7 ms·

What are the advantages?

JohnBooty 13y ago
It's hard to generalize, but when paired with intelligence and so forth, ADHD symptoms like restlessness, curiosity, "not fitting in" etc. can work as positives. It's often been said that these can be beneficial traits in entrepreneurs.
- ahknight 13y ago
  > when paired with No. The other traits are themselves beneficial. Do not confuse their success in spite of their ADHD with success because of their ADHD.
exelius 13y ago
People with ADHD tend to be very fast thinkers -- indeed this is part of the "problem" because while we're having a conversation with someone, we've thought through every consequence of what you just said before you finish your sentence. Because of this, we tend to get to "outside the box" type solutions much more quickly than others because we can effectively execute parallel tasks in our minds and come up with an answer to a complex problem quickly. The issue then comes in translating the issue in a way that can be communicated with others; so much so that when someone with severe ADHD seems to be very pensive in thought, they're likely just trying to work through how to verbalize what they've been thinking since before you finished talking. Another hallmark of ADHD is actually the ability to "hyperfocus", which is almost an autistic-like quality. If I'm working on something I'm intensely interested in, I can work on it all day long and not notice that I forgot to eat both lunch and dinner. This happens whether stimulants are involved or not. It comes off as a lack of attention because, well, you ignore everything else unconsciously. When "hyperfocus" happens, you can lose tracks of large periods of time (we're talking 6 hours go by and it legitimately feels like 15 minutes.) I do agree that it's not so much a "disorder" as it is just a different way of functioning. It's advantageous in some lines of work (a lot of software developers tend to be ADHD because of the hyperfocus) and disadvantageous in others. There are coping strategies, but it's no different than the types of things non-ADHD people have to learn how to do -- the strategies just end up being a little different and focused more on reminding us to do things.
- bad_user 13y ago
  Are you sure that "hyperfocus" is a symptom of ADHD? I'm a developer, depending on how well rested I am I can go into that zone for 12 hours, sure, but I've always been like that since I was a child and if I want I can focus on subjects that don't bring me pleasure at all, it's all a matter of determination (edit: for me). Observing children at my wife's kindergarten that allegedly have ADHD, it's quite the opposite of being able to hyperfocus. Such children can't focus for 5 minutes on a single thing. Like, if you ask them to draw something, or to play a game, or if you read them a story or whatever, there are children that once past the 5 or 10 minutes mark lose their focus completely and shift their attention to something else, being a constant struggle to win back their attention. Or maybe these are in fact 2 different disorders? It does take motivation on my part to focus on things that I don't like. Plus I think doctors are too quick to prescribe medication to children, which is my only problem with an ADHD diagnostic - as focus is also a matter of training (i.e. the interest for hearing stories or drawing stuff doesn't develop overnight) and parents, from lack of time, prefer to succumb to giving their children drugs instead of reflecting on their interactions at home. So you know, I've got a mixed feeling about this - on one hand I've seen children and even grown men that can't focus on anything at all, so I'm sure ADHD is real, on the other hand it's often misdiagnosed and those drugs may in fact do more harm than good in many cases.
  - watwut 13y ago
    Six years old when they start school are expected to focus for 10-15 minutes. Kindergartner loosing attention after 5-10 minutes sounds to be exactly where he is supposed to be.
    - bad_user 13y ago
      Yes, that's my opinion as well, but there is a lot of variation in the same age group. That number was pulled out of my ass btw, I only observed the differences while being there as a volunteer for various activities and from my wife's stories. And because of this variation, I think people are too eager to diagnose children with ADHD. And this is also a pity, since there may in fact be children with real problems that can't be separated well from children that are simply being children.

It's hard to generalize, but when paired with intelligence and so forth, ADHD symptoms like restlessness, curiosity, "not fitting in" etc. can work as positives. It's often been said that these can be beneficial traits in entrepreneurs.

ahknight 13y ago
> when paired with No. The other traits are themselves beneficial. Do not confuse their success in spite of their ADHD with success because of their ADHD.

exelius 13y ago

People with ADHD tend to be very fast thinkers -- indeed this is part of the "problem" because while we're having a conversation with someone, we've thought through every consequence of what you just said before you finish your sentence. Because of this, we tend to get to "outside the box" type solutions much more quickly than others because we can effectively execute parallel tasks in our minds and come up with an answer to a complex problem quickly. The issue then comes in translating the issue in a way that can be communicated with others; so much so that when someone with severe ADHD seems to be very pensive in thought, they're likely just trying to work through how to verbalize what they've been thinking since before you finished talking. Another hallmark of ADHD is actually the ability to "hyperfocus", which is almost an autistic-like quality. If I'm working on something I'm intensely interested in, I can work on it all day long and not notice that I forgot to eat both lunch and dinner. This happens whether stimulants are involved or not. It comes off as a lack of attention because, well, you ignore everything else unconsciously. When "hyperfocus" happens, you can lose tracks of large periods of time (we're talking 6 hours go by and it legitimately feels like 15 minutes.) I do agree that it's not so much a "disorder" as it is just a different way of functioning. It's advantageous in some lines of work (a lot of software developers tend to be ADHD because of the hyperfocus) and disadvantageous in others. There are coping strategies, but it's no different than the types of things non-ADHD people have to learn how to do -- the strategies just end up being a little different and focused more on reminding us to do things.

bad_user 13y ago
Are you sure that "hyperfocus" is a symptom of ADHD? I'm a developer, depending on how well rested I am I can go into that zone for 12 hours, sure, but I've always been like that since I was a child and if I want I can focus on subjects that don't bring me pleasure at all, it's all a matter of determination (edit: for me). Observing children at my wife's kindergarten that allegedly have ADHD, it's quite the opposite of being able to hyperfocus. Such children can't focus for 5 minutes on a single thing. Like, if you ask them to draw something, or to play a game, or if you read them a story or whatever, there are children that once past the 5 or 10 minutes mark lose their focus completely and shift their attention to something else, being a constant struggle to win back their attention. Or maybe these are in fact 2 different disorders? It does take motivation on my part to focus on things that I don't like. Plus I think doctors are too quick to prescribe medication to children, which is my only problem with an ADHD diagnostic - as focus is also a matter of training (i.e. the interest for hearing stories or drawing stuff doesn't develop overnight) and parents, from lack of time, prefer to succumb to giving their children drugs instead of reflecting on their interactions at home. So you know, I've got a mixed feeling about this - on one hand I've seen children and even grown men that can't focus on anything at all, so I'm sure ADHD is real, on the other hand it's often misdiagnosed and those drugs may in fact do more harm than good in many cases.
- watwut 13y ago
  Six years old when they start school are expected to focus for 10-15 minutes. Kindergartner loosing attention after 5-10 minutes sounds to be exactly where he is supposed to be.
  - bad_user 13y ago
    Yes, that's my opinion as well, but there is a lot of variation in the same age group. That number was pulled out of my ass btw, I only observed the differences while being there as a volunteer for various activities and from my wife's stories. And because of this variation, I think people are too eager to diagnose children with ADHD. And this is also a pity, since there may in fact be children with real problems that can't be separated well from children that are simply being children.