ADHD and Everything Neurodivergent

Snow White - Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Constant, irrational worry about dirt, germs, or contamination.

Excessive concern with order, arrangement, or symmetry.

Fear that negative or aggressive thoughts or impulses will cause personal harm or harm to a loved one.  

Feeling overly responsible for the safety of others.

Cleaning — Repeatedly washing one’s hands, bathing, or cleaning household items, often for hours at a time.

Mental rituals — Endless reviewing of conversations, counting; repetitively calling up “good” thoughts to neutralize “bad” thoughts or obsessions; or excessive praying and using special words or phrases to neutralize obsessions.

Cinderella -  Complex Trauma

Situations causing the kind of traumatic stress that can lead to C-PTSD-like symptoms include captivity or entrapment (a situation lacking a viable escape route for the victim), as well as psychological manipulation (gaslighting and/or false accusations), which can result in a prolonged sense of helplessness and deformation of one’s identity and sense of self. 

Variations in consciousness, including forgetting traumatic events (i.e., psychogenic amnesia), reliving experiences (either in the form of intrusive PTSD symptoms or in ruminative preoccupation), or having episodes of dissociation.

Changes in self-perception, such as a chronic and pervasive sense of helplessness, paralysis of initiative, shame, guilt, self-blame, a sense of defilement or stigma, and a sense of being completely different from other human beings.

Varied changes in the perception of the perpetrator, such as attributing total power to the perpetrator (caution: victim’s assessment of power realities may be more realistic than clinician’s), becoming preoccupied with the relationship to the perpetrator, including a preoccupation with revenge, idealization or paradoxical gratitude, a sense of a special relationship with the perpetrator or acceptance of the perpetrator’s belief system or rationalizations.

Alterations in relations with others, including isolation and withdrawal, persistent distrust, a repeated search for a rescuer, disruption in intimate relationships and repeated failures of self-protection.

Loss of, or changes in, one’s system of meanings, which may include a loss of sustaining faith or a sense of hopelessness and despair.

Alice -  Schizophrenia

Hallucinations

Delusions

Thought disorders (unusual or dysfunctional ways of thinking)

“Flat affect” (reduced expression of emotions via facial expression or voice tone)

Reduced feelings of pleasure in everyday life

Difficulty beginning and sustaining activities

Poor “executive functioning” (the ability to understand information and use it to make decisions)

Trouble focusing or paying attention

Problems with “working memory” (the ability to use information immediately after learning it)

Sleeping Beauty - Maladaptive Daydreaming

An extensive fantasy activity that replaces human interaction and/or interferes with academic, interpersonal, or vocational functioning. 

Daydreaming excessively in a way that is often compared to an addiction.

This excessive daydreaming often begins in childhood.

 Books, movies, music, video games, and other media may be a daydreaming trigger.

The daydreaming itself is often detailed and elaborate, sometimes compared to a movie or novel

Repetitive movements while daydreaming are common (but not always present in sufferers) — pacing, rocking, spinning, shaking something in their hand, etc.

They may sometimes talk, laugh, cry, gesture, or make facial expressions as they daydream. People suffering from this know the difference between daydreaming and reality, and do not confuse the two; this makes them distinctly different from psychotics or schizophrenics.

 Some people will lie in bed for hours daydreaming, and may either have difficulty going to sleep because of this, or have difficulty getting out of bed once awake. They may also neglect basic functions such as regular meals, showering, and other daily activities because of their daydreaming.

Ariel -  Disposophobia

They hold onto a large number of items that most people would consider useless or worthless 

Their home is cluttered to the point where many parts are inaccessible and can no longer be used for intended purpose

Get into a lot of arguments with family members regarding the clutter

Strong urges to save items and/or distress associated with discarding

Belle -  Schizoid Personality Disorder (SPD)

People with SPD are often aloof, cold and indifferent, which causes interpersonal difficulty. Most individuals diagnosed with SPD have trouble establishing personal relationships or expressing their feelings meaningfully. 

They may remain passive in the face of unfavorable situations

When the individual’s personal space is violated, they feel suffocated and feel the need to free themselves and be independent.

 It is possible for schizoid individuals to form relationships with others based on intellectual, physical, familial, occupational, or recreational activities as long as these modes of relating do not require or force the need for emotional intimacy, which the affected individual will reject.

schizoid individuals prefer to make relationships on their own terms and not in terms of the impulses of other people. Failing to attain that, they prefer isolation

Consistent preference for solitary activities

Indifference to social norms and conventions.

Preoccupation with fantasy and introspection

Jasmine -  Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD)

Includes at least four symptoms from any of these categories — angry and irritable mood; argumentative and defiant behavior; or vindictiveness

Occurs with at least one individual who is not a sibling

Causes significant problems at work, school or home

Occurs on its own, rather than as part of the course of another mental health problem, such as a substance use disorder, depression or bipolar disorder

Often loses temper 

Is often touchy or easily annoyed by others

Is often angry and resentful

Often argues with adults or people in authority

Often actively defies or refuses to comply with adults’ requests or rules

Often deliberately annoys people

Is often spiteful or vindictive

Has shown spiteful or vindictive behavior at least twice in the past six months

Blatant hostility towards others

Being unwilling to compromise or negotiate

Frequent frustration

Difficulty concentrating

Failure to “think before speaking or acting”

Difficulty making friends

Loss of self-esteem

Persistent negativity

Consistent feelings of annoyance

Pocahontas - Depression 

Feelings of helplessness and hopelessness. A bleak outlook—nothing will ever get better and there’s nothing you can do to improve your situation.

Loss of interest in daily activities. No interest in former hobbies, pastimes, social activities, or sex. You’ve lost your ability to feel joy and pleasure.

Anger or irritability. Feeling agitated, restless, or even violent. Your tolerance level is low, your temper short, and everything and everyone gets on your nerves.

Loss of energy. Feeling fatigued, sluggish, and physically drained. Your whole body may feel heavy, and even small tasks are exhausting or take longer to complete.

Self-loathing. Strong feelings of worthlessness or guilt. You harshly criticize yourself for perceived faults and mistakes.

Reckless behavior. You engage in escapist behavior such as substance abuse, compulsive gambling, reckless driving, or dangerous sports.

Concentration problems. Trouble focusing, making decisions, or remembering things.

Withdrawing from family members or people around you

Can be brought about by trauma or loss 

Mulan -  Atelophobia

Feelings of unreality or of being detached from oneself

Fear of failing

Pessimistic view on the outcome of situations before it happens

Low self-esteem

Extreme disappointment if one fails at something

Responding unrealistically to a situation

Depression

Constant worrying about upcoming activities

An overbearing amount of fear

Unhealthy excessive emotions, such as anger, sadness, jealousy and hurt

The desire to abruptly leave the situation

Accelerated heart rate

Trembling or shaking

Increased muscle tension

Constant restlessness

Nervous mannerisms

Tiana -  Workaholism

Preoccupation with work; constant thoughts or even discussions about work issues at inappropriate times

Withdrawal from social activities

Loss of interest in hobbies or other enjoyable activities

Working despite a need for sleep or even food

Working when extremely tired or even when ill

Loss of ability to relax

Inability to trust colleagues or subordinates to do work that they can perform on your behalf

Workaholics see work as a way to distance themselves from unwanted feelings and relationships.

Workaholics believe that work is more important than anything else in their lives, including family and friends.

Workaholics get excitement from meeting impossible demands

Hard workers can take breaks from work while workaholics can’t. They think about work regardless of what they’re doing or who they’re with.

Workaholics are intense, energetic, competitive and driven

Workaholics have self-doubts

Workaholics prefer work to leisure

Workaholics work anytime, anywhere

Workaholics blur the line between business and pleasure. As a consequence, it’s not uncommon for workaholics to have major health problems including stress-induced illnesses, chronic fatigue and increased anxiety levels

Rapunzel - Bipolar Disorder

Difficulty concentrating, remembering, and making decisions

Fatigue, decreased energy, being “slowed down”

Feelings of guilt, worthlessness, helplessness

Feelings of hopelessness, pessimism

Insomnia, early-morning awakening, or oversleeping

Persistently sad, anxious, or “empty” moods

Restlessness, irritability

Disconnected and very fast (racing) thoughts

Grandiose beliefs

Inappropriate elation or euphoria

Inappropriate irritability

Inappropriate social behavior

Increased talking speed or volume

Markedly increased energy

Poor judgment

A decreased need for sleep due to high energy

Extreme focus on projects at work or at home

Exuberant and elated mood

Increased confidence

Increased creativity and productivity

Reckless behaviors

Risky pleasure-seeking behaviors

Mood swings 

Anna - Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD, ADD)

Be easily distracted, miss details, forget things, and frequently switch from one activity to another

Become bored with a task after only a few minutes, unless they are doing something enjoyable

Not seem to listen when spoken to

Daydream, become easily confused, and move slowly

Have difficulty processing information as quickly and accurately as others

Struggle to follow instructions.

Fidget and squirm in their seats

Talk nonstop

Dash around, touching or playing with anything and everything in sight

Have trouble sitting still during dinner, school, and story time

Be constantly in motion

Have difficulty doing quiet tasks or activities.

Be very impatient

Blurt out inappropriate comments, show their emotions without restraint, and act without regard for consequences

Have difficulty waiting for things they want or waiting their turns in games

Often interrupt conversations or others’ activities.

Elsa -  Avoidant Personality Disorder (AvPD)

Hypersensitivity to rejection/criticism

Self-imposed social isolation

Extreme shyness or anxiety in social situations, though the person feels a strong desire for close relationships

Avoids physical contact because it has been associated with an unpleasant or painful stimulus

Feelings of inadequacy

Severe low self-esteem

Self-loathing

Mistrust of others

Emotional distancing related to intimacy

Highly self-conscious

Self-critical about their problems relating to others

Problems in occupational functioning

Lonely self-perception, although others may find the relationship with them meaningful

Feeling inferior to others

In some extreme cases, agoraphobia

Uses fantasy as a form of escapism to interrupt painful thoughts

Persistent and pervasive feelings of tension and apprehension

Restrictions in lifestyle because of need to have physical security

This is the ADHD Teapot. I made it in a ceramics class a few years ago. I use it to explain executive dysfunction to people who haven’t come across the term before (and those who think of ADHD mostly as Hyperactive EightYear Old Boy Syndrome).

So, most people’s brains are like a regular shaped teapot with a single spout. Let’s say that your time, energy, focus etc is the liquid you have in the teapot. Your executive function is the spout, that directs the tea into the specific cup you want to fill-aka the task that you’re meant to be doing. Spills happen occasionally, but generally most of the tea goes in the right cup.

If you have executive dysfunction, you have multiple spouts going in different directions. You can try pointing one of them at your chosen cup and you will probably get some liquid in there, perhaps you will even fill it right up (finish the task). But meanwhile, tea is also pouring out of several other places and not going where you want it. If you have another container nearby, perhaps some of it will end up in there. But quite a lot of it is going to end up on the floor and accomplish nothing.

And at the end of the day you’ll have filled one or two cups ( or sometimes not even one) compared to the five or six that somebody with the same sized teapot (but only one spout) has filled, and everyone wonders why you’re so bad at getting tea poured, and why you make such a mess in the process.

One day I’d like to spend more time learning pottery and create a really technically good fucked up little adhd teapot. But that’s a long way off since i currently live in the outback and the nearest pottery workshop is some 400km away. But I figure that for now, it might be a useful or interesting metaphor to somebody even in its rough draft form.

Parable of the Polygons - an interactive experiment that shows how tiny individual biases can collectively cause segregation on a massive scale.

To Build a Better Ballot - an interactive experiment that shows the alternatives to the voting systems we currently use and how they can be more representative and democratic, along with their faults.

Coming Out Simulator - a short interactive story/novel about coming out, based off of Case’s own experiences. Not one I’ve played myself but still one I can recommend.

Loopy - a very simple but useful tool to show how systems interact with each other and how things can self-propagate.

i was on the buss and i hallucinated bugs crawling all over my hands, so my friend pulled my hoodie sleeves over them with permission and held my hands through the sleeves to "keep them off". they used the logic you would in a real bug situation.

i went nonverbal in a bad one in class, so my friend wrote me a note to give to the nurse since the teacher wouldn't let her go with me.

i often am very paranoid about the delusion that meat is actually rotten, so my dad will sometimes eat a bit of it before me

hey, no problem, there’s nothing wrong with not knowing things like that and asking about it (i didn’t even know of rsd before my first sessions with my therapist so yeah, you’re fine) 

- if it was really important, you wouldn’t have forgotten about it

- have you tried meditating

- you’re so dramatic, it’s not a big deal

- stop fidgeting

- ‘i dont know’ isnt an answer

- any ‘ooh shiny’ joke

- any ‘squirrel’ joke

- just go to bed earlier

- you can’t have adhd, you’re too smart

- stop procrastinating

- adhd isn’t real, it’s just kids being kids

Also being called sensitive, being girls don't have ADHD, or girls with ADHD are different than boys (I'm not. Girls typically present more of the inattentive kind of ADHD. Not me.)

For me, I feel like, "boys are diagnosed with ADHD more than girls: is one because I don't believe it. I believe they are diagnosed less but I don't believe that it's more common in boys than girls. I just think either doctors don't think girls have it or because girls tend to lack the most known symptom: the hyperactivity, it's missed by doctors, parents, and teachers.

So you end up with this inflated ego and stalwart belief that you should be capable of curing cancer, discovering new planets, composing new opera pieces to take the world by storm, if you only tried harder. But for some inexplicable reason, you simply won't put your mind and focus on it, and now you hate yourself for not being the spectacular specimen you were taught you ought to be.

And that's why you end up having these conversations with your therapist where they are like "normal people don't put this kind of demands and expectations on themselves", and you dead seriously fucking answer

I think because I've been inflicted with this my whole life, and because my dad has ADHD, so I see how he was (that's a whole other story of neglect that miraculously didn't end in my death), I have been aware of my inability to focus affecting my work. I do have impossible goals in mind, I want to be a famous writer and bring awareness to the reality of ADHD, I have all these plans but since I turned eighteen, I seem to have the worse case of writer's block and now every original idea I have is clearly inspired by another already existing idea, no matter how much I try to deviate it, but I wouldn't say I have an ego about it.

I'm aware of my inability to focus, I'm aware of me always thinking I'll start being productive the next day, I'm aware of my hyperactivity, I have fits of awareness where I realized I'm not doing what I'm supposed to be. I think because my whole life I've been yelled at by one or two people and had my flaws pointed out to me over and over but I knew I was trying my best even if it doesn't look like it.

There's a line in The Good Place, I think describes ADHD productiveness. (

Trying to want to is basically most of my day described.

(The Good Place is full of lines that people with ADHD will relate to or there are plenty of memes paraphrasing the quotes.)