well here’s what it’s like for me
- feeling like you need to Do Shit All The Time
- like, literally every second
- if you aren’t stimulated for even a second you’re incredibly bored
- boredom is literally painful
- it’s worse than death
- worse than e v e r y t h i n g
- feelin that sweet Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria™ any time you get teased or insulted
- when you’re listening to music you always tune it out eventually
- not picking up on social cues At All
- actually, what are social cues?
- can’t regulate attention
- not interesting = not worth paying attention to
- hyperfocus for hours
- “wAIT ITS 4 PM WHAT THE F U C K”
- did i forget to eat again
- The Thoughts go from point a to point g in less than one (1) fuckin sentence
- *someone says a thing* what *person repeats thing* what *person repeats thing again and you still don’t hear them but dont ask what again in case they think ur weird*
- or, alternatively
- *someone says a thing* what *person starts to repeat said thing; you reply less than a second after they start*
- using subtitles all the time so you don’t have to go back twenty times to determine What The Fuck someone said
- “sorry i tuned you out for that entire sentence can you repeat that”
- needing e x t r e m e l y s p e c i f i c d i r e c t i o n s
- EXTREMELY POOR VOLUME CONTROL TBH
- tfw that thing u were working on falls apart and u cant redo it bc u already did it and that would be boring
- long blocks of text are Extremely Hard to Read
- ur fuckin brain works 12 times as fast as everyone elses. for every ADHD person it’s somethin different. for me it’s puns. ill choke on my own laughter at a pun an Entire Second before anyone else even gets it
- RAMBLING
- The Leg Bounce™
- Disassociation
- that ADHD feel when you
- ^^ that one is a True Marker of an ADHD person. only ADHD people understand.
Reblogging because I think this is super helpful
!!!!! PSA that the hyperactive stuff on here (always needing to Do Something, ccaann’‘tt bbee bboorreed, etc) can wind up masked almost totally by maladaptive daydreaming, which, when you think about it, is actually a marvelous way to begin INSTANTLY doing something interesting without even having to get up and go somewhere else. Once you internalize your need for stimulation and start watchin’ the ol’ headmovies, you might LOOK like a very patient person who has no trouble sitting still when it’s required or staying on-task for extended periods of time despite setbacks and delays, but only from the outside. Inside there are tabs open with music videos and etc. playing, and you’re probably glancing back at reality only when necessary. You might look at sensation-seeking symptoms like hyperactivity and think “can’t relate” when, really, you’re just ready to return to your interior hyperactivity at a moment’s notice.
@ everybody who can’t just slip out of reality when boredom threatens and who has to instead find something to entertain themselves with irl, my heart goes out to you and everyone around you because holy fuck
I wonder how many writers and other creatives are ADHD. I mean, that whole “Occupy the brain with invented narratives, characters, dialogue, and wotld-building” thing was my refuge as a child, and has become my happy place as an adult.
I’d write all day, every day, if I could arrange my life for that. Coping technique turned profession. Unfortunately, the Day Jobbe sucks up most of my creative energy, alas.
Others out there like me?
I had a teacher in high school who pulled me aside one day and thanked me for being so attentive in class, and all I could think was, “bitch I am on year three of a Harry Potter OC fanfic, I have not heard a single word you’ve said in weeks.” So, yeah, maybe.
(A couple years ago I turned up positive on an ADHD screening, but I wasn’t jittery and I don’t forget appointments so my therapist said nah, probably not. But I’m finally getting my anemia treated, and I’m starting to wonder if maybe ADHD comorbid with depression and iron deficiency, compensated for by years of refining my note-taking and planner systems, doesn’t explain an awful lot.)
Just so you know, ADHD and ADD are no longer separate diagnoses- there’s just ADHD, and subtypes (primarily inattentive, primarily hyperactive, combined). That means there’s tons of us ADHD people who aren’t hyper physically and may even struggle with fatigue and brain fog pretty badly.
Some more exciting ADHD things include:
– I have lost this thing. When did I lose it? Where did I lose it? Did I ever have it in the first place?
– ‘I’m calling because you missed yo-’ FUCK
– the overwhelming need to be stimulated combined with getting tired of everything quickly and lacking physical energy/ the ability to concentrate
– saying offensive or inappropriate things and then when people are like ‘what are you thinking?’ being like ‘i honestly could not tell you’
– your brain is like one of those shopfront windows with all the TVs playing different channels. at least one of them is a song.
– ‘okay you can’t leave the exam hall until 1PM, so if you finish early you’ll just have to sit there’ haha death would be kinder
– poor emotional regulation. feelings are Very Hard To Handle By Yourself and you might break things when angry, hurt yourself when sad etc
– step one: join club or society. step two: learn everything there is and volunteer for as much responsibility as possible. step three: lose interest completely and ghost or quit, ignoring desperate/confused emails and hating yourself
– “something i thought has distressed me, but i can’t remember what. let me sit down and unpack the last five minutes of mental conversation.”
“!!!!! PSA that the hyperactive stuff on here (always needing to Do Something, ccaann’‘tt bbee bboorreed, etc) can wind up masked almost totally by maladaptive daydreaming, which, when you think about it, is actually a marvelous way to begin INSTANTLY doing something interesting without even having to get up and go somewhere else. Once you internalize your need for stimulation and start watchin’ the ol’ headmovies, you might LOOK like a very patient person who has no trouble sitting still when it’s required or staying on-task for extended periods of time despite setbacks and delays, but only from the outside.“
HAHAHAHAH omg I should have seen this 15 years ago
ADHD is reading the first post in this thread, skipping all the commentary, and rebloggingbit anyway
My input is ADHD is TALKING CONSTANTLY AND UNABLE TO STOP
As someone who’s been maladaptive daydreaming since I was 3/as long as I can remember
It is EXACTLY why I write/draw/get so passionate about stories
But it’s also why as a kid no one saw blatant ADHD- I can be patient and calm but my mind is constantly on high speed daydreaming and creating and writing and it can still be very hard to focus/cope with mental exhaustion
Putting something down because you’re done with it and have it CEASE TO EXIST. You don’t put away the jam that’s less than a foot from the fridge because your mind has already moved onto something else.
Getting an idea and having it be The Only Thing You Can Think About for the next however long it takes for you to go to sleep and (hopefully) reset.
This explains so fuckig much… funny story, drinking caffeine might help balance the brain chemistry enough for you to c hill. I get mellow as hell, and the first time I drank coffee at work, my boss thought I was either dying or plotting murder.
Tag: mental health
For more posts like these, go to @mypsychology
I always see people talking about how eating too little or forgetting to eat is a symptom of mental illness and therefore shouldn’t be judged, but I never see anyone say anything about how mental illnesses can drive people to overeat.
People with binge eating disorder exist.
People with ADHD who eat when they’re bored, and need something to do exist.
People with depression who comfort eat exist.
People with PTSD who overeat as a way to make themselves look unappealing, or as a way of comfort exist
People who overeat as a form of self harm exist.
We exist.
Because overeating and being fat is so harshly hated upon, no one wants to believe that fat people are struggling with mental illness; they just want to believe that fat people are lazy and refuse to change because they don’t want to.
We don’t owe you anything.
I had no idea that was a symptom of ADHD! I just thought I had no self control or something.
A group of rough looking boys walked past me today and all I heard of their conversation was “he’s got that anxiety disorder bro so I went with him so he’d be more comfortable” and it made me realise the world isn’t all that bad
The pet store I worked at had a pen with rabbits near the front door. On every side of the pen were huge signs saying “You can pet me, but don’t pick me up!”
One day two absolutely huge guys came in and one immediately reaches into the pen to grab a rabbit. Before i could say anything his friend grabbed his arm and asked him “did you see the sign?”
He said “yeah! it says that you can pick them up but don’t pet them!”
Then he went quiet for a moment and softly said “I didn’t read it right did I?”
And his friend just puts his arm on his shoulder and said “its ok, i know you’ve got that thing where words get mixed up. Let just pet these cute lil shits”
And I still haven’t gotten over that interaction.I was walking my dog through Boston bc he likes the likes car rides. He’s a little thing tbh we call him short and long.
So this huge scary man with a full beard approaches me like “hey can my buddy and I pet your dog? He gets nervous around dogs but your’s is so small I think it’s a good place to start.”
Ofc I was like “yes he’s very friendly!” So this guy brings his equally big friend over and they sit on the floor while this man looks terrified of my tiny dog so big man number one asks “can I pick him up?” And i say yes so he picks him up and puts him on man number two’s lap and man number two is abt to freak out and his friend straight up just goes “hey man, it’s okay just relax I’d never let anything hurt you. He’s a good boy.” I’ll never forget it ever bc I know that man looked at me (5’3 , glasses, probably wearing a sweater vest) and my dog (kinda goofy looking little thing) and was like ‘ah yes the two least intimidating living things I’ve seen in Boston all day he’ll feel relaxed around them’ and went out of his way to help his friend. It makes me so happyA good post, pure.
Another adorable story has been added.
federico babina architecturally interprets mental illnesses
Medication is often stigmatized and that really bothers me. I’ve taken meds on and off for years to supplement my focus and combat my anxiety. I’ve adapted because of prescriptions. None of us are weak for this, we’re simply helping our brains get the chemicals they need to function better.
© Megan Fabbri 2017
I often talk about reality checking and going along with it when helping someone deal with delusions, but I felt as if I didn’t really make it clear to what I meant when I said it.
Recently I saw a post similar to “how to sneakily give your delusional friend a reality check when they told you not to” and honestly, that’ll just make us lose trust for you. Because we can tell when you do that.
i think its worth saying that “adding to the delusion/trying to send them deeper into the delusion” isnt always as malicious as it sounds, “adding to the delusion” can mean attempting to comfort them but inadvertently creating more layers of it (ie “youll be safe if you keep your door shut” “they cant hurt you because im protecting you”, etc).
even if your intentions are good and it temporarily makes them feel safer, youre just adding another layer to it, and it will just become more difficult for them to overcome later on
The power of knitting as a tool for bad mental health days:
*No mistakes are permanent
*You can physically see and measure the progress you make even in the smallest session
*All you have to do is count and follow the pattern
*Distracts my hands and brain when I think I’m going to spiral down/ panic/ dissociate
*If I want to knit tiny tight complicated lace I can. If I want to knit huge soft squishy blankets I can. There’s a knitting pattern for every mental health emergency
*Wearing socks that I’ve made myself feels like an act of self-love, feels like taking care of myself
*Seeing other people wear/ use and love things I’ve knitted for them is the best kind of validation
*Knitting is forgiving, loving and doesn’t hurt anyone
ALL TRUE THINGS. Kudos.
why are So Many practitioners/teachers of psychology and related fields neurotypical. you wanna talk fetishizing lets talk how many people get into psychology just because my Brain Problems are Fascinating
its funny bcs when the leading expert on bpd admitted that she has bpd other psychiatrists who are neurotypical suddenly became dedicated to discrediting her when previously they had agreed with her like thats how fuckin deep ableism goes
Her name is Marcia Linehan, the therapy program she designed for BPD is called dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) and is incredibly innovative and immensely helpful to so many people and is used to treat a variety of mental illnesses aside from BPD, and all of that is 100% accurate, other folks in the field started treating her like absolute shit after she “came out.”
My therapist suggested replacing “is there anything I can do” with “what do you need” when comforting someone as the first kind of assumes you as part of the equation in helping someone which isn’t always helpful. It also kind of pressures the person suffering to kind of come up with something FOR you to do. Like I get so frustrated with that first question as a person who gets it a lot.
The second not only takes the pressure off but also might help the person really consider what their actual needs are like hey I haven’t eaten, maybe that’s a reason I feel crappy. It kinda takes the asker out of the immediate picture so the person struggling can focus on what they actually need, and then if you CAN help, you can offer it.
We’ll see if this works better!
Steel Phoenix Studios 