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> ... I perform way better than other people in chaotic and emergent environments ... Yes! You can see more details in my other post: https://news.ycombinator

> ... I perform way better than other people in chaotic and emergent environments ... Yes! You can see more details in my other post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13188789 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13188789 I dose myself based on what kinds of work I expect to be doing during the day. I've always been an 'ops guy', though at the same time, I also write a lot of code. 'devops' before that name existed. As a traditional 'ops guy', untreated ADHD is quite a nice characteristic to have, especially when shit's going down. It allows me to direct and redirect short bursts of hyper-focus, very rapidly. In that state, it's hard to focus very long, but it's quite easy to context switch. That's one of the advantages to my work schedule: I generally start working around 6am, way before most people are even awake, let alone working. So normally, during my first 4 hours at work, I write a lot of code. So I take my meds so their levels are highest then. As people start coming in, I tend to switch modes, as I let the 'ADHD' take over. In those rare cases where I had to manage a substantial incident while my meds were at a high level, I didn't perform as well. During the 'heat of an incident', you don't want to go down any rabbit holes. You want to keep your eyes in a lot of places at once. But when I'm on my meds, I tend to be more 'depth first', instead of 'breath first', to use tree traversal as an analogy. Honestly, I kind of consider my ADHD, plus meds that I can carefully control the dose of, as a kind of 'superpower'. (I mean, not really a SUPER power, but I mean as a nice advantage.)

komali2 10y ago
I can relate very much to the depth vs breadth first as a metaphor to my working type when I'm on vs not on my meds.
mjburgess 10y ago
The problem here, is in part I think, how poor people with ADHD are at assessing themselves. Autobiographical memory is very impaired, and often access to your internal emotional state and its relation to long term goals is quite weak. So you do often find people with ADHD completely misjudging how good they are at tasks, compared to others, and so on. I think you'll find many of the skills you rely on which give you this advantage, if you do in fact have an advantage, arent ADHD. ADHD is a significant neurological impairment, and people with it are impaired in many higher order cognitive functions. These arent compensated for by divine intervention. ADHD isnt an alternative evolutionary pathway, nor is it part of the "healthy mixture" of society. And more than how good it is that we have some blind or otherwise disabled people around. There really are disorders of the brain which constitute simple factual impairment, and to have this impairment improved upon enables the person to far more successfully achieve their own goals. ADHD is one such disorder: medication very often makes living the life you wish to live much easier. It's perhaps a harsh reality, but it is reality. Significant cogantive impairment diminishes your ability to realise your own goals. The popular mythology of the genius provided by mental ill health or disability is a pernicious one and is believed to the great detriment of many people. People with cognitive problems often cling to them in pathological ways, and this is especially common with ADHD people because they find it difficult to reflect over their life in the ways needed to realise the patterns of their difficulties. I would strongly encourage every one with ADHD, or who think they might have it, to seek pharmacological help asap. Many of the symptoms can be greatly reduced with stimulants and they'll make realising your own goals much easier.
- theonemind 10y ago
  It looked to me like he described his hyper-focus and context switching as the advantage. ADHD causes both of those things. It looks to me like you imply that ADHD, as an impairment, can't cause an advantage in some situation. I disagree. People on the autistic spectrum, while undoubtedly also having abnormal brains, can process information in a way that others can't, sometimes giving them an advantage in 'cerebral' professions, while also possibly causing functional deficits in other contexts. This feels to me like a one-size-fits-all reply, and dismissive of what looks like a valid and realistic self-assessment. "Significant cogantive impairment diminishes your ability to realise your own goals" doesn't hold true without context. A person may have a goal of not depending on medication, or choosing to view their state as a strength and building on their differences. Consider Stephen Hawking. I don't think he would have wished for his condition, but a friend of his once noted that when he got a book, he would remember what he saw, because he could not easily pull the book down again. If he didn't have physical impairments, he might have gone in other directions. He had to focus on a mental career. He took his position for one of strength and made the most of it. I find your reply dismissive of this person's experience, reality, and values.
  - mjburgess 10y ago
    People with ADHD are incapable of making a "valid self assessment". It's a disorder of the specific faculties involved in being self-aware in the right sort of ways. It's a very common phenomenon to encounter a person with ADHD who insists their life us going well but who are being fired every month. We're talking about serious cognitive impairments not 'differneces' it's reckless to encourage people with this condition to avoid seeking help.
    - komali2 10y ago
      I'd argue that the ability to make a "valid self assessment" is missing from every person on the planet. We can only use the tools available to us, i.e. track our workflow against our peers, our performance in academia, etc. I agree that we shouldn't encourage people to not seek help, that's no good. But people with the disease sharing how they can leverage it to their advantage can help.
deleted 10y ago
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komali2 10y ago

I can relate very much to the depth vs breadth first as a metaphor to my working type when I'm on vs not on my meds.

mjburgess 10y ago

The problem here, is in part I think, how poor people with ADHD are at assessing themselves. Autobiographical memory is very impaired, and often access to your internal emotional state and its relation to long term goals is quite weak. So you do often find people with ADHD completely misjudging how good they are at tasks, compared to others, and so on. I think you'll find many of the skills you rely on which give you this advantage, if you do in fact have an advantage, arent ADHD. ADHD is a significant neurological impairment, and people with it are impaired in many higher order cognitive functions. These arent compensated for by divine intervention. ADHD isnt an alternative evolutionary pathway, nor is it part of the "healthy mixture" of society. And more than how good it is that we have some blind or otherwise disabled people around. There really are disorders of the brain which constitute simple factual impairment, and to have this impairment improved upon enables the person to far more successfully achieve their own goals. ADHD is one such disorder: medication very often makes living the life you wish to live much easier. It's perhaps a harsh reality, but it is reality. Significant cogantive impairment diminishes your ability to realise your own goals. The popular mythology of the genius provided by mental ill health or disability is a pernicious one and is believed to the great detriment of many people. People with cognitive problems often cling to them in pathological ways, and this is especially common with ADHD people because they find it difficult to reflect over their life in the ways needed to realise the patterns of their difficulties. I would strongly encourage every one with ADHD, or who think they might have it, to seek pharmacological help asap. Many of the symptoms can be greatly reduced with stimulants and they'll make realising your own goals much easier.

theonemind 10y ago
It looked to me like he described his hyper-focus and context switching as the advantage. ADHD causes both of those things. It looks to me like you imply that ADHD, as an impairment, can't cause an advantage in some situation. I disagree. People on the autistic spectrum, while undoubtedly also having abnormal brains, can process information in a way that others can't, sometimes giving them an advantage in 'cerebral' professions, while also possibly causing functional deficits in other contexts. This feels to me like a one-size-fits-all reply, and dismissive of what looks like a valid and realistic self-assessment. "Significant cogantive impairment diminishes your ability to realise your own goals" doesn't hold true without context. A person may have a goal of not depending on medication, or choosing to view their state as a strength and building on their differences. Consider Stephen Hawking. I don't think he would have wished for his condition, but a friend of his once noted that when he got a book, he would remember what he saw, because he could not easily pull the book down again. If he didn't have physical impairments, he might have gone in other directions. He had to focus on a mental career. He took his position for one of strength and made the most of it. I find your reply dismissive of this person's experience, reality, and values.
- mjburgess 10y ago
  People with ADHD are incapable of making a "valid self assessment". It's a disorder of the specific faculties involved in being self-aware in the right sort of ways. It's a very common phenomenon to encounter a person with ADHD who insists their life us going well but who are being fired every month. We're talking about serious cognitive impairments not 'differneces' it's reckless to encourage people with this condition to avoid seeking help.
  - komali2 10y ago
    I'd argue that the ability to make a "valid self assessment" is missing from every person on the planet. We can only use the tools available to us, i.e. track our workflow against our peers, our performance in academia, etc. I agree that we shouldn't encourage people to not seek help, that's no good. But people with the disease sharing how they can leverage it to their advantage can help.

deleted 10y ago

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