What is ADHD?

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is a neurodevelopmental condition impacting the part of our brain responsible for self-regulation. In short, the pre-frontal cortex is unregulated, meaning that it's like having a Ferrari brain with bicycle brakes.

Though there are structural differences in the brain between those who have ADHD & those who don't, there isn't any one 'test'. 5% of the population are thought to have it, but adults could only be diagnosed in the UK in 2008. There's likely to be thousands of people living undiagnosed, beating themselves up for the way their brain works & blaming themselves for things outside their control.

What's more, as research has put our attention spans at approximately 40 seconds long as a result of technology, a lot of people might have artificially-induced traits of ADHD, which has been referred to as 'Variable Attention Stimulus Trait'.

Some symptoms, which can show up differently in different people, include:

• Having a short attention span & being easily distracted: our brains can feel like a television with 15 channels playing at the same time. We can be very prone to distraction and procrastination when trying to regulate ourselves, especially to do things we're not interested in which are repetitive or boring. This can result in quitting and impact our self-esteem, as we can beat ourselves up for being 'lazy' or 'stupid' for struggling with 'easy' things like cleaning: but who says they're easy? People with ADHD have immense potential to achieve extremely difficult things, whereas strategies to support and improve focus and executive functioning can always be learned.
• Hyper-focus: ADHD is not so much a deficit of attention as an inability to control it. When we're interested in something, we can become so absorbed that we literally can't get out of it, forgetting to eat or sleep. Learning strategies to control this healthily are really important, but hyper-focus is commonly associated with creativity, flow & super-productivity. Researchers found adults with ADHD have had more real-time creative achievements than those without - we just don't have much control over what we focus on!
• Impulsivity: as the part of our brain regulating time management and future planning is impaired, we can be very vulnerable to making spontaneous, bad decisions and developing unhealthy addictions - between 25-40% of the prison population have ADHD. However, with the right strategies in place, this impulsivity can be a brilliant asset: it makes us brave, curious, open to new experiences and live exciting, authentic lives! We just need to make sure we're in the driving seat and know how to use the brakes.
• Disorganisation: as ADHD impacts short-term memory and executive functioning, and we can struggle with remembering appointments, dates and possessions, or meeting deadlines. It impacts our ability to prioritize: everything seems important, or nothing does. The small things can be extremely overwhelming - but the pay-off for this is that the big things tend to be no problem at all. We can always learn strategies for organisation, but the cognitive advantage of an original ADHD brain can't be learned!
• Hyperactivity: this can be mental or physical - experiencing racing thoughts, incessant talking without thinking, interrupting, moving around, fidgeting, insomnia, overthinking... the list goes on. Having ADHD can be exhausting, but once we understand how to manage our energy, we can sustain it and put it into things that we want to do. It can be a huge advantage to have so much energy and enthusiasm - things are certainly never boring!

Emotional dysregulation: we can find it very challenging to regulate our emotions and given the stigma associated with ADHD, can often suffer with poor self-esteem. 'Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria' has been uniquely linked to ADHD, where a person can experience such extreme emotional reactions to perceived rejection that they can feel temporarily suicidal. Anxiety, depression, Autism, dyslexia and OCD are also strongly associated with ADHD. Though we can find it tough emotionally, researchers have proven divergent thinking, courage, compassion and resilience to be traits found in people with ADHD.

Thinking differently to the rest of the world can be extremely challenging, and every single person I've met with ADHD has genuinely cared about helping others. That's why I published ADHD: an A to Z and became an ADHD Coach, after being coached myself helped me to stop beating myself up and get out of my own way.

If you're not sure whether you might have ADHD, the best advice I can give you is to simply pause and consider whether there are any changes you'd like to make in your life, regardless of a diagnosis. If you know someone struggling with ADHD, please tell them about the book , which was written to support people experiencing these challenges.

Coaching can help regardless of whether you're spending too much time on your phone or changing job every month like I was - it's simply a designed pause to support you in taking control of your own life.

If you'd like to talk, please feel free to pick a time here .

Extract based off 'ADHD: an A to Z' by Leanne Maskell