Adhd 2.0

“ADHD” is a term that describes a way of being in the world. It is neither entirely a disorder nor entirely an asset. It is an array of traits specific to a unique kind of mind. It can become a distinct advantage or an abiding curse, depending on how a person manages it.

Allen’s superpower is that he’s a problem solver. And as long as he is intellectually challenged by the problem and is meeting interesting people and learning how things work, there’s almost no one better at turning chance into opportunity.

the sense that they tend to have unbridled optimism. We never met a deal we didn’t like, an opportunity we didn’t want to pursue, a chance we didn’t want to take. We get carried away. We see limitless possibilities where others see just the limits. The lover has trouble holding back, and not holding back is a major part of what it means to have ADH

This is why the word “deficit” in the name of our condition is such a misnomer. In fact, we do not suffer from a deficit of attention. Just the opposite. We’ve got an overabundance of attention, more attention than we can cope with; our constant challenge is to control it.

Uncannily accurate intuition, coupled with a tendency to overlook the obvious and ignore major data.

The psychologist Russell Barkley, one of the top authorities in the field, sums up the danger in stark statistics: Compared to other killers from a public health standpoint, ADHD is bad. Smoking, for example, reduces life expectancy by 2.4 years, and if you smoke more than 20 cigarettes a day you’re down about 6.5 years. For diabetes and obesity it

Unexplained underachievement. The person is simply not doing as well as innate talent and brainpower warrant. There’s no obvious explanation, like poor eyesight, serious physical illness, or cognitive impairment due to head injury, say.

Technically, there is no longer any such thing as ADD. You can only have ADHD. But there are qualifiers. If you have at least six out of nine symptoms on the axis of inattention, but not on the axis of hyperactivity and impulsivity, then you have ADHD, predominantly inattentive. This is what used to be called ADD. If you have six out of nine sympto

A person with ADHD has the power of a Ferrari engine but with bicycle-strength brakes. It’s the mismatch of engine power to braking capability that causes the problems. Strengthening one’s brakes is the name of the game.

High energy (hence the use of “hyperactivity” in the disorder name), coupled with a tendency toward lassitude, often mistaken for laziness.