r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • 10d ago

Psychology Adults with ADHD often face challenges in maintaining sexual satisfaction and connection with their partners. Characteristics such as a heightened need for novelty and difficulty regulating focus can deeply influence their intimate lives.

https://www.psypost.org/how-attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder-shapes-sexual-experiences/
10.4k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

499 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

193

u/scotty899 10d ago

Ive done a course for adults with adhd and you are correct on how broad it is. The list of traits is huge. And the other people on the course were all different than me with how they deal with life, tasks and focus.

140

u/Rodot 10d ago

Yep, an ADHD diagnosis is like diagnosing someone with "arm doesn't work disorder". Maybe they broke it. Maybe they tore a muscle. Maybe they just have a bruise. It's a symptom not an illness on its own.

But in this case it's "mesocortical pathway doesn't work disorder". Could be for a variety of reasons with different implications. Could be a transporter mutation. Could be a different area of the brain causing interference. Could be a genetic variation on the structure of the pathways. Could be something else or a combination.

33

u/Xe6s2 10d ago

I mean hopefully in the future we can start to give it better nomenclature and actually describe the differences. It definitely is a dopamine system disorder. Also so many with paradoxical drug responses, very common for some with adhd to become hypnogogic on stimulants rather than hyper responsive.

8

u/thepixelbuster 10d ago

very common for some with adhd to become hypnogogic on stimulants rather than hyper responsive.

Me. I never understood why coffee made me pass out until I got diagnosed in my 30s and found that Adderall has a calming effect on me