Thank you for sharing this. I have often been very cynical here, and elsewhere online, about ADHD, especially amongst adults. Most of the cynicism stems from the capitalistic nature of modern pharmaceutical companies - it literally seems like they are trying to create a market for their "ADHD" drugs through online social marketing - "You can't concentrate on a task? Must be ADHD.", "You don't feel like doing something productive? Oh, that's ADHD for sure", "Do you frequently procrastinate and feel guilty about? Yup, that's ADHD" and so on ...
The issue I have with "ADHD" in general is that there are so many other well-recognized and researched causes that more satisfactorily explain many of these behavioural issues - like depression and / or anxiety - than "ADHD". There are even personality disorders that can cause such long-term behavioural issues - for e.g., Avoidant Personality Disorder or even Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder (both stemming from anxiety issues), and they can be more correctly and confidently diagnosed than the cluster** that is "ADHD" (whose diagnostic criteria has been already revised multiple times in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual).
Alan Schwarz, the author of the book ADHD Nation has investigated the ties between pharmaceutical companies and doctors:
> "The six-question screening instrument that was endorsed by the World Health Organization was devised by doctors with a very long history in ADHD research," he says. "These are, generally, men who have been enriched by the pharmaceutical industry in order to churn out research and churn out things like this that merely expand the ADHD market. "What we've seen over the past 10 [to] 20 years is a constant enthusiasm on the part of the ADHD lobby to get more and more adults to consider the possibility that they, too, have ADHD," Schwarz says.
I am not against self-help or personal research. But please note that it is very easy to be mislead by such things and very easy to misdiagnose your symptoms. Even the professionals have a tough time with this!
> "You can't concentrate on a task? Must be ADHD.", "You don't feel like doing something productive? Oh, that's ADHD for sure", "Do you frequently procrastinate and feel guilty about? Yup, that's ADHD" and so on ...
Only someone who has no idea about ADHD and has done absolutely no research would believe that these are the symptoms.
Not really. That's how inattentive type of ADHD looks like from the outside, but it's not how someone with it would usually describe it. It's the PoV of a parent of a kid with ADHD and a reason it took me so long to figure out that I may have it myself.
I can concentrate on tasks very well, perhaps too well sometimes. My problem is that it's not my decision what I concentrate on.
I do feel like doing something productive pretty much all the time, perhaps even too much. It's just that there's a long road between "feeling like doing" and "actually doing".
Procrastination implies choice. It's not my choice to do things last minute, it's just that it's often the only moment when panic manages to override my lack of executive function. Sleep deprivation helps too, for the same reasons.
All I can say is be sure that you actually do have ADHD before medicating.
Why you feel you can't concentrate on some things, but on others, can also be explained id you are an obsessive compulsive personality type with anxiety disorders. Explore "anxiety avoidance" ( https://www.meridian-counseling.com/blog/what-is-avoidance-b... ). At its extreme, people trapped in the vicious cycle of anxiety avoidance often even convince themselves that they have some other serious kind of issue (as a maladaptive coping mechanism to justify to themselves why they are giving in to avoidance behaviour).
The issue I have with "ADHD" in general is that there are so many other well-recognized and researched causes that more satisfactorily explain many of these behavioural issues - like depression and / or anxiety - than "ADHD". There are even personality disorders that can cause such long-term behavioural issues - for e.g., Avoidant Personality Disorder or even Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder (both stemming from anxiety issues), and they can be more correctly and confidently diagnosed than the cluster** that is "ADHD" (whose diagnostic criteria has been already revised multiple times in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual).
Alan Schwarz, the author of the book ADHD Nation has investigated the ties between pharmaceutical companies and doctors:
> "The six-question screening instrument that was endorsed by the World Health Organization was devised by doctors with a very long history in ADHD research," he says. "These are, generally, men who have been enriched by the pharmaceutical industry in order to churn out research and churn out things like this that merely expand the ADHD market. "What we've seen over the past 10 [to] 20 years is a constant enthusiasm on the part of the ADHD lobby to get more and more adults to consider the possibility that they, too, have ADHD," Schwarz says.
(Source: Adult ADHD Can't Be Diagnosed With A Simple Screening Test, Doctors Warn - https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/05/29/5276546... ).
I am not against self-help or personal research. But please note that it is very easy to be mislead by such things and very easy to misdiagnose your symptoms. Even the professionals have a tough time with this!