4 ms·

I'm in a similar borderland, I'm diagnosed ADD, and my daughter ADD with autistic traits. Doesn't make me the best person to answer, but I also felt the respon

I'm in a similar borderland, I'm diagnosed ADD, and my daughter ADD with autistic traits. Doesn't make me the best person to answer, but I also felt the responses to be weird. But I'll relate some of my experiences, if they might be of some use. I'm not an expert in anxiety by any means, however, one thing that stands out to me is that when my daughter is feeling anxious about something, let's say it would be about the state of geopolitics - or whatever - I could calm her by telling her that it is in fact a rather dire situation. That is, if this is representative, that the uncertainty in/about/through your own interpretation is often more disconcerting than even the worst case scenario. Similarly, I've had friends tell me: Yep, you are being an idiot! Which is accompanied by a figurative, if not literal sigh of relief from me. While this probably isn't completely alien in anxiety in general, it seems much more pronounced for people close to, or on the spectrum. For some I also believe a weaker/different perception of time plays a significant role in the difference. Maybe this is more my ADD side, but time can become invisible, everything is a moment which encompasses all of time. Ancient, yet newborn and without temporal roots. Hence some anxiety might not be as much about the future, but of this current eternal now and all that has been. I rarely get embarrassed even if I done something mind boggling stupid, but I can sometimes get anxious about small things that happened decades ago, of which the outcomes have certainly completely played out. It's as if cause and effect isn't always causally ordered in my subconscious brain, hence the memory evoked doesn't evoke the appropriate emotional state. Got a real headache, so I'll stop typing now. Quite likely mostly gibberish anyway, tends to become such when I'm in this state, against my best intentions. But hey, practice makes perfect, eh :)

DaiPlusPlus 8y ago
Off-topic, but I subscribe to the notion that ADD and ASD share a broader spectrum if not a common neurological pathology. DSM-V changed the rules overnight and now it’s very common for ASD and ADD comorbidity to be positively diagnosed. My personal, lay-person (but diagnosed) opinion is both spectrum definitions are “wrong” and I hope we’ll have more objective diagnostic criteria in the near future. An issue with ASD is the prevalence of higher intelligence levels that mask occurrence of ADD - until those people advance their education or careers until a point where it becomes a problem - and then it becomes a real problem. Do you have an opinion or position on the subject of ASD/ADD comorbidity?

DaiPlusPlus 8y ago

Off-topic, but I subscribe to the notion that ADD and ASD share a broader spectrum if not a common neurological pathology. DSM-V changed the rules overnight and now it’s very common for ASD and ADD comorbidity to be positively diagnosed. My personal, lay-person (but diagnosed) opinion is both spectrum definitions are “wrong” and I hope we’ll have more objective diagnostic criteria in the near future. An issue with ASD is the prevalence of higher intelligence levels that mask occurrence of ADD - until those people advance their education or careers until a point where it becomes a problem - and then it becomes a real problem. Do you have an opinion or position on the subject of ASD/ADD comorbidity?