It's truly unfortunate that ADHD (Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) has such a long trail of delusions about the health condition. Not only are those delusions a painful reminder that it's simply not okay to have a mental disease, but they can also be extremely harmful to those who do have it.
Those seeking treatment for their ADHD may even experience difficulties in diagnosis delays because symptoms are often mistaken for laziness, a troubled individual, and more. They may even have difficulty in being understood in their daily life and by family members and friends.
Growing up I struggled during my school years. I was never able to remember much of the information I was taught in class and I would find myself stressed at the idea of everything I had to accomplish.
While I suspected something was amiss, it wasn't until I was in my early 40's that I finally decided to seek help and was diagnosed with ADHD.
Maybe if my parents had been able to recognize my health condition and have me diagnosed as a child, I wouldn't have struggled in school and life in general. But as we all know you can only move forward and put those ADHD misconceptions in their place.
One of the biggest delusions of ADHD is that girls don't have the mental disease because they don't exhibit the hyperactive side or display many of the behaviors that boys do. Unfortunately, this is not true and I'm proof of that.
While it is true that I wasn't hyper or a troubled child, I did have other symptoms and signs of ADHD like:
Antisocial Personality
Anxiety Attacks
Mood Swings
Those symptoms continued into my adulthood in addition to new ones like:
Forgetfulness
Lack of Focus
Procrastination
Speaking out of Turn
Another misconception is, people who have ADHD are often accused of being lazy. That so-called laziness can result in guilt and low self-confidence for not meeting the expectations of the accusers.
People with ADHD tend to need additional structure and reminders to get stuff done. This is especially true for projects or jobs that require a lot of mental focus.
But because of ADHD symptoms like disorganization, lack of interest, and motivation, it's often mistaken for being lazy unless it's a project or job they truly love doing, which makes the person look even lazier.
The reality of it is, people like myself who have ADHD truly want to be successful in our lives. We just often struggle even with the simplest tasks.
For example, I still have a pile of paperwork and receipts on my coffee table that is still on my to-do list because for me it's a mentally exhausting task. I also have a pile of mail waiting to be sorted through in my little silver mailbox holder on the wall by my office desk. Those piles are often frowned upon because I haven't completed those tasks. And sometimes, just sometimes I feel like I've somehow messed up once again in life.
Which brings me to one final disillusion about ADHD. It is and always has been very real and very serious. It might not be as life-threatening as cancer, it can cause a person with ADHD to have severe complications in life.
People like myself who have ADHD often experience:
Anxiety
Mood swings
Difficulty with organization
Difficulty with planning
Trouble initiating tasks
Difficulty with keeping a job due to the overwhelming responsibilities of that job.
Those events alone can cause us to become easily stressed over the possibility of losing our job and not being able to keep up financially, which can lead to depression and other complications.
Those of us with Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) could benefit from having more time to complete our job. Yet most companies are not willing to allow that additional time in order to complete the job's requirements.
To make matters worse, a person with ADHD is often judged or told they are just using the mental disease as an excuse.
They may find that:
Many places like education and work environments aren't willing to meet their needs in order for them to truly succeed.
They cannot get a diagnosis or be steered away from being diagnosed for the disease.
Their family, friends, co-workers, and even strangers may tell them that their ADHD isn't a real condition, everyone has it, it's all in their head, it's an excuse!
Because of those reasons and more, the misconceptions of ADHD must be recognized. We must raise awareness about the mental condition. We must help support those with ADHD and give them the chance to become successful in life! The chance to truly live!
