How to Write Believable ADHD
INTRO
so obvi rick riordan is the master, he did ADHD correctly, but i see a lot of people writing ADHD in the way that portreys it asĀ āSQUIRREL SQUIRREL WAS THAT A SQUIRREL???? MUST MOVE MUST MOVE MUST MOVE FHDAFHEIAIEAā
this is both HORRIBLY wrong and offensive.
ADHD is not what you think it is. ADD is not the same as ADHD. thereās a lot of parts of ADHD/ADD that nobody ever talks about. in this post iām going to talk about ADHD using:
things i know about ADHD/ADD
my experience as an adolescent with ADD
my experience as the sister of an adolescent with strong ADHD
my experience as the daughter of an adult with ADHD
i hope this will be helpful with writing believable, non-offensive ADHD and ADD characters.Ā
WHAT IS ADHD?
ADHD is an executive dysfunction. ADHD is divided into four different types:Ā
Inattentive
Hyperactive
Impulsive
Combination (two or all of the above)
ADHD VS. ADD
ADHD: Attention Deficit HyperactivityĀ Disorder
ADD: Attention Deficit Disorder
ADD is a type of ADHD. As you may have guessed, is a term used when a person diagnosed with ADHD doesnāt show signs of hyperactivity.
Remember: ADD can be called ADHD, but ADHD cannotĀ be called ADD.
They are different things, but since ADHD is more well-known, people with ADD might say they are ADHD instead to avoid having to give an explanation as to what ADD is. Unless you want to continuously have your ADD character explain what it means (or have every other character automatically know what it means, which is unrealistic) you will probably have them say theyāre ADHD.
ADHD SYMPTOMS
Inattentive: getting distracted easily, having poor concentration and organization skills
Impulsive: interrupting, taking risks, poor impulse control
Hyperactive: difficulties staying on task, talking and fidgeting, never seeming to slow down
People experience these symptoms in different ways. People who were born with male chromosomes will often exhibit the more hyperactive side, while people born with female chromosomes will be more quietly inattentive.
Symptoms must effect your day-to-day life in order to actually mean ADHD! Getting distracted unusually easily once in a while doesnāt mean ADHD.
ADHD THINGS THAT ARENāT MEDICALLY SPOKEN OF
These are really just more specific things that usually come along with ADHD or ADD. (Not everybody has all--or even any--of these!)
Forgetting wordsĀ
āwhatās the word??? you know, like,,,, medium but sad. if something medium-sized was depressed. its,,,,, SMALL, THE WORD IS SMALLā
āi hate,,,, i HATE,,,,, what is it, itās like racism but genders,,,,,, you know, pink & blue toys???? its--itās---- PATRIARCHY, I HATE THE PATRIARCHYā
āwhat is it wHAT ISĀ IT ITāS,,, AH FUCK,,,,, LIKE THE WORD IS ALSO BUT I---OH THE WORD IS BUTā
āiĀ Ā f o r g o tĀ Ā w h a tĀ Ā t oĀ Ā c a l lĀ Ā j o a n n eāĀ āisnāt joanne,,, your mother?āĀ āoh my god yes thats the word motherā
Procrastination
ugh, procrastination SUCKS. the kind of procrastination that comes with ADHD/ADD is like:Ā
āi have to do this ihavetodothisihavetodothisihavetodothisā running through your head while you continue to NOT do the thing. You want to, absolutely you do, but for some reason you just canāt make yourself do it.
Night Owl, But Not Really
A lot of people with ADHD experience a kind of thing where during the day, theyāre slowly waking up andĀ āloadingā their brain. Then, at night, they are FULLY READY FOR THE DAY and now cannot go to sleep, resulting in a continuation of the cycle.
Out of Sight, Out of Mind
Literally. If you cannot see it, it is not there. This results in:
Losing things. CONSTANTLY.
If it ends up in the back of the fridge, itās going to rot (unless somebody cleans out the fridge before that).
Clothes at the bottom of the drawer/back of the closet will never be worn.
If there is a pile of papers, any paper that is not (and is not directly-four papers below) the top one is gone forever.
Closed box? Say goodbye to whatever was in it.
Homework in a folder? Oof, hope that wasnāt too much of your grade.
REJECTION SYNDROME
Rejection syndrome is most prominent in women with ADHD/ADD. Iām not sure how to accurately explain rejection syndrome without showing examples, so:
Somebody glances at you (however briefly), and you immediately think theyāre judging you/being mean to you.
Two people are whispering, and you immediately assume they are saying mean things about you.
basically, rejection syndrome is a forever-heightened feeling that the people around you hate or dislike you.
thatās all for now! i hope this was helpful. if you have any questions about this or would like me to write a meta about something else, my asks are always open. i also recommend the blog @adhdbri if youād like to see more of aĀ āday-to-day lifeā example of ADHD. thanks for reading! bye!
