ADHD on the Rise
I know many adults have been getting diagnosed in the last few years, I’m not sure why, possibly lockdown exasperating the traits or simply that as mental health is becoming more commonly talked about that people are learning about how the indicators of adult ADHD affect them. My mum had always said if ADHD had been ‘a thing’ in the 80s when I was a child, I definitely would have been diagnosed. So many of the indicators that people relate to ADHD are true to me such as fidgeting, excessive talking and having bouts of way too much energy at times.
But there are many things that I do that I didn’t know were related to ADHD until more recently.
Today I would like to discuss things that relate to the inattentive side of my ADHD. I will ask someone a question, be staring at them and totally not hear their answer. I often zone out when someone answers in a slightly longer way, or if I am just mid conversation with someone. I have become very good at masking this, but sometimes have to admit defeat and just say ‘Sorry, I was looking at you, but didn’t hear anything you just said, please can you repeat everything?!’. I also struggle to follow if someone asks me a long question if it has more than one element to it. I look back over the years and I think in every single job interview I have ever had, I have had to ask them to repeat the question. Or I impulsively start answering the question and completely forget what the question was half way through and realise I’ve gone off on an unrelated tangent and have to back track and get them to repeat the question.
I don’t know which part of ADHD this is related to but something I have been told is a part of ADHD is an inability to think of a word for something when talking. I guess it may be part of impulsivity with regards to talking before your brain has formulated the sentence, but I do this all the time. It can be very frustrating at times, for me and for the person I’m talking too. I get a lot of raised eyebrows and people leaning forward trying to understand what I’m trying to explain. A prime example would be a sentence like ‘…when we were at that place with the big dome and the pictures of outside earth and sparkly things in the sky, with showings rounds and people talking at you?’ ‘…ummmm….the planetarium?’ ‘yes that’s the one!’.
I’m not sure how this relates to my artwork but apparently creativity is an element of the ADHD brain. So I thought it might be a good thing to talk about in my blog to help people understand the weird and wonderful world that is inside my brain. Feel free to follow me on the socials to get more updates from my brain!
