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Is ADHD really tied to switching hobbies and jobs frequently? I suffer from this too, but I always thought ADHD was the inability to focus in the short term. I

Is ADHD really tied to switching hobbies and jobs frequently? I suffer from this too, but I always thought ADHD was the inability to focus in the short term. I can have great focus on daily tasks if I’m interested in them, but my problem is I lose the interest so frequently that I can’t seem to make the leap beyond intermediate competency in a hobby or career direction.

thenaturalist 4y ago
Yes. What you describe in an ADHD context might be called "hyperfocus": It's a period of intense focus which you are able to maintain and enjoy cause it stimulates your brain. But, critically, you are not able to maintain this hyperfocus for longer periods on a single topic as the stimulus of novelty flattens out and you become bored and understimulated and this quickly leads to procastination or switching to something new.
- conception 4y ago
  What it’s the period when it becomes a disease as what you describe is basically how humans generally work?
  - thenaturalist 4y ago
    This pattern alone is absolutely not enough to suspect it's ADHD. Several other factors need to be present. In general during diagnosis (I can attest to Germany), it must be credibly shown that multiple symptopms have been present both during child as well as adult age. Typical patterns are several aborted apprenticeships or studies, inability to hold steady employment over several years, problems with romantic relationships or long lasting friendships.
  - RHSman2 4y ago
    It’s not a disease. It is the way some people are wired. Just like some people are really boring
    - badpun 4y ago
      That's my hunch as well. In another society, peoeple "with ADHD" would actually be deemed normal and well-adjusted, while drones who want to go to the same job for 40 years would be medicated. It just happens, that in civilized societies, specialization and consistency give huge payoffs, so we medicate people who can't naturally do that.
    - conception 4y ago
      Well that doesn’t seem to describe a disorder (the word i meant to use)
  - grepLeigh 4y ago
    At this point (2022), we know ADHD has a genetic component. The "Hunter versus farmer hypothesis" is the most prevalent anthropological hypothesis (non-medical) about the historical positive/negative selection pressures for ADHD traits. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_versus_farmer_hypothesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_versus_farmer_hypothesi... The tl;dr is that we think ADHD traits had positive selection pressure for 90% of human history, which is why ADHD is so common. ADHD is actually believed to be dramatically under-diagnosed in certain population slices, like adult women, because the diagnostic criteria was developed based on predominantly male/child subjects. In the context of scouting for a nomadic hunter-gatherer tribe, ADHD traits seem like a gift. In the context of modern American society, ADHD traits can lead to strong negative experiences spanning education, career, and relationships. In some contexts (like entrepreneurship), ADHD traits can still be a gift - but I'd hazard a guess that percentage-wise, a larger % of the ADHD population winds up in prison vs. becoming an entrepreneur. Similar to autism, ADHD is a spectrum neurological disorder. "Disease" is the wrong term to use; "disorder" is the correct medical term. ADHD traits become a disorder they have a negative impact on development (childhood) or negative impact on well-being as an adult.
- herdyderdy 4y ago
  So you are on stimulants now that seem to help with your long term focus? Is there a concern of tolerance and dependency, like coffee/caffeine, where you'll have to keep upping the dose to get the benefit? Sorry if I'm being nosy but this is rather eye-opening to me and makes me think it might be worth speaking to my doc about this.
  - tylermac1 4y ago
    I'm recently diagnosed with ADHD-like symptoms and started on a low dose of Focalin about a month ago. I can say for short-term focus and motivation it's been life-changing. I would frequently flip-flop between getting sucked into rabbit-holes and having too many things going on at once. I now find that I can focus on tasks much better throughout the work day. My quality of work has improved as I've been able to better focus my time on what matter. My doc has warned that over time I likely will need dosage increases, but for now it's been a wonderful experience with very few side effects (headaches the first day or two).
  - hirvi74 4y ago
    I apologize if my response is kind of all over the place. I am somewhat of rush this morning, but I wanted to throw my hat into the ring. To contrast the other user who replied, I have been on stimulants for 8 years now. I will say that there is a very notable drop in efficacy. Not enough to justify stopping them all together, but I'd say I get about 50% of the benefit on my best days. I would consider my current experiences much like that of caffeine. It worked amazingly in the beginning, but now I feel like they are necessary to achieve a baseline sense of normalcy. I could raise the dosage, I suppose, but I do not want to go down that path again because it is just a temporary fix. Honestly, taking time off stimulants has been more effective than increasing dosages. Most people can stop stimulants with little to no issues, but since I have adapted to them over the years, the withdrawals are pretty fucking uncomfortable and debilitating. Though, according to my medical professional of questionable quality, my experiences are still unusual. Still, I try to take weekends off, and it's been helpful none the less. Going forward, I am thinking of switching to a non-stimulant, which may be an option for you as well if you are indeed ADHD. Despite how ever effective stimulants may be, I believe I am starting to lose more from them than I am gaining from them. At least where I live, the constant drug-testing and various laws surrounding controlled-substances makes stimulants almost not worth it. The medications can be life-changing, but in the ADHD community, it's well known that there is a honeymoon phase (it's not uncommon to experience stimulant-induced euphoria), thus the real judge of how effective they are should be determined once that period is over. However, not everyone gets that honeymoon period, but I sure did for a few weeks. If I must be entirely honest, I think that the medications do help, but I never have thought they helped enough. They make life easier, but not easy, and that is something I think I have really struggled to come to terms with. I went in with expectations of a silver-bullet, but left with a tool. My fair warning would be to be careful what you read about ADHD medications online. One other point that I feel I should warn others about -- something no one ever told me -- is to not let meds give you enough rope to hang yourself. What I mean is: I built a career and a life while having access to these medications. Recently, there has been a nationwide shortage in my area. Every pharmacy was out of stock -- literally none in my area had anything. Zero. Nada. I was working on a big project at work, and basically had to put the entire thing on hold for three weeks because once I ran out -- I was flat useless. I couldn't believe how much I depended on them to do my work. It caused me a lot of stress and anxiety realizing that I am basically living a variant of the plot of "Flowers for Algernon" and that without these medications, I seriously do not think I could maintain the life I was able to build on them. I am not trying to scare you away, but I feel like it would be dishonest to not include both the good and the bad. If you have anymore questions, I'd be more than glad to try to answer them.
grepLeigh 4y ago
ADHD is the inability to regulate attention. There are a couple ways this presents: 1) Hyperfocus for hours at a time, often forgetting about physical needs like food/drink/bathroom. 2) Extreme trouble getting started on a task (inability to overcome inertia) and constant distraction once started. 3) Switching hobbies, jobs, roles, spouses, etc because the initial stimulation of something new is more rewarding than old interests. ADHD's symptoms are caused by a deficiency in reward dopamine systems. The "craving" for dopamine is stronger in ADHD brains, which is why impulsive/risky behaviors are common in people with ADHD. Talk to a medical professional if that resonates. Therapy is also helpful, since the behaviors associated with ADHD can lead to built-up shame / self-doubt. Medication helps (for me, it was like putting on glasses for the first time), but re-modeling behavior and self-image were equally important for me.
- bradlys 4y ago
  The first two sound like ADHD but the third doesn’t at all. That sounds like most people in the world. Everyone complains of the mundane, the same things, day in day out. We don’t hear “I love how nothing has ever changed in my life”. I’ve yet to hear someone describe ADHD in the third way and this thread is the only time I’ve seen folks ever mention it.
  - zenbryo 4y ago
    The first to points are the physiological symptoms, and the third described is one of the effects for most people with ADD/ADHD. Unfinished projects and a chaotic worklife that also can result in criminal activities, drug abuse etc. But it can also lead to succesful entrepreneurship and other positive effects in the long haul.
  - Jensson 4y ago
    ADHD makes it more painful to try to focus on boring things, so even if everyone finds work boring after a while it is worse for those with ADHD.
    - alfnor 4y ago

thenaturalist 4y ago

Yes. What you describe in an ADHD context might be called "hyperfocus": It's a period of intense focus which you are able to maintain and enjoy cause it stimulates your brain. But, critically, you are not able to maintain this hyperfocus for longer periods on a single topic as the stimulus of novelty flattens out and you become bored and understimulated and this quickly leads to procastination or switching to something new.

conception 4y ago
What it’s the period when it becomes a disease as what you describe is basically how humans generally work?
- thenaturalist 4y ago
  This pattern alone is absolutely not enough to suspect it's ADHD. Several other factors need to be present. In general during diagnosis (I can attest to Germany), it must be credibly shown that multiple symptopms have been present both during child as well as adult age. Typical patterns are several aborted apprenticeships or studies, inability to hold steady employment over several years, problems with romantic relationships or long lasting friendships.
- RHSman2 4y ago
  It’s not a disease. It is the way some people are wired. Just like some people are really boring
  - badpun 4y ago
    That's my hunch as well. In another society, peoeple "with ADHD" would actually be deemed normal and well-adjusted, while drones who want to go to the same job for 40 years would be medicated. It just happens, that in civilized societies, specialization and consistency give huge payoffs, so we medicate people who can't naturally do that.
  - conception 4y ago
    Well that doesn’t seem to describe a disorder (the word i meant to use)
- grepLeigh 4y ago
  At this point (2022), we know ADHD has a genetic component. The "Hunter versus farmer hypothesis" is the most prevalent anthropological hypothesis (non-medical) about the historical positive/negative selection pressures for ADHD traits. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_versus_farmer_hypothesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_versus_farmer_hypothesi... The tl;dr is that we think ADHD traits had positive selection pressure for 90% of human history, which is why ADHD is so common. ADHD is actually believed to be dramatically under-diagnosed in certain population slices, like adult women, because the diagnostic criteria was developed based on predominantly male/child subjects. In the context of scouting for a nomadic hunter-gatherer tribe, ADHD traits seem like a gift. In the context of modern American society, ADHD traits can lead to strong negative experiences spanning education, career, and relationships. In some contexts (like entrepreneurship), ADHD traits can still be a gift - but I'd hazard a guess that percentage-wise, a larger % of the ADHD population winds up in prison vs. becoming an entrepreneur. Similar to autism, ADHD is a spectrum neurological disorder. "Disease" is the wrong term to use; "disorder" is the correct medical term. ADHD traits become a disorder they have a negative impact on development (childhood) or negative impact on well-being as an adult.
herdyderdy 4y ago
So you are on stimulants now that seem to help with your long term focus? Is there a concern of tolerance and dependency, like coffee/caffeine, where you'll have to keep upping the dose to get the benefit? Sorry if I'm being nosy but this is rather eye-opening to me and makes me think it might be worth speaking to my doc about this.
- tylermac1 4y ago
  I'm recently diagnosed with ADHD-like symptoms and started on a low dose of Focalin about a month ago. I can say for short-term focus and motivation it's been life-changing. I would frequently flip-flop between getting sucked into rabbit-holes and having too many things going on at once. I now find that I can focus on tasks much better throughout the work day. My quality of work has improved as I've been able to better focus my time on what matter. My doc has warned that over time I likely will need dosage increases, but for now it's been a wonderful experience with very few side effects (headaches the first day or two).
- hirvi74 4y ago
  I apologize if my response is kind of all over the place. I am somewhat of rush this morning, but I wanted to throw my hat into the ring. To contrast the other user who replied, I have been on stimulants for 8 years now. I will say that there is a very notable drop in efficacy. Not enough to justify stopping them all together, but I'd say I get about 50% of the benefit on my best days. I would consider my current experiences much like that of caffeine. It worked amazingly in the beginning, but now I feel like they are necessary to achieve a baseline sense of normalcy. I could raise the dosage, I suppose, but I do not want to go down that path again because it is just a temporary fix. Honestly, taking time off stimulants has been more effective than increasing dosages. Most people can stop stimulants with little to no issues, but since I have adapted to them over the years, the withdrawals are pretty fucking uncomfortable and debilitating. Though, according to my medical professional of questionable quality, my experiences are still unusual. Still, I try to take weekends off, and it's been helpful none the less. Going forward, I am thinking of switching to a non-stimulant, which may be an option for you as well if you are indeed ADHD. Despite how ever effective stimulants may be, I believe I am starting to lose more from them than I am gaining from them. At least where I live, the constant drug-testing and various laws surrounding controlled-substances makes stimulants almost not worth it. The medications can be life-changing, but in the ADHD community, it's well known that there is a honeymoon phase (it's not uncommon to experience stimulant-induced euphoria), thus the real judge of how effective they are should be determined once that period is over. However, not everyone gets that honeymoon period, but I sure did for a few weeks. If I must be entirely honest, I think that the medications do help, but I never have thought they helped enough. They make life easier, but not easy, and that is something I think I have really struggled to come to terms with. I went in with expectations of a silver-bullet, but left with a tool. My fair warning would be to be careful what you read about ADHD medications online. One other point that I feel I should warn others about -- something no one ever told me -- is to not let meds give you enough rope to hang yourself. What I mean is: I built a career and a life while having access to these medications. Recently, there has been a nationwide shortage in my area. Every pharmacy was out of stock -- literally none in my area had anything. Zero. Nada. I was working on a big project at work, and basically had to put the entire thing on hold for three weeks because once I ran out -- I was flat useless. I couldn't believe how much I depended on them to do my work. It caused me a lot of stress and anxiety realizing that I am basically living a variant of the plot of "Flowers for Algernon" and that without these medications, I seriously do not think I could maintain the life I was able to build on them. I am not trying to scare you away, but I feel like it would be dishonest to not include both the good and the bad. If you have anymore questions, I'd be more than glad to try to answer them.

grepLeigh 4y ago

ADHD is the inability to regulate attention. There are a couple ways this presents: 1) Hyperfocus for hours at a time, often forgetting about physical needs like food/drink/bathroom. 2) Extreme trouble getting started on a task (inability to overcome inertia) and constant distraction once started. 3) Switching hobbies, jobs, roles, spouses, etc because the initial stimulation of something new is more rewarding than old interests. ADHD's symptoms are caused by a deficiency in reward dopamine systems. The "craving" for dopamine is stronger in ADHD brains, which is why impulsive/risky behaviors are common in people with ADHD. Talk to a medical professional if that resonates. Therapy is also helpful, since the behaviors associated with ADHD can lead to built-up shame / self-doubt. Medication helps (for me, it was like putting on glasses for the first time), but re-modeling behavior and self-image were equally important for me.

bradlys 4y ago
The first two sound like ADHD but the third doesn’t at all. That sounds like most people in the world. Everyone complains of the mundane, the same things, day in day out. We don’t hear “I love how nothing has ever changed in my life”. I’ve yet to hear someone describe ADHD in the third way and this thread is the only time I’ve seen folks ever mention it.
- zenbryo 4y ago
  The first to points are the physiological symptoms, and the third described is one of the effects for most people with ADD/ADHD. Unfinished projects and a chaotic worklife that also can result in criminal activities, drug abuse etc. But it can also lead to succesful entrepreneurship and other positive effects in the long haul.
- Jensson 4y ago
  ADHD makes it more painful to try to focus on boring things, so even if everyone finds work boring after a while it is worse for those with ADHD.
  - alfnor 4y ago