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It's tricky. I have a colleague that I'm pretty sure has a condition on the ADHD spectrum. He's spread very thin between many tasks, gets very excited about new

It's tricky. I have a colleague that I'm pretty sure has a condition on the ADHD spectrum. He's spread very thin between many tasks, gets very excited about new projects, but often leaves tasks unfinished. He's older, very eager but disorganized. I've been kind of wanting to ask him if he's been diagnosed, not to push medication on him, but just to say "hey, you know, there are management tools that maybe could help you, like todo lists, etc." But I'm too afraid that he would be upset, or even that my manager or HR might come after me for saying something that's considered insulting, for labeling someone. I think I have some kind of "condition" too. I have a mood disorder of some kind. I can get very depressed from time to time, and it has no obvious connection to real-life events. It just comes and goes. It's just never been severe enough to really justify taking medication that comes with huge side-effects, so I cope as best as I can. Ultimately, I hope that if I ever got really depressed, the company I work for would show understanding and support. But I also think what we really need is more science. We need a much deeper understanding of the brain. Some conditions are clearly genetic, not explainable by past trauma. I don't want depressive tendencies to be celebrated, I want to understand exactly what causes them, so we can help people like me and many generations to come.

AuryGlenz 5y ago
I have a friend that (I’m 99% certain) has undiagnosed ADD. He’s basically a textbook case, he’s been in college since 2006 and still doesn’t have his bachelor’s despite being fairly intelligent. If your experience is like mine you’ll explain it to him, he’ll think it’s a good theory, and then due to his ADD he’ll never actually get around to going to a doctor about it. It’s frustrating because his life could be so much better. He had to feel like a failure, and to lose years of your life to something “fixable” is rough.
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stronglikedan 5y ago
I'm sure I'm not the only one reading this and thinking you may be one of my colleagues describing me! Even self awareness doesn't always help. I know those management tools could help me greatly, but it still requires an immense amount of mental energy to even focus on using the tools. E.g., I have reminder notifications that remind me to check my reminders periodically throughout the day. That said, I do try, and thankfully, I'm one of those that does get by.
Firadeoclus 5y ago
Depression is tough, and yes, a deeper understanding would really be great. There's something I'm curious about with your colleague: You already know he is disorganised in the specific ways you observe. So telling him what you see, asking him whether he would welcome some help with that, and providing your suggestions if he says yes, seems a good way to support him independent of a medical diagnosis. How do you see the label/diagnosis helping you?

AuryGlenz 5y ago

I have a friend that (I’m 99% certain) has undiagnosed ADD. He’s basically a textbook case, he’s been in college since 2006 and still doesn’t have his bachelor’s despite being fairly intelligent. If your experience is like mine you’ll explain it to him, he’ll think it’s a good theory, and then due to his ADD he’ll never actually get around to going to a doctor about it. It’s frustrating because his life could be so much better. He had to feel like a failure, and to lose years of your life to something “fixable” is rough.

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stronglikedan 5y ago

I'm sure I'm not the only one reading this and thinking you may be one of my colleagues describing me! Even self awareness doesn't always help. I know those management tools could help me greatly, but it still requires an immense amount of mental energy to even focus on using the tools. E.g., I have reminder notifications that remind me to check my reminders periodically throughout the day. That said, I do try, and thankfully, I'm one of those that does get by.

Firadeoclus 5y ago

Depression is tough, and yes, a deeper understanding would really be great. There's something I'm curious about with your colleague: You already know he is disorganised in the specific ways you observe. So telling him what you see, asking him whether he would welcome some help with that, and providing your suggestions if he says yes, seems a good way to support him independent of a medical diagnosis. How do you see the label/diagnosis helping you?