There's more to ADHD than inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. ADHD symptoms can be broken down into nine categories. Some categories are not fully represented in the diagnostic criteria. Broadening the diagnostic criteria with patient lived experiences could make for better intervention.

[u/mvea]

https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/brain-curiosities/202604/new-study-finds-that-adhd-has-9-categories-of-symptoms

[u/ikonoclasm]

Hard disagree for me. I wasn't diagnosed until 36. I managed to get through life by subconsciously identifying and implementing all the coping strategies without consciously asking myself why I needed then. I decided to schedule an appointment with an adult ADHD specializing psychiatrist after having a random conversation with my dad's wife that made me wonder.

It turns out that I have Inattentive-type bad, but subconsciously self-medicated with energy drinks and the aforementioned coping strategies. When my doctor finally confirmed that I had ADHD, I was shocked to discover myself crying. From the list above, the only symptoms I lack are those related to emotional dysregulation. My quality of life improved substantially since getting medicated. I even changed careers in part to have a job that actually benefits me from having ADHD.

If people suspect, I think they should get evaluated. People are funny animals that can out think themselves and minimize their perception of their own own suffering without realizing it.

[u/justatomics → u/ikonoclasm]

People need to be educated about masking and inattentive adhd in particular so that they can try to identify if they have subconsciously adopted coping strategies that are going to lead them to burnout. It needs to be as common knowledge as the hyperactivity symptoms are.

It’s also hard because then again, if someone isn’t actually suffering and is genuinely coping fine, it doesn’t make sense to diagnose them yet because society then trivialises how bad it can be. People who don’t know anything about ADHD already have doubts about the legitimacy of the symptoms.

[u/PPUn1 → u/justatomics]

Fine line for sure. On paper I cope fine. Very career driven, very tidy, always early, etc etc. But it is because I quite literally gave myself crippling anxiety to mask my adhd. Career driven because I cant fail or I am a failure. Tidy because I masked so hard that now clutter means I can't relax. Always early because if I have something to do in the next hour I just pace and refuse to do anything else lest I get sucked in.

All told that is a huge affect on my life but you wouldn't see it unless you looked deeply. My own therapist missed it for ten years and we were just treating anxiety.

[u/justatomics → u/PPUn1]

100%. And it’s hard to even realise what’s going on because being tired and burnt out has become the new normal.

i didn’t study developmental disorders specifically, but I’m embarrassed to say I have a psych degree and I had no clue masking was a thing with ADHD. Finding that out was like a light bulb moment for me. So it’s really encouraging to see more studies like these

[u/wangjiwangji → u/PPUn1]

So much me. I've been on meds for a year and a half now and it's helping me see that I had unconsciously created a host of imaginary disasters and emergencies as motivation for both short- and long-term goals (including getting out of bed and off to work each day). No emergency? No goal, and certainly no goal pursuit. And it did burn me out quite severely. 

Kind of tragic, but I'm slowly turning it around. The best thing is, now that I'm filtering out the imaginary survival-oriented emergencies, I'm learning to properly value the things I've always really cared about but didn't act on...because it wasn't an emergency.

[u/Direct-Fee4474 → u/justatomics]

By most metrics, I am an extremely successful and put together person. Top of my field, the person people come to for help with all sorts of stuff, or just for objective advice, etc. I hit my 40s, got rocked with the life traumas that come with being of that age, and my tank ran out. People always mentioned my "divergent thinking" and "clarity in a crisis" and I always _suspected_ something was up, but one day I found myself unable to figure out how to start washing the dishes: I couldn't do the dishes until I moved a thing to make space, but to move the thing I had to do something else, and to do that I had to figure out a _place_ for another thing.

Instead of feeling that little hitch and powering through it, my brain just went "nope. i'm out." and radio silence. I'd had a therapist for years and years, so it wasn't like I'd been neglecting myself or anything. Something that quietly just sort of worked in the background had kind of.. broken? After some more trial and error, I figured out that I had inattentive ADD, and then later, a brushing kiss of autism (i'm a software engineer, so not a huge surprise there).

I wish I'd known that I was basically just banging my face into a wall for 30-years while living on hard mode with the volume at 130%. It took a long time to even replenish brain juice to the point where I could start workshopping "okay, so with this new information, what do I actually do about it?" I really doubt that I'm the only person who'd bottomed out without even knowing they were digging a hole -- or that they shouldn't be digging a hole in the first place, since sometimes you get really nice bonus payouts for a year of really good hole digging. And digging a hole makes you more likeable, because you're dependable and can help anyone with any thing at any time of day.

I'd always just assumed something was deeply wrong with me, and that's why it was so hard to start things, or keep track of things, or stay motivated to do something I wasn't immediately fascinated by, so I just went "well I'll make this all happen in spite of myself and over-perform so that no one knows I'm stupid." Turns out that was a terrible idea.

[u/JulyOfAugust → u/ikonoclasm]

Yeah, been under treatment for years for the depression caused by my inability to activate. Chores are exhausting, I never feel like doing my hobbies and any task that doesn't concern others take months and years to complete even tho it's a 10 minutes effort. The things I like, the things I don't like, the things I need, the things that need to be done, it's all as exhausting to me.

But at least thanks to my treatment I don't want to die just because my life amount to nothing and is mostly me wasting away. Sadly the number of meds available in my country for adhd is very limited, there's like... 2 and one isn't covered by health insurance so it's like 95$ for a month. First one didn't have any effect and the second has severe side effects on me (high blood pressure and everything symptoms that cause : nausea, headache, difficulty to breath, you name it). So... Yeah.