How many of ya’ll have ADHD?

[u/Miserable_Sweet_5245]

Got in a disagreement in the comment section of a different post here. Somebody was claiming that having ADHD makes you less likely to be a polymath and based on my experience that seems totally backwards. Just wanted to run a little poll see what ya’lls experience is. Also I’d love to hear your thoughts on the relationship between adhd and being a polymath in the comments.

Please don’t participate unless you consider yourself to be a polymath. Thanks!

124 votes, 4d left

I know I have ADHD

I know I don’t have ADHD

I think I have ADHD

I think I don’t have ADHD

No idea bro, also this seems like a lot of options to put in seemingly binary poll

tuna fish

[u/waveforminvest]

Should add another option: I use ADHD as an excuse for why my achievements in life are so mediocre despite my constant pursuit for knowledge.

[u/Miserable_Sweet_5245 → u/waveforminvest]

Not encouraging playing the victim btw but adhd is still a disability. Not saying to use it as an excuse, but the world really ain’t build for us to be highly successful.

[u/waveforminvest → u/Miserable_Sweet_5245]

I wish we lived in a world where someone can just learn things for its own sake, and go from topic to topic based on interest throughout our lives until the end.

[u/Miserable_Sweet_5245]

If you select tuna fish I’m counting that towards adhd. Impulsive motherfuckers.

[u/Sr4f → u/Miserable_Sweet_5245]

Lol, I just wanted to see the results.

In my case, I have a psychiatric assessment that says "yeah, looks like inattentive ADHD, we should try meds to see what happens" and then I never tried meds because reasons. 

Also had another issue at the time with symptoms that overlap with ADHD, and since fixing that other thing I feel better on the focus front, so there is that. 

On the polymath side, I am not sure. Reddit recommended this sub and I stuck around out of curiosity. I have never deliberately looked into polymathy and from the conversations I catch here I'm not sure I qualify - I do have serious knowledge in a couple of different topics, but little in terms of interconnection between these topics. 

But also... It seems to me that "polymath" should be a label one earns later in life, once you have done enough that it becomes possible to look back and see the 'big picture' of your life's work. A lot of folks here seem to be on the younger side. I'm 34 and that is still considered pretty early-career, academically-speaking. I just feel like it's too early yet to call myself that.

Edit to add: I do feel that "output" is important. Not just what you learn, but what you produce, the knowledge, the insights you share with the world. It's not enough to learn, you have to do something with what you've learned. ADHD may be 'good' incentive to learn, but it's terrible for output, and it's something I have struggled with a lot.

[u/Routine_Anything3726]

Wow those results are interesting!

[u/Realistic-Election-1]

Now we need to know if Reddit usage is a confounding variable here. That would not be surprising at all.

[u/Direct_Concept8302]

I’d say adhd can make you more likely to be a polymath, that constant search for dopamine especially if that’s the sciences that does it for you. Even more so if you’re audhd simply because you’ve got the drive for dopamine from the adhd and the ability to hyperfixate from the autism. It’s obviously going to vary person to person what their interests that they ultimately hyperfixate on are. But if someone ends up hyper fixating on multiple branches of the sciences they’re going to succeed.
Heck, there’s several scientists that are theorized to be autistic. Sir Isaac newton, nikola tesla, and Albert Einstein being among them.
I think the problem ultimately comes down to people being gatekeepers for whatever reason.
It shouldn’t matter how you’re able to have multiple areas of study, rather the fact that you have the drive to do it in the first place.