One day I hope I can meet
a handsome man who can sit
still follow the rules and
complete tasks in a
consecutive order said no
interesting woman ever.
Hey Dan here and this is
video two in my series on
Adult ADHD just so you
know in the description,
we're going to include all
the videos in the series.
So if by chance like to
jump around if by chance
you don't like doing
things in order, feel free
to go to Video four, then
back to video three, then
the video six whatever
works for you. I'm
presenting them in the
most logical order in my
head. But hey, our heads
are probably all a little
different and a little
wacky. So look in the
description there and jump
around as you'd like. The
point of this video is to
help you figure out if you
have adult ADHD and if you
do have adult ADHD or you
think you do, how to go
about getting a diagnosis,
including some tips on
finding a doctor that will
actually support you in
finding that out. So my
degrees in psychology and
one of the Interesting
things with psychology and
psychological diagnosis is
that it's always nuanced.
There's a spectrum we are
all sometimes a little bit
bipolar or a little bit
ADHD if one of the traits
of ADHD which it is is
trouble focusing
attention, trouble
controlling attention, we
all have that sometimes
some people have mood
swings, you know a little
bit from day to day. Some
people have larger swings,
some people have enough
that they could be
diagnosed as bipolar now
I'm really simplifying
things but it's important
to understand this that
diagnosing something to do
with our psychology is not
as simple as being like
you're tall, you're
skinny, you're fat, you
know, it's the can X ray
necessarily. Now there are
advances in using brain
scans to diagnose ADHD
which is awesome that we
are getting there but it's
something to know that it
is nuanced. And at least
in theory, part of the
diagnostic criteria in
psychology is looking at
does this thing happen?
have a negative impact on
your life. So for
instance, if you go see a
psychologist, and you list
five or six symptoms of a
condition, and they're
like, how's your life and
you say, it's awesome is
great, I have a wonderful
job, things are great at
home, I love my family,
I'm healthy, you're
probably not going to get
diagnosed. It part of the
criteria, it's a little
weird, but part of the
criteria is basically that
this is having an adverse
effect on your life. And
this is probably going to
change moving forward as
psychology opens up more
to positive psychology and
a holistic view of people.
But traditionally, this is
how psychology looked at
people, right. And this
probably plays a role in
how ADHD is massively over
diagnosed. In some places,
cultures like America,
which require people to
work really long hours,
and it's all about how
much you can do how much
you can do tend to
diagnose that a lot more
because probably people
who have ADHD or maybe
even don't, but just can't
keep up with some
ridiculous workload. Their
doctor is more likely to
say hey, you're obviously
stupid. glean in life
where someone may be
living over in Spain, like
where I'm filming this
video, maybe they have
ADHD, and they do
struggle, but they're able
to find a balance, they
have more family support,
they have more time with
friends, which by the way
is one of the important
lifestyle changes to do to
be successful with ADHD is
to spend more time with
friends and with people
who love you and people
who you love. So maybe
someone who's living in a
place like Spain and has
more of that positive
interaction with people
and a smaller workload
ends up not being
diagnosed because even
though they have the same
issues with attention,
when they go see a
psychiatrist, they're
like, Yeah, well, you seem
fine. Your life is
functioning. All right?
You don't have ADHD. Apart
from that you're going to
see big differences in
countries, right? Some
countries like America are
very pro drugs. So if you
go to a doctor, they're
like, Hey, take these
pills. Other countries are
very pro lifestyle
changes. One of the great
things about ADHD and
you're going to see this
in the video where I go
through all the ways to
really be at your best if
you do have ADHD is there
are a ton of things you
can do, yes, prescription
drugs. But also you can
make a ton of lifestyle
changes, and a ton of life
design changes that can
have as significant or
more significant of an
impact as medication can
as well. And what's really
cool is, in my experience,
at least when you treat
some of the more negative
symptoms, when you follow
some of these lifestyle
changes, or even if you
take medication, you
usually eliminate or
reduce some of the
negative symptoms of ADHD,
but you keep the positive,
which is really cool. So
you don't lose your
spontaneity, your
creativity or things like
that, if you're treating
it properly. I'm not
saying take 8 million
pills a day, but if you're
treating it properly, you
actually keep all the good
traits and reduce or
eliminate the bad which is
really awesome. So here
are some traits correlated
to ADHD. One is you
thrive,
probably do your best work
at a deadline and if there
is no kind of deadline or
no kind of pressure, you
feel it's very difficult
to get things done at
least at the same rate you
otherwise could you love
to improvise you do things
unscripted, you would much
rather jump into a
situation and find a
solution. Then follow step
by step instructions. You
love to stay busy and move
forward and get things
done. Ultimately, you're
not someone who loves to
sit still. If you're out
for dinner, and you're
finished your food, you're
the person saying, Hey,
bring me the bill. We're
ready to go. Let's go to
the next bar. Let's have
some fun. We don't want to
sit here and chitchat when
we could be doing more
things. Now that leads me
to another ADHD trait
which can be impatient and
getting frustrated easily
including trouble sitting
still and getting
frustrated if things
aren't moving along as
well. We can often have
trouble multitasking and
switching focus. So
there's an interesting
ADHD trait which often
leads to people being
confused and thinking they
don't have ADHD, which is
called hyper focus, which
is when you really get
into something and you can
focus for hours now when
you don't really
understand what ADHD is
you think well I can sit
for hours and focus and
get things done sometimes.
So there's no way I could
have ADHD that's when you
can't focus, right? No. So
what ADHD generally is is
an inability to control
your focus and to switch
focus basically on
command. And yes, other
people can apparently do
it. I don't know how they
do it, but apparently they
can't. And so what that
can be is often people
with ADHD get into hyper
focus, like I can sit and
write for hours, I put on
big headphones. I like
trance music personally,
and I can really get into
things and focus for long
periods. But if someone
comes and tries to
interrupt me during that
time, like I'm like a
vicious lizard that's been
poked from behind or an
alligator or something
like turning around and
yelling at them, because
it's really hard to get
out of that focus
basically, and this is a
really common thing this
way. I say ADHD people we
tend to have trouble
multitasking switching
going back and forth all
the time. When we are into
something we like to stay
in something and not
jumping around a bunch.
Now ultimately, no one is
really great at
multitasking. It's not the
way to get things done and
really be productive, but
it's especially a no no
for us. And as you
probably know, you find it
very frustrating when
people try to interrupt
you when you're in the
middle of something. Now
ultimately you're going to
want to see a doctor to
get properly diagnosed.
And I'll share some advice
a bit later in the video
about the type of doctors
to see because this is
really, really important,
but there are a few things
I want to share beforehand
versus that as children I
know we're talking about
adult ADHD here, but this
affects whether or not
we've been diagnosed as
kids as children, boys are
three to four times more
likely to be diagnosed
with ADHD than girls but
actually boys and girls
are just as likely to have
that means that sometimes
boys are over diagnosed
and often girls are under
diagnosed because of this
girls are three times more
likely than boys to be
diagnosed with depression,
when in fact what they
really have is ADHD. And
this brings me to another
important point ADHD is
very, very, very often
missed, and something else
has died. noticed instead
this can be depression.
This can be low self
esteem issues. This can be
anxiety. In many cases,
the underlying condition
is actually ADHD and ADHD
causes behavior which can
lead to more anxiety. It
could lead to trouble with
school or with finances
with your job, which can
lead to self esteem issues
or lead to depression. And
the wrong doctor will
diagnose the simple
condition they'll see
they'll be like, Oh,
you're feeling depressed,
you must have depression
and not go deeper to see
that actually, the
condition is ADHD. And
when you treat the ADHD,
everything else goes away.
This is really common and
this is why it's really
important to see the right
kind of doctor now
Ideally, you want to find
an ADHD specialist. These
are going to be the
doctors who will properly
understand the condition
condition which is now one
of the most commonly
studied conditions, but
for many, many decades was
very understudied, and
there was very little
information for doctors on
it. So you want to try to
find a specialist. If You
can there's often large
waiting lists. If so get
on the waiting list wait
it out it will be worth it
if there isn't an ADHD
specialist in your area
look first like Hyatt
tourist who specializes in
children. I know this is
adult ADHD we're talking
about but generally a
psychiatrist who
specializes in children
will have a lot more
experience with ADHD. And
they'll be able to
diagnose it even in an
adult as well. Now I
should mention just
because you've had ADHD as
a child does not mean you
will have it into
adulthood a certain
amount. I haven't actually
looked up this exact
number for this video, but
I remember it was about
50% of people basically
outgrow ADHD. And a lot of
people don't know one last
thing, just a word of
caution. When you talk to
friends or family about
ADHD, you're very likely
to hear a lot of BS,
you'll hear things about
how you just need to focus
or how Yeah, everyone has
ADHD or whatever else and
when I hear this, now that
I'm really educated on the
subject itself The same to
me is when people tell me
about how vaccines are
grand conspiracy or that
fluoride is put in the
water as some way to
poison all the people like
yes, it's a conspiracy of
fluoride to put the
dentist out of business
Come on people, people who
actually have ADHD, they
have a different wiring in
their brain. And there are
lots of ways that shows
up. And I'll give you two
examples. Now I'm not a
doctor, and I'm not
diagnosing anyone here.
This is not medical
advice. But these are two
situations where people
with ADHD react very
differently than people
without ADHD. The first is
work environment.
Generally people with ADHD
do really well in busy
environments. I can take
my laptop, sit down in a
busy bar with the middle
of a football game going
on, put on my headphones
and I can work and I will
work better there than if
I'm sitting in a library
generally a little chaos a
little movement helps
people with ADHD actually
relax, focus and think the
extreme cases is their
stories of people with
ADHD. Go and drive you
know 150 miles an hour,
just so they can slow
their brain down and
actually think the second
is the reaction to
medication. No,
unfortunately, especially
in the drug capital of the
world America, ADHD
medications are often
abused by students just
trying to get the best
grades and push themselves
to stupid limits in a
ridiculously competitive
academic environment. We
don't have to get into
that Dewey. But when these
students who don't have
ADHD, take the medications
for ADHD, the stimulant
one specifically they're
basically treating it like
speed so they get more
energy, they think faster,
they probably get a lot of
anxiety from it, they're
probably get more nerves
from it and that and it
allows them basically to
not sleep and just work
like crazy when people who
actually have ADHD take
stimulants, it actually
slows our mind down. What
it does is it stimulates
our prefrontal cortex,
which allows us actually
to slow down our thinking
and relax. So in many
cases, we actually feel
calmer and less anxious
with medication. Even
though in normal people, a
lot of these medications
cause more stimulation and
more anxiety because they
are a stimulant that is a
complete difference in how
we are wired. So when you
hear people say things
like, Oh yeah, I get that
way sometimes like yes, we
all do. I was explaining
this earlier in the video.
Anything to do with our
psychology is very
nuanced. And there are
certain things if you pump
someone full of sugar and
deprive them asleep, they
will definitely act like
someone with ADHD they
will have trouble focusing
and all that, but that
does not mean they have
ADHD.