I Wish I'd Known Earlier

Do you ever read news stories that raise giant red flags of ADHD yet never mention it by name? I  just read two such stories, and my mind was flooded with the thousands of posts I’ve read over the years from partners of adults with ADHD that touched directly on the topics.

The first story reported a study indicating that children in day care are more impulsive and bigger risk takers than children who did not go to day care or who spent less time in day care. The second story explored the effect of  electronic  devices on the human brain, including addiction.

But first, I’d like to point out a common error with  psychological (and sometimes even medical) research: confusing association with causation.  That is,  researchers claim research shows cause-and-effect (“causation”) when really all it shows is a  relationship between two variables (“association”).  More often, researchers do not make this claim; they merely suggest “risk factors” (a risk factor for Alzheimer’s is advanced age).  But reporters overstate the connection between cause and effect. Read the rest of this entry »

Let’s continue with more answers to this question in the ADHD Partner survey: “What do you wish you’d known earlier about Adult ADHD?” As you can see, the question touched a nerve with survey respondents, the partners of adults with ADHD.

• Public awareness on ADHD stinks, especially the campaigns by various groups about how awful it is to give people medication. My partner and I continually encounter people who don’t “believe” in ADHD, as if it’s the tooth fairy. They should live it. And those adults who have ADHD and don’t know it – but do a lot of “self-medicating” with tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, sex, or speeding on the freeway — should learn about it. I know that having untreated ADHD deeply affected my partner’s health. He used to get so exhausted just Read the rest of this entry »

Even now, 14 years after Adult ADHD was declared a medical diagnosis, ignorance remains. That means millions suffer in isolation. With this next question from the ADHD Partner survey, respondents detail the cost of that ignorance.

Question: What do you wish you’d known earlier about ADHD?

• I wish we’d known before marriage. That way, we could have put strategies into place. Instead, he couldn’t cope with being a husband and then a father while holding down a job, and I didn’t understand. The public needs to know that ADHD has a major impact on relationships and that their “problems” are not unique to them: they are, in fact, symptoms.

• I wish I’d known exactly what my wife meant when she said, prior to our marriage, “I’m going to drive you crazy. I want you to know that up front.” Read the rest of this entry »