What are some positive aspects of having ADD / ADHD?
Adults with ADD can be very fun to be with! Some of the positive traits are:
Creativity – Daydreaming and attending to many different thoughts at once can be just the right trait for creative problem-solving. People with ADD are often excellent at brainstorming ideas. Because they do not choose which ideas to focus on too early, they are more open to considering all ideas, to engaging in divergent thinking. Such thinking allows for rare insights in such fields as art, music, and science. Creative thinking is especially useful to inventors, entertainers, comedians, and medical doctors.
Enthusiasm, spontaneity, liveliness, flexibility – Attending to a lot of thoughts at once can provide lively conversation for others who associate with the person with ADD.
Hyperfocus, high energy, tenacity and drive – If something is interesting to a person with ADD, there may be no way to distract them from the task! This is particularly true of interactive or hands-on activities.
Intelligence – Some adults with ADD are extremely bright or gifted.
Could ADHD actually be a gift?
In 1993, Thom Hartmann proposed that the “condition” of ADHD is actually a gift, a 10,000 year old leftover of hunters in a farmer’s world. According to his explanation, the problem lies more with our current cultural expectations and with our schools (designed by and for “farmers” – those who plan ahead tend their fields carefully) than with the child whose brain, for whatever reason, is more like that of the hunter:
scanning the environment (for prey)
the ability fall into a dream-like state for long periods (during down periods)
the ability to become suddenly hyperfocused and thrive on danger and excitement (the hunt)
The modern hunter “… is hunting in a metaphorical sense. Hunting for excitement. Hunting for the prize: the cure for cancer or the truth in the theory of global warming. Hunting for the mental or physical stimulation to mimic the hunt of our ancestors. Entrepreneurs are a good example.”
Part I of this series addresses the symptoms and diagnosis of ADD / ADHD. Part II is filled with practical non-drug tips and suggestions for parenting and teaching a child with ADD / ADHD and for managing your own adult ADD. It also addresses the controversies surrounding medications for children. See Series contents
References and resources
tIS ALL SOUNDS GOOD TO ME. i SCORED AN 88
__________________ Never burn the bridge of mercy... You never know when you will need it to cross.
Doctrine makes a wonderful servant but a horrible master!
I have been officially diagnosed with it but have not taken any meds. I do agree with the list of POSITIVE things about it, but it's also a pain in the rear when it comes to doing any long tedious jobs.
I have been officially diagnosed with it but have not taken any meds. I do agree with the list of POSITIVE things about it, but it's also a pain in the rear when it comes to doing any long tedious jobs.
The purpose of this site is to give people a better understanding of ADD.
What is A.D.D.?
ADD Stands for Attention Deficit Disorder This is one of the only times that I will refer to ADD as Attention Deficit Disorder. Those of us that are ADD know that attention is only one part of being ADD. Plus we really don't have an attention deficit. In fact we actually have an over abundance of attention. It's just hard for us to pay attention to only one thing at a time. If that one thing is boring or meaningless to us, it is next to impossible to pay attention to it...
Positive ADD Traits
Creativity: People with ADD are very creative. Yes, You are creative too. Living in a non-ADD world may have stifled your creativity though. When we as ADD people have no outlet for creativity that is when problems start to escalate...
Sensitivity: People with ADD are highly sensitive. Many ADD people appear to be the exact opposite though. This may be because society does not want us to show our feelings. This is especially hard for males. We wonder why little boys with ADD/ADHD are fighting a lot. If they cry like they feel like doing they may be told that crying is for babies and to "suck it up"...
Intuition: People with ADD are very intuitive. We rely a lot on our gut feelings. For some reason our society does not to seem to value intuition very highly. Society wants us to prove everything. Sometimes it's very hard for people with ADD to find proof for what they know in their gut is 100% correct...
Intelligence: People with ADD are usually very intelligent. Sometimes tests used by the non-ADD world do not always show that. Plus when people with ADD are not interested in something we don't do very well and the tests become worthless...
The Negative parts of ADD
Misunderstanding: Many children and adults with ADD often feel misunderstood. Much of this has to do with non-ADD people not understanding ADD. Many people don't believe ADD exists at all. There are also many others that label ADD as a disability or disorder. Yes, we as people with ADD may think differently than non-ADD people, but that really does not make us disabled..
Focusing: People with ADD have trouble focusing on one thing at time. The non-ADD world sees this as a problem. It can in fact be a problem when an a person with ADD is reading a book that really doesn't interest him or her. Many of us really like the fact that were are able to do 5 things at once. While many non-ADD people can't "walk and chew gum at the same time". People with ADD can do that and so much more...
Organizing: Some people with ADD appear to be very disorganized. Many times that is just an outside appearance. We may not have things in neat files or everything in a spot. Yet, we can usually locate things that are important to us. It's just that since so many things are not important to us at every moment things do get misplaced. For instance when the phone rings it's not import to us at that moment where we put our cars keys. So, the keys usually get thrown down any where... Time: Time can be an enemy to people with ADD. It's almost as if it's a foreign concept to us. This can lead to many problems in the non-ADD world. Bills don't get paid on time, assignments aren't handed in, we are late for appointments. Time just doesn't make sense to us at times...
Completing Tasks: This may be one of the largest problems for children and adults with ADD. The problems above make it hard for us to complete things. Also, many people with ADD don't ever see any things as completely finished. We almost always have something more to add. It's hard for us to figure our what is acceptable as finished to the non-ADD world when nothing is really ever finished to us...
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