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| Yes | 69% | 283 votes | Total: 412 votes | |
| No | 31% | 129 votes |
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Add to FavoritesAM I A SUCCESSFUL COLLEGE GRADUATE, A TOTAL SPACE CADET, OR BOTH?
I have attention deficit disorder. I have probably had it all of my life but was only diagnosed as an adult. I am able to function very well at work because I have installed serious coping mechanisms that I never deviate from.
This is not the case at home. At home I can be very unorganized and forgetful and I always lose things.
My fourteen year old daughter is a smart girl. She will get double and triple copies of things that are important. This means the basketball and volleyball schedules.
She knows I will lose them. I always lose things. This is extremely annoying because I ALWAYS PUT THESE THINGS SOMEWHERE SO I CAN FIND THEM AND THEN I STILL CANNOT FIND THEM.
My daughter keeps copies for me and will pull them out as I need them. She NEVER lets me have the last copy. Like I said, she is a smart girl.
She has also been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder. I believe she has developed coping mechanisms for home and is still learning to incorporate coping mechanisms for school.
I am a nurse. I wear scrubs. They have to have specific features in order for me to incorporate my coping mechanisms.
The pants must have pockets so that I can keep my work keys in the RIGHT one. The left one is not used but pants usually come either with or without pockets.
My scrub tops have to have two large pockets at the bottom. I keep specific things in each pocket. If I go to look for something I need and it is not in the assigned pocket, I PANIC. This does happen from time to time so I suppose I should say I never intentionally deviate from my proposed plan. Incidentally, the things I am missing are usually in the unassigned pocket.
Once I put these items back in order the panic subsides. My coworkers know of my situation and will say, "Calm down, you know it's probably in the other pocket. You will find it."
This happens very rarely because I am very serious about keeping things where they belong while at work. I wish I could use this tunnel vision coping stategy at home to keep my house in order, but I have not been able to do so. My house is clean because I have a housekeeper but it is not organized.
The people who are very close to me know that somestimes I have a hard time staying with a conversation. If they suspect that I am not really listening they will say, "I NEED YOU TO LISTEN TO ME." I will then tune into the conversation to the exclusion of everything else.
I did very well in school because I could tune into the material and tune out everything else. Before treatment for my ADD, I could not do thses things. I remember it would seem as if a television remote was constantly changing the channel and that I had no control over the changing of the channels. Now I can control the changing of the channels.
The only place I can multitask, or control the changing of the channels without cues from my family, is at work. At home I am easily distracted. In a crowd, or even a small group I never know who to listen to and usually cannot follow one conversation because the different conversations surrounding me keep me distracted.
I am most comfortable at home with my children and the rest of my family. This does not mean that I never go out and do things. I do. I am just saying that I probably do not go out sometimes because I know that I will feel uncomfortable in some situations.
Given the above, I would have to say that having ADD is annoying for me. I imagine some of the things that I do, or do not are annoying for my family and friends.
I have very few real friends because the other person has to do most of the work to keep the friendship strong. They have to take the initiative MOST of the time to keep in touch with me.
I am not unhappy or sad. It is just that I am most happy just puttering around my house. Since I got this computer for Christmas I have become addicted to it. My new computer and writing articles for Helium take up much of the rare spare time that I have.
I work full time. I also feed, clothe and parent the six children who live here either full or part-time. I have plenty to do here in this house.
Having ADD is annoying. Having ADD is not the end of the world. A person with ADD must learn strong coping mechanisms to deal with their everyday life. Then, just like everyone else, they should live their life to the fullest extent. I think "to the fullest extent" has different meanings to different people. Be happy.
Learn more about this author, Christina Peavler.
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No
Adult Attention Deficit Disorder can be described with many adjectives, but "annoying" should certainly not be one of them. Looked at from the sufferer's point of view, this descriptor suggests that the troublesome effects of ADD can be treated with the same casual dismissive attitude that we might use in swatting at a housefly. To refer to those around us who exhibit the symptoms of ADD as "annoying" shows deep disrespect for the individual.
If it is being suggested that the adjective is being applied by those who suffer with ADD, I doubt seriously that even one of them would describe the debilitating effects of this disorder as "annoying." "Frustrating," "overwhelming," or even "self-defeating," could all, more accurately, express the sentiments of men and women who struggle every day to overcome the stigma of being labeled "failures" by those who little understand the challenges they face.
In my almost twenty-five years of practice, I've probably evaluated several hundred adult men and women for the potential of ADD. Those whom I've diagnosed share a number of characteristics that can be quite incapacitating. I doubt that any of them would choose to define their struggles as "annoying." Each of the following negative outcomes can be characterized by the same chronicity that is often seen in the lives of Adult ADD sufferers when diagnosed later in life:
1. The inability to maintain long-term relationships successfully
2. Job history characterized by instability, job loss, and poor work performance
3. Poor organizational skills
4. Poor impulse control
5. Low self-esteem
6. Thwarted educational goals, including failure to complete education because of inability to stay on task; poor listening skills, and negative behaviors
7. Repeatedly sabotaging opportunities due to fear of failure
8. History of problems with anger, anxiety, and depression
9. Learning Disabilities
10. A "learned helplessness" that results from repeated failed attempts at accomplishing life tasks
Grim list, isn't it? Those diagnosed with Adult ADD fight an uphill battle their whole lives. Like a spawning salmon, they swim against the tides of each day and experience more failure than success. Thankfully there are treatment options to help those who have ADD. Still, it's not easy to break a lifetime of bad behaviors and negative coping mechanisms that are learned by those not diagnosed with ADD until well into adulthood. Adults who do get help have a lot of hard work ahead of them as they draw upon the resources of both the medical and mental health community.
So. is there more to the idea of Adult Attention Deficit Disorder than you thought? Okay then. Let's put the mind sets away that more properly align with fly swatters, and educate ourselves to better understand the struggle of the adult ADD sufferer who is a part of our everyday world.
Learn more about this author, Dr. Deborah Bauers.
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