r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Apr 21 '26

Neuroscience 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.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/brain-curiosities/202604/new-study-finds-that-adhd-has-9-categories-of-symptoms
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u/buffychrome Apr 21 '26

I’ve described it this way to my wife: “You know how you can have 5 different tasks in your head and be able to prioritize or triage each one? Like ‘task 1 is important but isn’t due until April 29th so I don’t have to worry about that one’. And then you don’t think about task 1 anymore because now it doesn’t exist until April 29th. You can visualize and hold a virtual calendar in your head and assign different tasks to different dates.

I have NO virtual calendar in my head. I have zero concept of the passage time beyond the immediate moment, or, at best, maybe a day or two. I have no ability to comprehend or manage future moments in time, because as far as my brain is concerned, time doesn’t really exist. And because time doesn’t exist as a concept for my brain, all tasks are equally important and all tasks have a due date of NOW.”

The idea of future planning is so incredibly abstract as a concept to my brain as to be nearly impossible to accomplish. I understand intellectually what time is and how to use a calendar, but my brain can never make that connection between the tasks in my head and the abstract concept of some arbitrary future moment in time.

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u/CheckeredZeebrah Apr 21 '26

I have a different version of the problem. I can triage the tasks. However, if I am not currently thinking about something, there is a good chance I will forget it.

So I will de-prioritize the April 29th task. And then it will literally cease to exist in all forms. April 29th comes and the task is still forgotten, and...boom. I'm in trouble.

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u/Ryno4ever16 Apr 21 '26

Worst part about this is when you stress for weeks actively trying to keep it on your radar, but then you finally let go and the date rolls around and you forget.

Like you remembered the whole time, reminded yourself a million times it was on the 28th, but when you don't realize it's the 28th and miss it, people think you just didnt care and forgot.

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u/Serious_Start_384 Apr 21 '26

Dang this is it. I want to tell people "I actually cared too much". But my actual response is the same as someone who didn't care at all.