What are the advantages of having ADHD?

[EuropeanADHD]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy12

My question is not regarding the percentage of people looking for something positive compared to the ones looking for something negative. My question is regarding why people look for positives in adhd when it seems as if people vwry rarely look for positives in other mental health disorders such as depression. In other words what is it about adhd thst makes people believe it has positives that other disorders don't. I think that's a legitimate question as well and there have been interesting and informative answers and examples including yours.

Again, depression is not a good analogy to ADHD, just like cancer isn't. Depression is something you "get", not something that is part of you since you're born. Even in case of chronic depression, depression is not inborn.

So let me take another example. I suspect I have Asperger's apart from ADHD. Asperger's is a good analogy to ADHD.

And yes, I've read articles about the positive traits of people with Asperger's. There's research, for example, that suggests Asperger's correlates with high intelligence.

It's similar with other disorders I've been interested in.

So coming back to your question: "In other words what is it about adhd thst makes people believe it has positives that other disorders don't". I would think you just don't spend the same amount of time reading about other disorders/ don't participate so actively in forums on other disorders. Because of that, you don't see that disorders of the same type as ADHD are treated similarly, i.e. people search for positives in them.

[john2100]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy12

I am curious why so many people have this need to attribute something positive to adhd. I don't mean that in an offensive way (I hope). I'm genuinely curious.

The need to attribute of something opposite is from or because of :
1.lack of understanding of ADHD
-it is an impairment,
-every ability That I can think of is effected negatively, from my experience.

2.It makes people feel better about themselves , which is a positive thing, to know you are not alone.

That misinformation comes from blogs and youtube mostly.
ADHD is a gift and similar nonsense. Just search youtube for ADD is a gift and you'll get what I'm talking about.
-it is amazing, it opens creativity and similar non sense


They do it to drive traffic to their website by using keywords and their combinations like : add genius,,,adhd-Einstein ,,,,,adhd motivation etc
If you tell a lie long enough people start to believe it .

I can think of 2 advantages of ADHD , or I would say 2 positive things, once you already have it ADHD.

1.Desire to change and fix your behavior.
-That leads a person to information and research regarding human behavior, psychology, organization , success etc.

2.Ability to acquire wide range of skills and knowledge from many different fields because we get bored easily
-implementation and execution is however a problem

[Fraser_0762]

It has nothing to do with a "lack of understanding" as you quite arrogantly put it.

Or are you suggesting that people with ADHD who believe there are positive attributes are misunderstanding their own disorder?

Everybody who argues that there are zero positive attributes points towards the DSM. The DSM does not serve that purpose and only serves to point out negative attributes for the aim of identifying suitable treatment options for each disorder.

Things that negatively impact you in some areas of your life, have a positive impact in other areas. It's a fact of life. Your inability to do something in one situation, serves as an ability in another situation. Your failure to indentify this, doesn't make it non existent.

[john2100]

Or are you suggesting that people with ADHD who believe there are positive attributes are misunderstanding their own disorder?

yes, it is exactly what i'm suggesting.
Calling me ignorant will not change the facts.

I've listed 2 positives myself, sort of , not advantages

Why not make a scientific test to remove personal opinion from the discussions , if you think i'm wrong.

List issues that give ADHD advantage
Set 2 large groups of people. One with no adhd ,one with adhd
run the test
Compere the results

[john2100]

Things that negatively impact you in some areas of your life, have a positive impact in other areas. It's a fact of life. Your inability to do something in one situation, serves as an ability in another situation. Your failure to indentify this, doesn't make it non existent.

I agree, with you on this one,

But it a necessity , not an advantage,

If you end up in a wheel chair, you will find a way to do things your way,
Is there an advantage to be in a wheel chair?
let say: maybe you can invent a cure for your disability, maybe you can invent gadgets to make life of disable people better, so from that prospective you will find advantages, but that is a bit tricky argument to use.
Because I could list 100's of advantages this way but i dont think that the main point is this post

Definition of advantage
1
: superiority of position or condition
2
: a factor or circumstance of benefit to its possessor


I might argue,that ADHD give people creativity , that creativity should be superior to non adhd people.

Again test it:

take 1000 non adhd people
take 1000 adhd people
give them solving problems that require creativity
compere the results
make a conclusion.


If there was uses full advantage I think employees would already be searching for people with adhd. They would find a legal way around it as to not cause a reverse discrimination towards non adhd people. But it would get out regardless. Can you name a place where mostly adhd people are being hired because of their given advantage due to adhd? We can disregard the obvious like a psychologist specializing in adhd treatment, or researches who has adhd trying to find a cure.

[Lunacie]

Originally Posted by EuropeanADHD

Again, depression is not a good analogy to ADHD, just like cancer isn't. Depression is something you "get", not something that is part of you since you're born. Even in case of chronic depression, depression is not inborn.

So let me take another example. I suspect I have Asperger's apart from ADHD. Asperger's is a good analogy to ADHD.

And yes, I've read articles about the positive traits of people with Asperger's. There's research, for example, that suggests Asperger's correlates with high intelligence.

It's similar with other disorders I've been interested in.

So coming back to your question: "In other words what is it about adhd thst makes people believe it has positives that other disorders don't". I would think you just don't spend the same amount of time reading about other disorders/ don't participate so actively in forums on other disorders. Because of that, you don't see that disorders of the same type as ADHD are treated similarly, i.e. people search for positives in them.

Actually, I think clinical depression is a good analogy to ADHD.

Not situational depression which is gone once the situation is resolved.

But clinical depression which seems to have a strong genetic basis and, much
like ADHD, can present as severe or mild depending on stress levels vs support.

And just as ADHD is treated with stimulants that restore the balance of brain
chemicals, clinical depression is a chemical imbalance that responds to SSRI's.

Interestingly, some studies indicate that long term trauma or stress may
suppress certain brain chemicals, changing situational depression into clinical
depression.

[john2100]

This sort of reminds me religion vs atheist discussion.
Without a proof for actual advantages based on scientific tests, it may give other adhd people false sense of comfort , so the issue would be ignored.

Let say that 70% of adhd people claim superior creativity , without any proof, only personal=biased opinion.
Then a person who wants to educated them self about adhd starts to take it as a fact with the power of internet.

Then you end up believing in that superiority and solving the problems your way which may be an inferior to others.

If you however know that your creativity is in fact inferior, or there is a higher chance that your creativity is inferior , then you 'll learn to consult with other people.

That is exactly how a myth : ADD IS A GIFT started ,

[Fuzzy12]

Originally Posted by EuropeanADHD

Again, depression is not a good analogy to ADHD, just like cancer isn't. Depression is something you "get", not something that is part of you since you're born. Even in case of chronic depression, depression is not inborn.

So let me take another example. I suspect I have Asperger's apart from ADHD. Asperger's is a good analogy to ADHD.

And yes, I've read articles about the positive traits of people with Asperger's. There's research, for example, that suggests Asperger's correlates with high intelligence.

It's similar with other disorders I've been interested in.

So coming back to your question: "In other words what is it about adhd thst makes people believe it has positives that other disorders don't". I would think you just don't spend the same amount of time reading about other disorders/ don't participate so actively in forums on other disorders. Because of that, you don't see that disorders of the same type as ADHD are treated similarly, i.e. people search for positives in them.

I'm not sure what you mean by depression is something that people get.

I'm not sure if asperger's is a good analogy though I could be wrong as I don't know much about it. It seems to me though that autism.spectrum disorders are different to adhd in the sense that in autism the brain works slightly differently whereas in adhd certain functions just don't work as well (no offense). E.g.We can focus and our mechanism to focus is the same but we just dont do it as well.

You are right. It is possible that people look for positives in depression schizophrenia etc as well and I just wouldn't know about it since I'm not on those forums.

[Fuzzy12]

There is a chance that we are more creative as creativity canresult from divergent thinking (ignoring the fsct thst our symptoms might make it rather difficult.difficult to actually create anything.apart from half baked ideas) but the other stuff people so carelessly bandy about?

Adhders are more intelligent? More empathetic? More social? More independent thinkers?

I don't see what about adhd would make these things true. Which of our symptoms increases intelligence or empathy (and not just because people who go through **** might be more empathetc anyway)

This doesn't mean that people 20th adhd can't have empathy or be intelligent or the life of a party. I just doubt if it's because of their adhd and if these positives traits are present in the majority of adhders.

[john2100]

Hey, we gave the world mozart.(Dr halowell also recognised this in his book)add people have some special abilities.

Mozart had ADHD, too?
That is just fascinating , it never stops to amaze me.

How about a Limitless movie reference, anyone?
Ok, I'll do a new one :

I often times feel like that guy from the limitless movie, you know the guy BEFORE he had discovered the magic pill. Thank you ADHD .

[ginniebean]

Mental retardation or Intellectual disability is a very good analogy it is something you are born with and it is an issue of developmental delay. While these people are often condescended to with words like special, no one tells them how gifted they are.

Our cousins in a way.

[Lunacie]

I have migraine disorder, research shows that this is a brain disorder.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/807274

I've never felt like I needed some gift along with the pain of migraines.

It is what it is. It's a pain with a bunch of side effects ...
sensitivity to light,
sensitivity to sound,
sensitivity to smells,
blurred vision,
weird visual auras,
mood swings,
food cravings,
thirst,
neck tension,
nausea ...
I can't think of any benefits though.
.

[Letching Gray]

ginniebean, among other oddities, strange habits and inexplicable, various and sundry quirks, my personal anonymity is something I guard with ravenous and preposterous diligence. It is nothing personal. You are "my friend" whether I make it official or not.

You have inspired me to ask myself why this is so. It is so ingrained in my psyche I don't think about it.

As a teenager, dad posed a question to me that I could only answer in the affirmative. He was deadly serious about it. I had no time to think about it or the ramifications of a negative response, not with my dad, not with his expectations of me, not with our never-spoken but sworn to agreement about my role in life. I could never mention or imply in front of anyone the nature of the question. It could suggest the nature of our secret and no one, no one, ever, not ever, could even sense a hint of this all-binding contract, the one I never signed, but was good for til death.

He demanded to know if I could beat up Muhammad Ali in his prime. "Of course", I insisted. Ever since I was little, he had assigned to me the responsibility of taking care of his masculinity. I had no idea, consciously, he had anointed me with this grave and delicate task. All I knew was that I loved the guy more than anything and I wanted to please him so much I would have given up my life for him gladly to help him with anything.

It was in treatment years later that I first became conscious of this. I balled like a maniac-I collapsed in agonizing shouts and blubbering streams of tears because I felt so bad for failing Him.

I had buried that burden deep inside. I had tried, through developing physically, to ensure a situation never presented itself in which I couldn't destroy any challengers, so that he could feel good about his own manhood. I could Not let him down. He could never find out that there was ever a time when I failed to uphold my and by inference his persona as the most powerful of all men, everywhere. To show anyone even a vague hint of concern that I wasn't the most vicious monster out there, I feared, would destroy him.

I became quite accomplished at running, hiding, disappearing, when my fear of not holding up my end of the agreement became too intense. I could never, ever, let people know who I was.

I said all that to explain why I instinctively resist doing anything to reveal my identity. I realize I'm nuts and now you know why, too.

[Letching Gray]

I trust the experts in this regard. Hallowell says we are race cars with bicycle brakes and I believe him.

[john2100]

Originally Posted by Letching Gray

I trust the experts in this regard. Hallowell says we are race cars with bicycle brakes and I believe him.

Thats's really good writing,, interesting too,


you should write a book with short stories,

your post above