5 Common Myths about ADHD
1- It only impacts children. You outgrow it.
ADHD symptoms often impact children differently than adults. With kids you tend to see more of the “hyper” symptoms that can disrupt a classroom leading to diagnosis in the traditional textbook sorta way. Even that cuts out the symptoms in kids that can be overlooked like daydreaming, missing details on assignments, keeping a messy desk, blurting out answers. It isn’t so much that ADHD is outgrown as people learn to adapt and cope the best they can overtime. It’s also possible someone was diagnosed with ADHD as a child that didn’t have it, so that adds to the myth that people outgrow it.
2- It is caused by too much screen time
ADHD is a neurological based issue. It is not caused by too much screen time or anything else that is in that category. Things like screen time can be a way that ADHD symptoms present. For example, a common trait associated with ADHD is what we call hyper focus. The ADHD brain can focus so deeply and intently on a preferred task that it looks like the person afflicted just doesn’t care about putting their phone down. When it isn’t something being observed by a loved one, a person with ADHD may struggle in this area by spending more time online than they planned impacting other responsibilities. A lot of people think the increased time on screens has contributed to increased rates of ADHD, but these factors are unrelated. We happen to hear more about ADHD as more knowledge is obtained and stigma is reduced which just so happens to be occurring when we have more technology. Those things are happening at the same time, but screen time did not cause more ADHD.
3- ADHD isn’t real, people just need to have more discipline
ADHD is a neurological based issue. It is very real. The world is designed for neurotypical folks. What looks like disorganization to one person may work very effectively for someone with ADHD. You can’t discipline ADHD away any more than you can discipline someone to have better eyesight.
4- Any inability to concentrate means ADHD
While attention span is a factor in ADHD diagnosis, issues with concentration do not automatically mean ADHD. Trauma impacts concentration, memory and the ability to retain information. So do depression and anxiety. Our fast-paced modern worlds with infinite options can make it hard to concentrate too. ADHD is SO much more than a lack of concentration.
5-If you do well in school or pay attention to fun things you can’t have ADHD
The ADHD brain is wired differently from the Non-ADHD brain. In a world designed for people without ADHD, it can look fake and lazy if someone struggles to maintain a chore list but can play video games for hours. You can have ADHD and get good grades especially if the subject matter is interesting. It’s not that you can’t pay attention to anything at all. It’s a type of misnomer because the ADHD brain is paying attention to everything and struggles to filter things out. During times of hyper focus this can look like not paying attention to anything because of being so deeply intent on the activity at hand. Someone with ADHD cannot just make hyper focus happen, but it is often brought on by extreme motivation like an urgent deadline.
I have ADHD and was not formally diagnosed until well into adulthood. I thought I was disorganized and lacked common sense because I heard this most of my life and it rang true. I often felt like a failure of a parent and wife because I couldn’t keep my house tidy consistently no matter how much I tried. I worked myself to exhaustion just for the house to look like a tornado went through. I didn’t have much money and saw this as another personal failure because I thought if I could afford the right organizational system then all of my problems would go away. I didn’t want to be messy or be seen as unprofessional or incompetent. I also didn’t want to be “too much”- too much personality, talk too much, take up too much attention. All the discipline strategies only served to make me want to shrink myself and hate myself because I just couldn’t get it together despite motivation, a strong work ethic and a desire to please authority. Now that I know better, I do better, including changing how I talk to myself. Positive reframing can be a power thought tool. I’m no longer “disorganized.” I am “not traditionally organized.” ☺ Embracing differences instead of shaming them can make the world a brighter place.
Rayelle Davis is a Nationally Board Certified Counselor licensed in Maryland and West Virginia. She is an expert content reviewer for highered.com and a faculty trainer for the American Society of Addiction Medicine. Her research on the diseases of despair and Appalachia fuels her mission to build community centered around accurate and decolonized mental health education.
