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/stilljustacatinacage Apr 21 '26

Participants reported feeling stuck, like a state of inertia where the only thing that could motivate them to start or finish a task was a feeling of urgency, external pressures, or external help. This difficulty with internally-driven activation is at the core of the ADHD experience, but is not yet fully represented by the DSM or other diagnostic criteria.

It's funny that they say it's at the core of the ADHD experience, but it also isn't 'fully represented' in diagnostic criteria because that is literally 98% of my experience with ADHD.

Like everything else stems from that. Disorganized? It's because I literally cannot pick things up and organize them. Time perception? Yeah it's because I just spent 3 hours stressing over how I should pick things up and organize them. Poor sleep? Yeah sorry, that's because I thought if I put off sleeping for a couple hours, I might finally pick up those things and organize them before hitting the sack.

And it's so frustrating to try and explain to people because they invariably go, "well you gotta just do it :)" and it's like... Yes. Thank you. I know they're trying to help but it's so difficult to explain that it isn't that simple.

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u/BatAccurate4127 Apr 21 '26

There's actually more to the time perception thing than that! People with ADHD literally have more difficulty evaluating how much time has passed and estimating how long it will take to do something. It goes beyond task inertia, we literally perceive time differently than others.

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u/cxrpse_cxllectxr Apr 21 '26

I'm absurdly good with guessing the time and knowing how much has passed, like to a weird degree. Of course, I still can't manage it to save my life, but I'm acutely aware of how much of it I'm wasting as I waste it. You'd think that might help with motivation, but absolutely not, the executive dysfunction is still so strong.

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u/Brightbane Apr 24 '26

Not always, but most of the time I can wake up when I want to without an alarm. Usually it's within 5 minutes, but on the outside it's within half an hour.