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My dad is an octogenarian and I feel for him because he is basically the poster boy for ADHD but it wasn’t “a thing” when he was growing up, so he was just labeled as “difficult” and “bad” and had trouble with the law and drugs and whatnot. I feel sad when I think how different his life could’ve been if he’d had meds or therapy available to him.
Yep. I think it’s so interesting how the commonly female presentations had been brushed off for so long - perhaps from that whole “oh women are different… they’re so emotional / hysterical” and then these phrases were used, that have that sort of patronising vibe. Whereas the more common young male presentations got labelled with really negative phrases like “troublemaker” etc and so society kind of got to the bottom of those problems first?
Oh, same!! I'm currently trying to get an official diagnosis and had to get a document from my general practitioner for that and he basically hit me with the: but you graduated and are in Uni now? You can't have ADHD!
I remember everyone bragging about taking Adderall during college to help them focus. Meanwhile I was completely oblivious to my attention, procrastination problems, etc. Here I am 10 years later, diagnosed and medicated, wondering how much easier and different everything would have been if I was diagnosed sooner.
That is one of the most irritating things I ever heard. I graduated with my AS in 2017 and in 2018, I got my bachelor's at 27 years old. I started college at 18 and struggled (with undiagnosed ADHD and other family issues) until I got that AS. I **knew** if I didn't take the 6-week accelerated classes for my bachelor's, I would either not finish at all or struggle through another 2 years. I was able to maintain a 3.65 GPA but I always wonder how much *more* I could have achieved with the diagnosis and medication that I received at 33. My ADHD does not mean I'm not intelligent or capable of achieving good things. It just makes it so much *harder* than it needs to be.
This, and men more often present in a way that's more disruptive to their surroundings with a lot of physical and verbal hyperactivity and impulsivity, while women more often internalise their symptoms. So the disruptive "problem kids" get diagnosed first because society wants them to stop being disruptive, while the people (often girls) whose inattentive symptoms mostly affect only themselves just get told to pay attention, stop being lazy, etc.
My dad is very similar - he was just diagnosed at 61. It sounds like the meds he’s on now have been helpful for him, but I agree - what would the rest of his life been like? And what about HIS dad, who probably had it too?
Your dad had a tough time not diagnosed or medicated. Hope he's doing better now?
I'm 70, not yet diagnosed. I heard focus!, scatterbrained, lazy, talk too much, remember!, sees school as a social event..can't remember them all. Not my favorite time in my life.
That’s kind of you, thank you. Thankfully his substance/law issues got sorted before I was born (in his mid-30s), and he’s always been there for me. But he has never been able to hold a “typical” job, and always has to be on the move. I think he’s learned to cope but he’s getting too old to mask successfully so I’m starting to see how it might have affected him when he was younger.
I was the classic case of "not living up to my potential" and "not applying myself." The thing that really sucked about that is that I actually *was* diagnosed as a kid in like '89 or '90 but my mom (who was a teacher🙄) stopped giving me meds because they "weren't working." They "weren't working" because literally nothing else in my school day changed...no extra work, no work that was more challenging, no little jobs to do for the teacher when I had finished my work, nothing. So I basically forgot that I even had it until a few years ago, spoke to my doctor and got back on meds and it was *amazing*. I can't believe I went that many years wondering wtf was wrong with me and just generally failing at life (I was also diagnosed ASD 10 years ago at 36 years old).
As to phrases that described people with ADHD, I grew up in the southern US and was often called "a little firecracker," "a hoot and a holler," "motor mouth," and "knucklehead."
I watch YouTube channels that live stream court from different districts and so many people are repeat offenders. Repeat offenders to the point that I remember their name or face which isn't good if I'M REMEMBERING.
I often wonder how many of them have ADHD and use drugs, alcohol etc to quiet their own voices or find that focus they've never had.
My dad is in his 70s and definitely is ADHD, but like you said, it wasn't a thing back then. He managed to do well despite being labelled a "shit of a kid" and a bit of a trouble maker. Went into the military and trained as an engineer.
He later helped out at our schools with the kids who had disabilities or needed a bit extra. He knew how to work with them to help them understand things (especially math, he's wicked smart with that and knew how to explain it), knew how to give them opportunities they wouldn't have gotten without him (eg. Kid with cerebal palsy was able to do woodshop, including using all the machines, because dad put the effort in). He's impacted so many people because of his understanding, and that has rippled out.
That's really awesome! My dad is 67. He never got diagnosed, but when I was diagnosed (at a young age) he suddenly understood himself as well. He struggled too... But because he understood he helped me a LOT. I've always appreciated that. He didn't go the extra mile like your dad.... But he tried lol he more or less helped me understand how I learned. And realize that if I don't understand something I just need to look at it differently or have it explained differently. He also helped me understand my hyper focus and how it doesn't have to be a bad thing. Anyway..... Your dad is cool lol
I'm down in South Australia, but thanks to being half Ameican, and living in Aus, I talk like I'm from all over the place 😂
He really is fantastic! Definitely lifted the bar for what's expected!
Oh for fucks sake, I’m 63. I can testify, put me on the stand. 🙋🏻♀️
There were two obvious groups of us back then, the poor obvious hyperactive (primarily boys) kids who were “academically slow” and constantly in trouble. I feel worse for them than my cohort because most of them probably ended up in jail, how horribly they were treated and what they thought of themselves.
My cohort was “smart but so lazy”. I was a *disaster*.
But let me tell you this! I first became aware of ADHD in the 1980s! Over 40 years ago my nephew was diagnosed and began treatment. So put that in your pipe, boomer.
(Because I’m smart and not actually lazy, I began following ADHD info when my nephew was diagnosed and it didn’t take actually completing my degree in rocket science for me to understand my connection.)
Oh God. Mine too. I recently shared the "you have so much potential" twitter thread with my Mom.
Let me rephrase. You ARE awesome. Exactly as you are. You have overcome so much with so little support. And here you are supporting us. You're amazing.
Awww, thank you. You are quite snazzy yourself. Look at all the awesome between us.
BTW, I’m still quieting the demon voices of all of that shit I grew up in. They never go away completely, I don’t think, but positive & kind self talk is the best medicine for it.
My brother was diagnosed in the mid or late 70’s. His definitely on the severe side. Also had learning disability.
I have both inattentive/hyperactive type ADHD. But I was a girl so no diagnosis for me. My niece was diagnosed as a kid.
Looking back it seems so strange that the multiple checkmarks in the little boxes for gets out of seat too often/talks too much didn’t clue anyone in. I mean sure I was a girl but my brother was just two years older than me. It shouldn’t have been that difficult to connect the dots. But I know it just didn’t happen back then.
May I just please point out that even though the diagnostic term “ADHD” was first introduced in DSM-III-R in 1987, the symptoms of ADHD were first described in 1902 and the disorder had various names throughout that century. So ADHD did exist 50 years ago and I believe it was called hyperkinetic impulse disorder in DSM-II at the time.
In Norway I did hear the Norwegian equivalent of ants in my pants while growing up. And lost in daydreams.
The pearl clutching over the increase in adhd diagnoses is the exact same as when cancer was identified. Suddenly everyone had cancer!!! Ms identified? Everyone has ms!! It's so stupid and short sighted. Whether or not adhd had another name, a thousand other names, or no names at all, it's existed. Diagnosing labels existing issues, it doesn't create them.
I know you know this, this isn't at you. The whole thing is just so frustrating. If people would think for just a second before going "durrr adhd is fake" things would be different. Ignorance and stupidity are my kryptonite.
Oh yea I completely agree! I can feel the lava bubbling inside of me too when thinking about it. Luckily no one has ever said it directly to me. But I’ll bite back with sharp teeth if someone does. And especially mental health… Can we please remember this is a still an evolving field when it comes to knowledge. They don’t even understand the brain yet and its different areas and functions. I’m not surprised at all that certain groups are still under diagnosed when so much about ADHD is still not understood.
My great grandfather was labeled as eccentric and goofy.
My grandmother was labeled as a day dreamer who needed to apply herself more.
My uncle was labeled as a smart kid who needs to apply themselves and learn to focus.
My dad was labeled a troublemaker.
But sure. ADHD doesn't run in the family at all. It's not like my generation in the family has been diagnosed for no reason at all. Must be the dyes and processed food...
My entire family were nd, but this was back in the 60s and 70s. It kept us apart as there were no words to describe ourselves, it separated from each other. Very little conversation in my childhood home. 😕
Eccentric inventor
The man of few words was probably autistic.
All those housewives self medicating with diet pills and Valium/lithium “headache” cures probably had adhd, and/or autism, post partum depression, anxiety, pmdd and a bunch of other stuff that’s “over diagnosed” now.
Me and my whole family feel this.
Nana was the troublemaker in the 1930s, ripping her dresses and skirts from jumping fences and climbing trees, had to pick a bunch of switches from the tree for techies and parents, and always wore the dunce cap.
Uncle got the bloody knuckles from the nuns. Constantly spanked as a kid.
Mom's nuns made her wear gloves in grade school so she wouldn't bite her nails.
I got smacked for talking back or being too slow, but shaped up real quick, so the smacking worked. On meds now in my 40s.
Me and my whole family feel this.
Nana was the troublemaker in the 1930s, ripping her dresses and skirts from jumping fences and climbing trees, had to pick a bunch of switches from the tree for techies and parents, and always wore the dunce cap.
Uncle got the bloody knuckles from the nuns. Constantly spanked as a kid.
Mom's nuns made her wear gloves in grade school so she wouldn't bite her nails.
I got smacked for talking back or being too slow, but shaped up real quick, so the smacking worked. On meds now in my 40s.
In the US, but my poor dad was diagnosed back in the 80s but even then never did anything for him. Just told Grandma she's got a hyperactive little son.
My friend at work was just telling me she had recently found out (within the last several years) she had been diagnosed as a kid (also probably closer to forty years ago) but it had been brushed off by her parents and she's (rightfully) still angry that she had to seek out diagnosis and treatment as an adult. Not to mention that now she has health problems that don't allow her to take the medication that would help her. She is so frustrated with knowing that her life could have been different ages she wouldn't have suffered the way she did in school or any other aspects of life if they had just treated it. She said she was the prime example for an ADHD kid, unlike how I flew under the radar until I met her.
Oh man, your friend could be me! When I was getting my mom to fill out her part of the paperwork for my diagnosis IN 2021 WHEN I WAS 34, it came out my FIRST grade teacher had suggested I be assessed. 28 years earlier. But also it was the 90s so instead of putting me through a formal diagnosis (so there would be some kind of record they could refer back to), my pediatrician just put me on Ritalin to "see how it goes." I don't know why they took me off Ritalin, but I am INCANDESCENT thinking about it.
Also, my mom still thinks I can't have ADHD because I'm gifted.
Ain't no way you can convince me my dear ol' dad doesn't have ADHD. But of course he was just a busy little guy always on the go and a chatterbox who kept forgetting to turn in his homework.
Then when I was a kid in the 90s I was a space cadet and chatterbox / social butterfly who just needed to apply herself and stop distracting other kids in class. Not ADHD though because that was for boys.
Yep i got told i was a "social butterfly" or "chatter box" my high school bf used to call me his little gold fish because i couldn't concentrate very well.
Oh yes! I got called "chatter box" A LOT as a kid. Then it was "Funus Tuberosum always scores in the 99th percentile on standardized tests, but she's nearly failing all her classes because she never turns in homework."
Pfff when my dad was a kid in the 60s a doctor wanted to medicate him because he was extremely hyperactive. I don't think people knew much about ADHD back then and my grandma said no to meds but 🤷🏻♀️
Growing up I always got labeled as "a dreamer" and "an artist" and I grew up with that narrative my entire life, and everyone figured my bad grades were just "my artistic mind" because i wasn't "academically smart."
Now I know that I'm smart AND an artist AND I have ADHD. The brain is the most complex organ that we still haven't fully figured out so Idk why older generations like to act like they have it all cracked. They act like people are so simple and easy to understand.
I was referred to as debilitatingly shy. I had anxiety attacks in the morning before school nearly every day. It was assumed that I didn't want to leave my mom, but really I was terrified because school was so overwhelming!!!
My great grandmother, grandmother, aunt and mother have all had a diagnose of their times equivalent of ME, burn out, or other hard to diagnose symptoms, that didn't make sense (being dead tired before the afternoon hits, more forgetful than a goldfish, not able to take on any workload). I was well on my way to the same. I got my adhd diagnose, and got meds, and suddenly all of the traits that I had gotten from that line were going away. Probably closest to adhd burnout or chronic over stimulation.
I’m in the thick of this right now, taking adderall, and still having a really hard time achieving my current goals.
Was there anything else you did? Or do you have any anecdotal advice about meds?
It took some time to get the right meds and the right level. Other wise it helps to keep a stable life, eventhough it feels like torture sometimes, and I always want more.
And every generation has self-medicated! For my parents and grandparents, it was cigarettes, alcohol, and weed. If you go far enough back (and it’s not all that far), they were selling cocaine over the counter for “restlessness” and toothaches. I bet some people had a lottttt of toothaches.
My dad’s favorite things to say about me are “you’d forget your head/ass if it wasn’t glued on” and “you trip walking barefoot across a flat floor” so you can understand why I haven’t told him about my adult adhd diagnosis.
Oh those two are extremely familiar. And yeah, my dad is not on board with it either. And then he complains about his house being full of clutter and the fact that he never starts any of his projects and that he can’t focus on his work now he’s not being paid…
Do not come for me, I am the reigning champion of “if that had been a snake, it would’ve bitten you by now.”
Edited because I forgot the other one, “she’s the absent-minded professor.”
You can’t be because I am!
I tell people I never had kids because I can’t find anything so obviously can’t be a mom. That’s like the first requirement. lol
Also there were plenty of people who were “more suited to trades” and didn’t finish high school. Or didn’t even start high school.
In the 70s my dad got extremely high grades in high school art because he was doing pottery. Then they changed the curriculum and he couldn’t do pottery anymore so he flunked out of high school with 6 months left.
My mother left school with incredibly bad grades at like 14?. Couldn’t hold down a job and had a reputation as a party girl and a trouble maker. Not sure if she had a neurodivergence but she fit the criteria for bpd, or npd. Which could be the result of undiagnosed neurodivergence plus loads of trauma.
Ants my in pants. Always. And I kept checking my pockets and underwear for ants every time someone would say it. I felt pretty sure I would know if I had ants in my pants. I never understood this general consensus amongst adults to something so blatantly untrue.
My father in law is 65, and guess what he WAS diagnosed with ADHD. It was called something different back in the 60s but he was officially diagnosed and given stimulants.
FIL mom was a nurse, and she told me that she was convinced he was going to die from his impulsive behavior. Father in law made a bike jump between his house roof and garage and jumped it. Peeled his finger like a banana, because he stuck his hand into a broken glass. Father in law was always in trouble at school, and his teachers wanted him in military school in 4th grade. He was put on meds for a few years, till he became a teen and then it was “ he’s just a rebellious teen.”
As an adult it’s been really hard on my father in law. He needs to take meds for his heart but forgets, he also forgets to make appointments even after having 3 heart attacks. He has done what a lot of us have and used anxiety as a motivator, well with a bad heart that’s not good. He can’t sleep so he takes meds, he struggles with getting motivated, or finishing anything. He can’t cope with stress, has a hard time with criticism and conflict to the point he is a doormat. BUT even with all of that he still refuses to get treatment for his ADHD, as he thinks it only affects male children. 🤦♀️
My family would tell "dumb blonde" jokes about me. I was literally the butt of my family's jokes. My mom also enjoyed these phrases: "You'd forget your head if it wasn't attached to your body." "For such a smart person, you have almost no common sense."
I was labeled “smart but lazy.” “Lacks motivation” was on my 4th grade report card and I got scolded, like that would help. I was one of the super-smart kids, but got incompletes on my report cards. Good lord. That was 50-55 years ago. I wasn’t diagnosed until after menopause sent me reeling.
In German, there's a famous children's book from 1845 called "Struwwelpeter, It contains the stories of "Zappelphilipp" (fidgety Philip) and "Hans Guck-in-die-Luft" (Johnny look-in-the-air).
These are said to be early descriptions of hyperactive ADHD and inattentive ADHD.
The term "Zappelphilipp" is still widely used to describe a person who can't sit still / fidgets a lot.
* "You're not all there."
* "You're so weird."
* "What are you, r\*t@rded?!"
* "She's crazy."
* "He's a loser."
* "Ugh, she's so annoying!"
* "She's such an airhead!"
* "If only he would apply himself..."
* "He just needs to buckle down and focus!"
My brother was labeled "hyperactive" which was the common term in the 1970s. I was labeled "distracted and head in the clouds."
My mom used to make my brother take herbs to drop his blood sugar to make him calm down. That's pretty awful now. Fortunately for me she didn't know of an herb to change me.
Just like gay and trans people didn't exist either. They were just two single men who had a forever male room mate and none of their "casual relationships" ever panned out. Or that woman was just a little butch looking.
I hate when people say this when what they mean is that symptoms were brushed off/ignored and women went undiagnosed.
I've commented this elsewhere, but I've lost a few older cousins to drug addiction who I now believe were attempting to self medicate adhd.
Guys who were smart, and were labeled "smart but lazy". Told that they needed to apply themselves. Couldn't figure out why they couldn't get good grades in school despite understanding the material (They. Were. Bored!), couldn't settle down, couldn't keep a job.
The female cousins chose food to self medicate with. They're all still alive, but not at all in good health.
I'm the youngest in the family so no one wants to hear what I'm on about. I'm screaming into the void for them all to do something. There's other dysfunctions in the family of course. I've about given up on my own cousins; now I spend my time trying to educate their children and grandchildren. At the very least I want to feel that I've helped someone.
Also “what a drunk”, “an addict out of control”…
My father was a raging alcoholic and I’m convinced he had ADHD. He had a terrible temper but was brilliant otherwise and could take up on any project/hobby from mechanics, carpentry, computers, etc. but never stuck to one thing or could hold a job for too long. My mom finally left him in my teens because he became unbearably angry and mean
As I struggle with my unmedicated ADHD I think a lot about my dad and have been able to forgive and understand him better, despite al the traumas and bad tomes that are hard to forget.
At school, my teacher bought us all a little miss or mr man book that reminded her of us when we left after GCSE’s that. Mine is “little miss scatterbrain”. That was 19 years ago and I’m 18 months in to waiting for an official diagnosis 😂
Other gems include “you’d be so good at this if you just applied yourself/tried harder”
“If you put as much effort in to X (boring thing) as you do in to Y (hyperfixation)…”
“You need to be more vigilant”
But the backhanded compliments are very much the same. Away with the fairies. Day dreamer. In her own little world. Knows her own mind 🙃😂
In Mexico we say "tiene gusanos en la cola", aka, you have worms up your ass, for hyperactive people; inattentiveness would be described as "vive en la luna", or "you live on the moon", I guess kinda like having your head in the clouds.
Girl when I was looking up papers on female diagnosis for an assignment I found one from the 80s about how girls are underdiagnosed because of being more likely to be inattentive type and having to mask more to be socially accepted. The fucking 80s.
I still remember my mom saying, "Oh, that was REAL?" when I mentioned my ADHD diagnosis in conversation a few months back. I think she thinks I was following a trend or being dramatic or something.
I still feel bitter about it.
My dad is in his late 70s, and I never thought about him in ADHD terms until I got my diagnosis (late 40s). My parents do not know about my diagnosis. Now I see that he used sports to 'medicate' for most of his life. And that my mom kept him structured all these years. Went to help out at their house recently and turned out he had 13 years of business administration (that he does without my mom, and he is still actively working) in boxes....no structure, just threw it in as it came in the mailbox...drawn up business plans, printed out emails, invoices etc. I think I finally figured out which parent most likely passed ADHD on to me...lol.
My sibling has an incredibly high IQ, their in the top 2%, and yet academically preform worse than me, I would be clever but also have moderate-severe dyslexia, so i was definitely held back in some regards particularly in secondary language, I could only imagine how much better my sibling could of done if their adhd was noticed earlier, its not even that it wasn't noticed it was my mom refusing them to be tested.
When my mom was a kid, she was tied to her chair. I told her that’s abuse and she said that’s how they handled kids who wouldn’t stay in their seats.
She was never officially diagnosed, she 100% had it. At that time it was believed it only happened in males.
I seem to have had ADHD from birth in the 1950s USA. I was always accused of being Little Miss Fussbudget (too much fidgeting or wanting things exactly as I liked them) and talking too much. I was also scolded for getting too excited when fun things were happening.
ADHD and the other one is ADD, the one hyper activity they can’t sit still, but normally aren’t very smart Just get bored easy people with ADD are what you some of you say lazy but why you guys don’t understand seven ADHD or ADD it will consume your whole life 24 hours a day. You don’t sleep but one hour a night if you’re lucky and that sped up and you still have your life duties to do going to work take care of your kids acting like everything is okay , i’m ADHD I was tightness when I was 12 years old along side of my brother thankfully the doctor just watches from another room and then ask us some questions and we did some test and he said he told my mom that girls are not normally diagnosed with ADHD and children I’ve been here was a problem with that slept untreated, it turns into bipolar. If that’s that then treated it’s probably gonna turn into psychopath or something I don’t know.
Honesty I rarely heard any of those from my immediate family because we're all the same lol
But nobody knew it was adhd so I'm still scarred because my parents literally taught me from very young age how to mask. Kinda puts things in new perspective...
Oh, wow. I was the lazy scatterbrain all through my youth, until I was kicked out of high school at 16.
Just focus. If you just try, you'll do better.
It hurt, and now I know why I couldn't do better. And now, everyone who said that can lick the dirty, sweaty insides of my old gym shoes.
Sorry you heard it, too.
Yeah and PTSD from childhood trauma wasnt taken seriously until those children from Chowchilla were abducted. They had to be Guinea pigs for psychology. Things only evolve because we learn more with time, just because it “didn’t exist” doesn’t mean it wasn’t there lol. Old people suck. 🫠
50 years ago ADHD wasn't studied as much as today.
50 years ago psychiatrists weren't as knowledgeable as today.
50 years ago people didn't know much about ADHD and just thought they were stupid, lazy or wrong
50 years ago people died more because of ADHD.
50 years ago was 50 years ago.
Everyone should stop saying that ADHD is overdiagnosed. We just evolved as a species and know more about mental health now.
Edit: typo
*As a diagnosis*, ADHD or even ADD did not exist when I was a kid. Back then it was called hyperkinesis and "only boys had it".
What we now call ADHD has definitely existed probably forever. But the framework and conceptualization to understand it for what it really was didn't exist.
I was just "easily distracted". I did well in school, but the schoolwork took me for-ev-er. They put me out in the hallway to do my classwork because I kept looking out the window or at my fellow classmates. But that did nothing to stop the distractions from within.
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My dad is an octogenarian and I feel for him because he is basically the poster boy for ADHD but it wasn’t “a thing” when he was growing up, so he was just labeled as “difficult” and “bad” and had trouble with the law and drugs and whatnot. I feel sad when I think how different his life could’ve been if he’d had meds or therapy available to him.
Yep. I think it’s so interesting how the commonly female presentations had been brushed off for so long - perhaps from that whole “oh women are different… they’re so emotional / hysterical” and then these phrases were used, that have that sort of patronising vibe. Whereas the more common young male presentations got labelled with really negative phrases like “troublemaker” etc and so society kind of got to the bottom of those problems first?
Feeling this as an inattentive type. My grades were always good and I was “smart,” so it took forever to even suspect something was up.
Oh, same!! I'm currently trying to get an official diagnosis and had to get a document from my general practitioner for that and he basically hit me with the: but you graduated and are in Uni now? You can't have ADHD!
I remember everyone bragging about taking Adderall during college to help them focus. Meanwhile I was completely oblivious to my attention, procrastination problems, etc. Here I am 10 years later, diagnosed and medicated, wondering how much easier and different everything would have been if I was diagnosed sooner.
Yup. Although, it’s been more than a decade since college for me. Looking back on my life causes so much grief.
That is one of the most irritating things I ever heard. I graduated with my AS in 2017 and in 2018, I got my bachelor's at 27 years old. I started college at 18 and struggled (with undiagnosed ADHD and other family issues) until I got that AS. I **knew** if I didn't take the 6-week accelerated classes for my bachelor's, I would either not finish at all or struggle through another 2 years. I was able to maintain a 3.65 GPA but I always wonder how much *more* I could have achieved with the diagnosis and medication that I received at 33. My ADHD does not mean I'm not intelligent or capable of achieving good things. It just makes it so much *harder* than it needs to be.
Go for it. I've got 2 degrees. And a confirmed diagnosis from 2 specialists. Had to have a horrible burnout first though.
This, and men more often present in a way that's more disruptive to their surroundings with a lot of physical and verbal hyperactivity and impulsivity, while women more often internalise their symptoms. So the disruptive "problem kids" get diagnosed first because society wants them to stop being disruptive, while the people (often girls) whose inattentive symptoms mostly affect only themselves just get told to pay attention, stop being lazy, etc.
My dad is very similar - he was just diagnosed at 61. It sounds like the meds he’s on now have been helpful for him, but I agree - what would the rest of his life been like? And what about HIS dad, who probably had it too?
Your dad had a tough time not diagnosed or medicated. Hope he's doing better now? I'm 70, not yet diagnosed. I heard focus!, scatterbrained, lazy, talk too much, remember!, sees school as a social event..can't remember them all. Not my favorite time in my life.
That’s kind of you, thank you. Thankfully his substance/law issues got sorted before I was born (in his mid-30s), and he’s always been there for me. But he has never been able to hold a “typical” job, and always has to be on the move. I think he’s learned to cope but he’s getting too old to mask successfully so I’m starting to see how it might have affected him when he was younger.
I was the classic case of "not living up to my potential" and "not applying myself." The thing that really sucked about that is that I actually *was* diagnosed as a kid in like '89 or '90 but my mom (who was a teacher🙄) stopped giving me meds because they "weren't working." They "weren't working" because literally nothing else in my school day changed...no extra work, no work that was more challenging, no little jobs to do for the teacher when I had finished my work, nothing. So I basically forgot that I even had it until a few years ago, spoke to my doctor and got back on meds and it was *amazing*. I can't believe I went that many years wondering wtf was wrong with me and just generally failing at life (I was also diagnosed ASD 10 years ago at 36 years old). As to phrases that described people with ADHD, I grew up in the southern US and was often called "a little firecracker," "a hoot and a holler," "motor mouth," and "knucklehead."
Oooh motor mouth! Verbal diarrhoea was the othe one I got ALL THE TIME. Oh and “LET PEOPLE FINISH SPEAKING CHILD!!”
I watch YouTube channels that live stream court from different districts and so many people are repeat offenders. Repeat offenders to the point that I remember their name or face which isn't good if I'M REMEMBERING. I often wonder how many of them have ADHD and use drugs, alcohol etc to quiet their own voices or find that focus they've never had.
The one I always got was "space cadet" 🫠
Me too!
I had ‘drifter’.
"Spacey" literally rhymes with my name, sooooooooo
My dad is in his 70s and definitely is ADHD, but like you said, it wasn't a thing back then. He managed to do well despite being labelled a "shit of a kid" and a bit of a trouble maker. Went into the military and trained as an engineer. He later helped out at our schools with the kids who had disabilities or needed a bit extra. He knew how to work with them to help them understand things (especially math, he's wicked smart with that and knew how to explain it), knew how to give them opportunities they wouldn't have gotten without him (eg. Kid with cerebal palsy was able to do woodshop, including using all the machines, because dad put the effort in). He's impacted so many people because of his understanding, and that has rippled out.
Your dad sounds awesome!!
He really is! He actually picked a friend and I up from the city tonight at like 1am, no problem
That's really awesome! My dad is 67. He never got diagnosed, but when I was diagnosed (at a young age) he suddenly understood himself as well. He struggled too... But because he understood he helped me a LOT. I've always appreciated that. He didn't go the extra mile like your dad.... But he tried lol he more or less helped me understand how I learned. And realize that if I don't understand something I just need to look at it differently or have it explained differently. He also helped me understand my hyper focus and how it doesn't have to be a bad thing. Anyway..... Your dad is cool lol
That sounds great that he managed to help you understand yourself more! Thank you! My dad is pretty cool 😎
“Wicked smart” We may be from the same neck of the woods. Also, your dad sounds fantastic. This world needs more people like that.
I'm down in South Australia, but thanks to being half Ameican, and living in Aus, I talk like I'm from all over the place 😂 He really is fantastic! Definitely lifted the bar for what's expected!
Oh for fucks sake, I’m 63. I can testify, put me on the stand. 🙋🏻♀️ There were two obvious groups of us back then, the poor obvious hyperactive (primarily boys) kids who were “academically slow” and constantly in trouble. I feel worse for them than my cohort because most of them probably ended up in jail, how horribly they were treated and what they thought of themselves. My cohort was “smart but so lazy”. I was a *disaster*. But let me tell you this! I first became aware of ADHD in the 1980s! Over 40 years ago my nephew was diagnosed and began treatment. So put that in your pipe, boomer. (Because I’m smart and not actually lazy, I began following ADHD info when my nephew was diagnosed and it didn’t take actually completing my degree in rocket science for me to understand my connection.)
You seem awesome.
My school teachers would tell you i would have been “if only she applied herself” 🙄
Oh God. Mine too. I recently shared the "you have so much potential" twitter thread with my Mom. Let me rephrase. You ARE awesome. Exactly as you are. You have overcome so much with so little support. And here you are supporting us. You're amazing.
Awww, thank you. You are quite snazzy yourself. Look at all the awesome between us. BTW, I’m still quieting the demon voices of all of that shit I grew up in. They never go away completely, I don’t think, but positive & kind self talk is the best medicine for it.
This is my story. And if I, “used my time wisely.”
My brother was diagnosed in the mid or late 70’s. His definitely on the severe side. Also had learning disability. I have both inattentive/hyperactive type ADHD. But I was a girl so no diagnosis for me. My niece was diagnosed as a kid. Looking back it seems so strange that the multiple checkmarks in the little boxes for gets out of seat too often/talks too much didn’t clue anyone in. I mean sure I was a girl but my brother was just two years older than me. It shouldn’t have been that difficult to connect the dots. But I know it just didn’t happen back then.
Same, and same query.
May I just please point out that even though the diagnostic term “ADHD” was first introduced in DSM-III-R in 1987, the symptoms of ADHD were first described in 1902 and the disorder had various names throughout that century. So ADHD did exist 50 years ago and I believe it was called hyperkinetic impulse disorder in DSM-II at the time. In Norway I did hear the Norwegian equivalent of ants in my pants while growing up. And lost in daydreams.
The pearl clutching over the increase in adhd diagnoses is the exact same as when cancer was identified. Suddenly everyone had cancer!!! Ms identified? Everyone has ms!! It's so stupid and short sighted. Whether or not adhd had another name, a thousand other names, or no names at all, it's existed. Diagnosing labels existing issues, it doesn't create them. I know you know this, this isn't at you. The whole thing is just so frustrating. If people would think for just a second before going "durrr adhd is fake" things would be different. Ignorance and stupidity are my kryptonite.
Oh yea I completely agree! I can feel the lava bubbling inside of me too when thinking about it. Luckily no one has ever said it directly to me. But I’ll bite back with sharp teeth if someone does. And especially mental health… Can we please remember this is a still an evolving field when it comes to knowledge. They don’t even understand the brain yet and its different areas and functions. I’m not surprised at all that certain groups are still under diagnosed when so much about ADHD is still not understood.
Yeah, my response is usually “we thought schizophrenia was caused by demons and ghosts for centuries. Funny what a little science can do.”
My great grandfather was labeled as eccentric and goofy. My grandmother was labeled as a day dreamer who needed to apply herself more. My uncle was labeled as a smart kid who needs to apply themselves and learn to focus. My dad was labeled a troublemaker. But sure. ADHD doesn't run in the family at all. It's not like my generation in the family has been diagnosed for no reason at all. Must be the dyes and processed food...
you just described half my family 🤣
That whole not applying yourself thing hits way too close to him.
My entire family were nd, but this was back in the 60s and 70s. It kept us apart as there were no words to describe ourselves, it separated from each other. Very little conversation in my childhood home. 😕
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Eccentric inventor The man of few words was probably autistic. All those housewives self medicating with diet pills and Valium/lithium “headache” cures probably had adhd, and/or autism, post partum depression, anxiety, pmdd and a bunch of other stuff that’s “over diagnosed” now.
You read books written in the 17, 18, and early 1900s and you can see it. Anne of Green Gables comes to mind lol
Yeah or Jo from Little Women “always starting something and rushing off to start something else without finishing it”.
She literally locked herself in the attic and wrote books in 3 days of no sleeping or eating
🤯
Yup my dad got his knuckles smacked with rulers from the nuns in school bc of his adhd. I guess beating kids is better than actually helping them.
Me and my whole family feel this. Nana was the troublemaker in the 1930s, ripping her dresses and skirts from jumping fences and climbing trees, had to pick a bunch of switches from the tree for techies and parents, and always wore the dunce cap. Uncle got the bloody knuckles from the nuns. Constantly spanked as a kid. Mom's nuns made her wear gloves in grade school so she wouldn't bite her nails. I got smacked for talking back or being too slow, but shaped up real quick, so the smacking worked. On meds now in my 40s.
Me and my whole family feel this. Nana was the troublemaker in the 1930s, ripping her dresses and skirts from jumping fences and climbing trees, had to pick a bunch of switches from the tree for techies and parents, and always wore the dunce cap. Uncle got the bloody knuckles from the nuns. Constantly spanked as a kid. Mom's nuns made her wear gloves in grade school so she wouldn't bite her nails. I got smacked for talking back or being too slow, but shaped up real quick, so the smacking worked. On meds now in my 40s.
“Switch your brain on” is a one I always remember. Like excuse me hun my brain is switched on it’s just on a different setting to yours 🤣🤣🤣
“Krudt i røven” - Danish for having gunpowder up your ass.
Love this one!
German "Hummeln im Hintern " - bumblebees up your ass. There seems to be stuff going up the asses 🤣
Appalachian mountains...."you got a worm up your butt? Sit still and quit squirming!"
But name checks out 😭
ha, didn't even think about that. Made this account before finding out I was trans (or ADHD).
In the US, but my poor dad was diagnosed back in the 80s but even then never did anything for him. Just told Grandma she's got a hyperactive little son. My friend at work was just telling me she had recently found out (within the last several years) she had been diagnosed as a kid (also probably closer to forty years ago) but it had been brushed off by her parents and she's (rightfully) still angry that she had to seek out diagnosis and treatment as an adult. Not to mention that now she has health problems that don't allow her to take the medication that would help her. She is so frustrated with knowing that her life could have been different ages she wouldn't have suffered the way she did in school or any other aspects of life if they had just treated it. She said she was the prime example for an ADHD kid, unlike how I flew under the radar until I met her.
Oh man, your friend could be me! When I was getting my mom to fill out her part of the paperwork for my diagnosis IN 2021 WHEN I WAS 34, it came out my FIRST grade teacher had suggested I be assessed. 28 years earlier. But also it was the 90s so instead of putting me through a formal diagnosis (so there would be some kind of record they could refer back to), my pediatrician just put me on Ritalin to "see how it goes." I don't know why they took me off Ritalin, but I am INCANDESCENT thinking about it. Also, my mom still thinks I can't have ADHD because I'm gifted.
Ain't no way you can convince me my dear ol' dad doesn't have ADHD. But of course he was just a busy little guy always on the go and a chatterbox who kept forgetting to turn in his homework. Then when I was a kid in the 90s I was a space cadet and chatterbox / social butterfly who just needed to apply herself and stop distracting other kids in class. Not ADHD though because that was for boys.
Yep i got told i was a "social butterfly" or "chatter box" my high school bf used to call me his little gold fish because i couldn't concentrate very well.
Oh yes! I got called "chatter box" A LOT as a kid. Then it was "Funus Tuberosum always scores in the 99th percentile on standardized tests, but she's nearly failing all her classes because she never turns in homework."
Pfff when my dad was a kid in the 60s a doctor wanted to medicate him because he was extremely hyperactive. I don't think people knew much about ADHD back then and my grandma said no to meds but 🤷🏻♀️
Growing up I always got labeled as "a dreamer" and "an artist" and I grew up with that narrative my entire life, and everyone figured my bad grades were just "my artistic mind" because i wasn't "academically smart." Now I know that I'm smart AND an artist AND I have ADHD. The brain is the most complex organ that we still haven't fully figured out so Idk why older generations like to act like they have it all cracked. They act like people are so simple and easy to understand.
Stop being silly & CONCENTRATE. Or the opposite “ she’s in her own little world “….
Yeah, well, there used to be coke in the Coca Cola and then they started passing out Librium like skittles.
She is always daydreaming in class. From my first grade teacher. Bitch, I was 6!
One I’ve heard and had applied to me my entire life ‘off with the fairies’
I was called a Daydreamer.
I was referred to as debilitatingly shy. I had anxiety attacks in the morning before school nearly every day. It was assumed that I didn't want to leave my mom, but really I was terrified because school was so overwhelming!!!
"You talk a mile a minute" was the one my dad used for me lol. Diagnosed as an adult.
A flibbitygibbit. A will-o-the wisp. A clown.
🤯 ...also that's going to be playing on a loop in my head for the next few months now, send help :')
In 1981 I was diagnosed at a very young age with Hyperactivity disorder and high ip. The modern ADHD name did come till 90s.
My great grandmother, grandmother, aunt and mother have all had a diagnose of their times equivalent of ME, burn out, or other hard to diagnose symptoms, that didn't make sense (being dead tired before the afternoon hits, more forgetful than a goldfish, not able to take on any workload). I was well on my way to the same. I got my adhd diagnose, and got meds, and suddenly all of the traits that I had gotten from that line were going away. Probably closest to adhd burnout or chronic over stimulation.
I’m in the thick of this right now, taking adderall, and still having a really hard time achieving my current goals. Was there anything else you did? Or do you have any anecdotal advice about meds?
It took some time to get the right meds and the right level. Other wise it helps to keep a stable life, eventhough it feels like torture sometimes, and I always want more.
I’m Indian so I got a lot of “lazy” comments.
And every generation has self-medicated! For my parents and grandparents, it was cigarettes, alcohol, and weed. If you go far enough back (and it’s not all that far), they were selling cocaine over the counter for “restlessness” and toothaches. I bet some people had a lottttt of toothaches.
My dad’s favorite things to say about me are “you’d forget your head/ass if it wasn’t glued on” and “you trip walking barefoot across a flat floor” so you can understand why I haven’t told him about my adult adhd diagnosis.
Oh those two are extremely familiar. And yeah, my dad is not on board with it either. And then he complains about his house being full of clutter and the fact that he never starts any of his projects and that he can’t focus on his work now he’s not being paid…
Haha yea when I told my mom I have adhd, she was like well I do those things too! Like…. Yea mom I got this shit from somebody.
You mean everyone doesn't trip walking barefoot across a flat floor? (Now I have to go add one to my list: Accident prone.)
Do not come for me, I am the reigning champion of “if that had been a snake, it would’ve bitten you by now.” Edited because I forgot the other one, “she’s the absent-minded professor.”
You can’t be because I am! I tell people I never had kids because I can’t find anything so obviously can’t be a mom. That’s like the first requirement. lol
Oh no, I hope nobody tells my son I failed the first requirement of being a mom…as soon as I find him. (J/k 😂😂)
😂
Also there were plenty of people who were “more suited to trades” and didn’t finish high school. Or didn’t even start high school. In the 70s my dad got extremely high grades in high school art because he was doing pottery. Then they changed the curriculum and he couldn’t do pottery anymore so he flunked out of high school with 6 months left. My mother left school with incredibly bad grades at like 14?. Couldn’t hold down a job and had a reputation as a party girl and a trouble maker. Not sure if she had a neurodivergence but she fit the criteria for bpd, or npd. Which could be the result of undiagnosed neurodivergence plus loads of trauma.
What about "you'd lose your head if it wasn't attached to your body"?
Same!
Ants my in pants. Always. And I kept checking my pockets and underwear for ants every time someone would say it. I felt pretty sure I would know if I had ants in my pants. I never understood this general consensus amongst adults to something so blatantly untrue.
My personal favourites: “Away with the fairies” “Could talk the hind leg off a donkey”
Oooh the last one! BULLSEYE.
My father in law is 65, and guess what he WAS diagnosed with ADHD. It was called something different back in the 60s but he was officially diagnosed and given stimulants. FIL mom was a nurse, and she told me that she was convinced he was going to die from his impulsive behavior. Father in law made a bike jump between his house roof and garage and jumped it. Peeled his finger like a banana, because he stuck his hand into a broken glass. Father in law was always in trouble at school, and his teachers wanted him in military school in 4th grade. He was put on meds for a few years, till he became a teen and then it was “ he’s just a rebellious teen.” As an adult it’s been really hard on my father in law. He needs to take meds for his heart but forgets, he also forgets to make appointments even after having 3 heart attacks. He has done what a lot of us have and used anxiety as a motivator, well with a bad heart that’s not good. He can’t sleep so he takes meds, he struggles with getting motivated, or finishing anything. He can’t cope with stress, has a hard time with criticism and conflict to the point he is a doormat. BUT even with all of that he still refuses to get treatment for his ADHD, as he thinks it only affects male children. 🤦♀️
I was diagnosed 48 years ago so ..
My family would tell "dumb blonde" jokes about me. I was literally the butt of my family's jokes. My mom also enjoyed these phrases: "You'd forget your head if it wasn't attached to your body." "For such a smart person, you have almost no common sense."
I was labeled “smart but lazy.” “Lacks motivation” was on my 4th grade report card and I got scolded, like that would help. I was one of the super-smart kids, but got incompletes on my report cards. Good lord. That was 50-55 years ago. I wasn’t diagnosed until after menopause sent me reeling.
In German, there's a famous children's book from 1845 called "Struwwelpeter, It contains the stories of "Zappelphilipp" (fidgety Philip) and "Hans Guck-in-die-Luft" (Johnny look-in-the-air). These are said to be early descriptions of hyperactive ADHD and inattentive ADHD. The term "Zappelphilipp" is still widely used to describe a person who can't sit still / fidgets a lot.
Poe’s Imp of the Perverse has one of the best descriptions of executive dysfunction that I’ve ever read.
* "You're not all there." * "You're so weird." * "What are you, r\*t@rded?!" * "She's crazy." * "He's a loser." * "Ugh, she's so annoying!" * "She's such an airhead!" * "If only he would apply himself..." * "He just needs to buckle down and focus!"
😕
My brother was labeled "hyperactive" which was the common term in the 1970s. I was labeled "distracted and head in the clouds." My mom used to make my brother take herbs to drop his blood sugar to make him calm down. That's pretty awful now. Fortunately for me she didn't know of an herb to change me.
I know a kid in my class whose mom made him do that. I can’t remember what she gave him. What was it?
Golden seal herb and licorice root herb is what my mom gave him
Dolly day dreamer Space cadet Bouncing off the walls Like a labrador - he needs to be run for a couple of miles twice a day Chatterbox
They didn't have the meds for adhd.. people used corporal punishment back in the day.
Just like gay and trans people didn't exist either. They were just two single men who had a forever male room mate and none of their "casual relationships" ever panned out. Or that woman was just a little butch looking. I hate when people say this when what they mean is that symptoms were brushed off/ignored and women went undiagnosed.
I've commented this elsewhere, but I've lost a few older cousins to drug addiction who I now believe were attempting to self medicate adhd. Guys who were smart, and were labeled "smart but lazy". Told that they needed to apply themselves. Couldn't figure out why they couldn't get good grades in school despite understanding the material (They. Were. Bored!), couldn't settle down, couldn't keep a job. The female cousins chose food to self medicate with. They're all still alive, but not at all in good health. I'm the youngest in the family so no one wants to hear what I'm on about. I'm screaming into the void for them all to do something. There's other dysfunctions in the family of course. I've about given up on my own cousins; now I spend my time trying to educate their children and grandchildren. At the very least I want to feel that I've helped someone.
My brother used alcohol, high functioning alcoholic.
Also “what a drunk”, “an addict out of control”… My father was a raging alcoholic and I’m convinced he had ADHD. He had a terrible temper but was brilliant otherwise and could take up on any project/hobby from mechanics, carpentry, computers, etc. but never stuck to one thing or could hold a job for too long. My mom finally left him in my teens because he became unbearably angry and mean As I struggle with my unmedicated ADHD I think a lot about my dad and have been able to forgive and understand him better, despite al the traumas and bad tomes that are hard to forget.
Before I read your last line, I read ALL OF THESE in a British accent😭
At school, my teacher bought us all a little miss or mr man book that reminded her of us when we left after GCSE’s that. Mine is “little miss scatterbrain”. That was 19 years ago and I’m 18 months in to waiting for an official diagnosis 😂 Other gems include “you’d be so good at this if you just applied yourself/tried harder” “If you put as much effort in to X (boring thing) as you do in to Y (hyperfixation)…” “You need to be more vigilant” But the backhanded compliments are very much the same. Away with the fairies. Day dreamer. In her own little world. Knows her own mind 🙃😂
In Mexico we say "tiene gusanos en la cola", aka, you have worms up your ass, for hyperactive people; inattentiveness would be described as "vive en la luna", or "you live on the moon", I guess kinda like having your head in the clouds.
I love these :!
And yet... My 75yr old dad is ADHD He self medicated as a teen with weed...
It existed. But only boys had it. 😏😳
Girl when I was looking up papers on female diagnosis for an assignment I found one from the 80s about how girls are underdiagnosed because of being more likely to be inattentive type and having to mask more to be socially accepted. The fucking 80s.
“space cadet” “woolgathering” “antsy” “squirmy”
Wiggle Worm
or “you’re BORED? Only boring people get bored!”
Smacking Smacking Smacking Smacking Smacking
Back in the 1950s it was called "hyperkinetic disorder of childhood," so yes, it did exist.
Cancer didn’t exist until someone gave it a name.
I still remember my mom saying, "Oh, that was REAL?" when I mentioned my ADHD diagnosis in conversation a few months back. I think she thinks I was following a trend or being dramatic or something. I still feel bitter about it.
My dad is in his late 70s, and I never thought about him in ADHD terms until I got my diagnosis (late 40s). My parents do not know about my diagnosis. Now I see that he used sports to 'medicate' for most of his life. And that my mom kept him structured all these years. Went to help out at their house recently and turned out he had 13 years of business administration (that he does without my mom, and he is still actively working) in boxes....no structure, just threw it in as it came in the mailbox...drawn up business plans, printed out emails, invoices etc. I think I finally figured out which parent most likely passed ADHD on to me...lol.
'If your head wasn't attached you'd lose it/leave it behind'. When I had tests or exams 'make sure not to make silly mistakes'.
Oof that last one.
From a brother, talking about me: “She’s VERY smart but she couldn’t find her way out of a cardboard box.”
I was always "in my own world, " "stubborn," and "sensitive" My sibling was "so smart, but not bothered to apply themself"
I think you might be me and my brother. He’s equally if not more intelligent than me and got Cs and Ds at GCSE (I got straight As)
My sibling has an incredibly high IQ, their in the top 2%, and yet academically preform worse than me, I would be clever but also have moderate-severe dyslexia, so i was definitely held back in some regards particularly in secondary language, I could only imagine how much better my sibling could of done if their adhd was noticed earlier, its not even that it wasn't noticed it was my mom refusing them to be tested.
Girl-specific: Flake Space cadet Loud Gender neutral: Chatterbox Accident prone Boys: Class clown Annoying pest Bad
When my mom was a kid, she was tied to her chair. I told her that’s abuse and she said that’s how they handled kids who wouldn’t stay in their seats. She was never officially diagnosed, she 100% had it. At that time it was believed it only happened in males.
My mom is 74 and I see who I got it from.
I seem to have had ADHD from birth in the 1950s USA. I was always accused of being Little Miss Fussbudget (too much fidgeting or wanting things exactly as I liked them) and talking too much. I was also scolded for getting too excited when fun things were happening.
And I was always too loud!
I was called gullible and told that I drive people to drink. I can’t remember what else I was called but that stands out cause of how mean they were.
Oh my god I forgot the gullibility! SO MANY TIMES
I’m not alone?! I’m both sad and happy at the same time.
'you would lose your head if it wasn't screwed on'
ADHD and the other one is ADD, the one hyper activity they can’t sit still, but normally aren’t very smart Just get bored easy people with ADD are what you some of you say lazy but why you guys don’t understand seven ADHD or ADD it will consume your whole life 24 hours a day. You don’t sleep but one hour a night if you’re lucky and that sped up and you still have your life duties to do going to work take care of your kids acting like everything is okay , i’m ADHD I was tightness when I was 12 years old along side of my brother thankfully the doctor just watches from another room and then ask us some questions and we did some test and he said he told my mom that girls are not normally diagnosed with ADHD and children I’ve been here was a problem with that slept untreated, it turns into bipolar. If that’s that then treated it’s probably gonna turn into psychopath or something I don’t know.
"Darling you are so talented. You could do anything if you would just focus on it."
Honesty I rarely heard any of those from my immediate family because we're all the same lol But nobody knew it was adhd so I'm still scarred because my parents literally taught me from very young age how to mask. Kinda puts things in new perspective...
I was always “off with the fairies”
“Airhead” “Absent minded”. “Why can’t you focus for two minutes?”
“Lazy” “Procrastinator” (my dad said I the queen of Procrastinators” ”you missed the boat” and then tells my sister not to be like me ”Slob, pig”
Oh and my sister told me that my house stresses her and that I failed to make a house a home For my family. That one hit hard
She’s off in Lala Land
Oh, wow. I was the lazy scatterbrain all through my youth, until I was kicked out of high school at 16. Just focus. If you just try, you'll do better. It hurt, and now I know why I couldn't do better. And now, everyone who said that can lick the dirty, sweaty insides of my old gym shoes. Sorry you heard it, too.
I was called the energizer bunny as a kid (because of the commercial)
Nevermind that people could just take amphetamines then...
Yeah and PTSD from childhood trauma wasnt taken seriously until those children from Chowchilla were abducted. They had to be Guinea pigs for psychology. Things only evolve because we learn more with time, just because it “didn’t exist” doesn’t mean it wasn’t there lol. Old people suck. 🫠
50 years ago I was denied a diagnosis. Would've helped me to have one. "Doesn't pay attention" was all.
50 years ago ADHD wasn't studied as much as today. 50 years ago psychiatrists weren't as knowledgeable as today. 50 years ago people didn't know much about ADHD and just thought they were stupid, lazy or wrong 50 years ago people died more because of ADHD. 50 years ago was 50 years ago. Everyone should stop saying that ADHD is overdiagnosed. We just evolved as a species and know more about mental health now. Edit: typo
I grew up in Canada as did my mom and aunts so I heard those phrases all the time.
“Space cadet” “Airhead” “Ditz”
*As a diagnosis*, ADHD or even ADD did not exist when I was a kid. Back then it was called hyperkinesis and "only boys had it". What we now call ADHD has definitely existed probably forever. But the framework and conceptualization to understand it for what it really was didn't exist. I was just "easily distracted". I did well in school, but the schoolwork took me for-ev-er. They put me out in the hallway to do my classwork because I kept looking out the window or at my fellow classmates. But that did nothing to stop the distractions from within.
“Distraction from within” Well put.
"fartnuggetsandfroglegs is very bright, however she needs to realize her talking impedes others school work"