year now), I am slowly regaining my focus, and even improving my ability to deal with boring tasks (which I had convinced myself, based on stories on the internet about adult ADHD, that I could never do).
If I had been in the US, I would have self referred to a psychiatrist, gotten an ADHD diagnosis, and been on meds by now. Problem solved? I don't think so, I never would have treated the fundamental psychological issues that actually were causing the problem. But I would have gotten ADHD diagnosed and think there was something wrong with my brain forever. I feel this must happen a lot in the US. Adult ADHD is actually very rare - it is very hard to go unnoticed as a child with ADHD.
I would strongly suggest anyone reading HN stories about adult ADHD first to see a psychologist and do talk therapy first. Also, make sure to get a second opinion on a diagnosis like adult ADHD.
As someone with ADHD that was professionally diagnosed on multiple occasions, I would say to keep this up if you can.
If you can find something that works, then keep at it. I chose the medication route many years ago, and it's been rather... bittersweet to say the least. But that is just my experience, and I believe I am somewhat of an outlier -- at least with the information I currently have.
autistics tend to do that? :)
I was given ritalin as an adult to see if I had ADHD. The test was simple, take it, do you feel you concentrate/focus better? if not, you don't have it.
I have not yet been diagnosed with it but my therapist felt it was important after almost 3 years of therapy to check it. I believe my therapist has a bit more of insight into my mental health (and mental health in general) than a random HN comment.
I appreciate your point of view but feel it can come off wrong, I have multiple signs that warranted from my therapist a deeper investigation and I will trust them.
Again, I'm not looking into getting medicated to focus, I don't want to be constantly on speed to function.
I feel like your kind of comment is exactly what made me not ever think about this. I can hold a job, I could do well in school (but not in university, at all), it's not because others might have it much worse than I do that I'm not worth to be checked on. You have no idea about the state of my mental health and struggles to be able to judge if I'm just smart and bored or if there is something else underlying it all.
I just bring this up because I feel your comment comes from a good place of caring but it's ultimately unhelpful and, depending to who else you could have directed this comment, could be actively harmful.