ADD/ADHD symptoms in adults?

I think my seebsian diagnostic was "eh, sounds sort of" when i submitted the are-you-autistic checklist.

 

It's also not like the autistic traits mean that anyone with any of them is autistic. It's just that they're all things that have correlations with autism and the more of them you have the closer to the "average autistic" you are.

 

i assume so. it's just that sometimes it sits weirdly with me how these things are phrased - like the "hates injustice and to be misunderstood" or "prefers a controlled environment". i have trouble imagining anyone who likes to be misunderstood or an environment where they have no control over anything, for example. so it'smore of a badly phrased commentary on my sense of normalcy than direct criticism on the diagnostic validity of the list.

 

sort of like i went "wait, what?" when i found out people had a strong gender identity or that there are people who genuinely feel better after social situations. what do you mean, stimming isn't normal?

 

Yeah, I think there's a "markedly more than usual" hidden qualifier on a lot of those.

 

Yeah! I think the default for most humans is assuming everyone else works like they do. The more you are close to society's assumed "default human" template, the more so you can carry that assumption and not notice when it's wrong, I think.

 

or the more socially isolated.

that's another thing that bothers me (in general, not specific to this list, i'm not criticizing it.) what's the "usual" in things? how is it measured? what's the metric for comparing experiences? fruit salad makes me gag because of the bad feeling all the textures mushed together leave in my mouth. how do i know it's a stronger dislike for the texture of fruit salad than an average human's dislike for the texture of fruit salad? where are the boundaries? i can't compare it to my dislike of coconut texture, because they are completely different categories.

one of the ADHD tests i did online had a "you are considerably more bored than other people" question and like. how the fuck do i know. do i put on a timer and make an average of bored hours/week? are there studies on how many hours the average person without ADHD spends bored so i can know if i'm within an acceptable margin for deviance of the average, slightly above/below, or markedly above/below? i know it's kind of pedantic but uuugh. drives me up the wall if i think about it too much.

 

Agreed, and I think this issue with the tests is in itself a good indication of autism.

 

Yeah, those test questions are annoying. I prefer the ones that are like "Do you do this x amount or more/less times a week?" While I do have to calculate averages, atleast it's definable.

 

I've been out all day or I would've responded soon, but I probably should clarify: that chart is specifically for traits found in girls/afab people, so it's not an exhaustive list of diagnostic criteria, it's pointing out things might manifest differently in someone socialized as female. (Per the research that trying to detect autism in girly - shaped people by using the criteria for boyish - shaped people doesn't work so well)

I see what you guys are saying about the frequency/degree stuff, though.

 

Well hey that traits list is an interesting thing
Maybe I should print it off and include it in the packet of questionnaires I got sent by the autism assessor to counterbalance the hellishly male-stereotyped 'Systemizing Quotient' questionnaire.

 

well, that's... something. i do identify with a lot of stuff on that list, but i don't think i have enough sensory issues to count? and I do have a diagnosis for depression and generalized anxiety disorder (that according to my psych bordered on psychosis during the worst of it or something).