ADHD memes

eye contact? no clue how much or how little is appropriate

why good at school? adhd and being smart do not exclude one another

When half my concentration in a given conversation goes to behaving "properly" (trying not to fidget, maintaining a hopefully appropriate amount of relaxed eye contact without staring, appearing attentive but relaxed), half goes to figuring out whether, how, when and what to contribute and I also have to listen and process the words because I occasionally struggle with understanding spoken language... yeah, sure, I may seem normal, but something somewhere is gonna drop off the radar.

Whether I say something appropriate or hit the right timing to chime in without either interrupting or being too late becomes (even more of) a gamble, which stresses me out and causes anxiety, further taking away focus and composure. Alternatively, I become quiet and feel more like an observer on the sidelines than a part of the conversation, isolated by my own struggles. Or I blunder and say something wrong and retreat to that isolation in shame. Or I don't really hear what you're saying, lose track of the conversation, am caught off-guard by the odd question cast my way, or simply retreat from trying to contribute because I don't even know what we're talking about, back into the same isolation.

I'm a chatty person. But I'm scared to chat with most people. Doing so leaves me either mentally or emotionally drained and upset. I hide away, retreat to the internet where I can better regulate my participation, make excuses not to attend company events, let social contacts slip away because maintaining them is too much stress, struggle to make doctor's appointments or call for a med refill...

If you think I seem normal - thanks for the compliment, I worked really hard on that facade. I'm glad it's working.

But inside, I die a little each time.

It seems to me that mental health issues, including, but not limited to, ADHD, are being taken more seriously.

Previously, the lazy, slacker, troublemaker kids were just beaten until they did what they were told.

Yeah, I'd say the threat of violence is a pretty good motivator to overcome the symptoms of mental conditions, and at least mask so hard that people can't tell that you're a complete fucking mess, right up until the day that your mental health degrades so much that you off yourself.

Thanks.

So what you're saying is, physical violence against kids works to prevent symptoms of ADHD&autism from being too debilitating? Cause I'm not sure that's the message you wanna put out there.

A psychiatrist once told me that while probably hace adhd, i also have cptsd, i left with a script for SNRIs (awesome!)

:(

"Pug, you're an incredibly smart kid, but you're lazy."

Me, unable to remember homework, but acing every test and going above-and-beyond on any project with freeform requirements, leading to solid Bs and Cs despite half my assignments being a flat 0 for not being turned in: "Yeah."

... kind of wish someone looked a little deeper into the issue at the time.

And now these horribly abused children are adults with their own children.

Thankfully a lot of them are learning to break the cycle of parental mental abuse

Read Neurotribes by Steve Silberman

One asshole at Hopkins, leo kanner, sat on neuridiversity info all through most boomer childhoods.

Their parents got blamed for it by their own depression-era parents.

There was only one way to be, only certain foods, everything else was either a sin or a personal failure. Those kids could not answer questions honestly, just repeat back the same approved cultural pablum that maga wants to go back to.

Simple has several meanings.

The only light was Dr. Spock, but too subtle for many readers, he had to couch things carefully in his time and the culture was deafening.

Only after Lorna Wing released her work in the 70s did it start to normalise for some Gen Xers.