[peepee1982]

I wish this were more common knowlegdge. Every time I see someone whether ADHD "exists" I think to myself "Dude, we decided that certain traits falling in a certain range on a spectrum warrant their own category because it might facilitate research and treatment. Whether it's real or not isn't even a question."

I just want to know whether my issues are normal and I'm gaslighting myself into thinking I'm broken or a loser, or if my specific issues are actually falling outside the norm. This way I know what treatment modalities might help, and which literature I can peruse instead of wasting my time reading up productivity advice meant for neurotypical people that will try to solve the wrong issue for me and just make me feel worse.

[vjk800]

Slate Star Codex' take on Adderall (and ADHD) is a good read: https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/12/28/adderall-risks-much-mo...

In short: no-one "has" ADHD. We just decided that people on the lower end of the spectrum in the "ability to concentrate" trait deserve a bit of a boost from otherwise illegal drugs to function in the society. Being in this lower end is called "having ADHD".

[Yizahi]

I'm a bit wary about arguing with a psychiatrist, especially if it is Scott Alexander, but ADHD is clearly not just "low ability to concentrate". It is hard to explain to normal people without phrases like "executive function paralysis" but it is a severe illness, and not some variation of a norm.

I would also challenge his premise about boring monotonous work is ill suited for humans, hence the ones with ADHD are people who can't do it (as good as others). ADHD people can do boring monotonous work for hours, month after month, and often not even struggle with that. On the other hand some banal easy (and short!) tasks, which won't even register as a task for normal human, will leave ADHD person in shambles, unable to even think about it.

There is lots of bad shit going in on the ADHD brain, it is certainly not just "20% worse concentration" debuff.

[lanyard-textile]

There’s no such thing as advice for “neurotypical” people.

There’s advice for people.

Sometimes it will help you, and sometimes it won’t.

Regardless of the number of people it helped and didn’t help, and what labels apply to them.

[kace91]

As someone taking adhd meds, I think you’re missing this person’s bigger point.

You can be stuck for decades, as I was, taking advice that won’t work for you, until you figure out that you can get a medical solution that instantly enables all of those pieces of advice becoming usable.

It is not a coincidence that those pieces of advice weren’t working, they were never going to work unless preceded by medical help.

Many people pre diagnosis suffer the equivalent of taking years of running advice and wondering why the stay behind before noticing they’re missing a leg and it won’t work until they get prosthetics.