ADHD and ASD

I have been living with severe ADHD symptoms my entire life and had no idea that I had a disability. Listening to you explain symptoms at various ages was like listening to a stranger describe my life story back to me. Very surreal. I look back at all the obvious signs now and wonder how it was that no one noticed or helped me. I was VERY CLEARLY struggling lol I feel like the adults in my childhood utterly failed me and consistently wrote me off as a lazy, unintelligent, problem child.

Dr. I am glad u have finally clarified this. I was told my high IQ was attributed to my ADHD. I believe that ADHD has robbed whatever achievement my IQ should have given me

Kid of the 80s, never diagnosed with adhd our autism although I have now learned I have both. The symptoms were clear as a child but I was treated as a behavioral problem because of my inability to connect and crying all the time cause "everyone was so mean". I wonder what the real numbers of prevalency are as more and more of us become aware of our issues we have learned to adapt to or hide? My mother's and grandmothers autism was much more noticeable, leading me to believe I had no issue, as my symptoms were more subtle in comparison, even though I questioned it numerous times as a child, usually when I had an issue with math retention (dyscalculia). 2 college degrees and a registered nurse, so I've done well, but life continues to be stressful in distressing ways regarding relationships and how many demands I can handle at once.

13:25 ASD - panick reactions, meltdowns, limbic storms characterized by anxiety, panic, aggression 14:08 emotions seen in ASD are extreme, easily provoked, irrational, longer duration, more difficult to recover from

Nice to have real informative videis so available online. Isn't it incredible how easy it is to pay attention to someone saying something of value? I swear our attention spans arent decreasing from short form content, but rather from the lowering quality of information available in that content.

Regarding SCT. I definitely like your naming rather than “sluggish”. Anyway. I am watching your lectures and content because I feel like you understand more about us (AuDHD) than anyone I have ever heard talk about us and worse, the way we get treated. I think you are spot on about SCT yet to me it feels like the bridge because I experience both and it’s bad in the sense of no matter how hard I try I cannot for the life of my stay engaged. My brain will find ANYTHING else to engage with regardless of whether or not I am highly interested. This has been an ongoing issue with me in relationships and academics. Regarding social relationships this is very hurtful not just to me but also my kids and husband and “friends” because I DO wonder off in my head and people see this and no matter how hard to I try to backtrack it comes across as “she’s not interested” or worse “she doesn’t care.” Imagine when your own child who you love and are most interested in says this to you and you cannot explain in any meaningful way that it’s not them. You’re not boring but also you are to my brain. This had created so many problems both inward and outward because it is absolutely true to me that I I will start analyzing things being said and go off into different areas in my head and miss what was truly important to those around me as well as checking in and out in class and often telling myself “please pay attention” and it’s a loop that I really cannot help. I often feel like my attention is splayed across so many different things and my attention comes in and out if focus so rapidly that I have to go back over and over again to pick up what I missed because I know I did when things aren’t making sense. This is excruciatingly frustrating NOT to mention that I HAVE to move. To me it feels like the battle to stay awake like you see in kids who kick about when told to go to bed and become agitated. It’s how I operate 80% of my days..thank the maker of Audiobooks because it’s easier for me to stay engaged when I can move about while doing so. At any rate. I feel compelled to offer my input to someone who really seems to understand because psychologists/psychologists and people have made me feel like a detriment to society for never being able to succeed in all the places society has great expectations for. Nearly everything you say I relate to. There are just a few aspects that I don’t quite understand that you didn’t speak of here and that one being Objective Theory because I see others or NT being deficient when it comes to the way they use people as a means to attain something and how I interpret that yet I also don’t understand what is being asked about when it comes to the nature of bonding when trying to bond with others has been a primary issue where I feel like I am but that is usually not reciprocated so I feel a lot of rejection. Anyway. I am rambling. I know you said this was in 2021 and don’t know how well received your understanding is for those in your profession but I do hope they are listening because above all else. I just want people to understand me when I say I cannot help it.

I want to add, some of us are still Hyper I don't stop moving ever! Thank you for advocating for ADHD and making me more self aware. I wish I could talk to you more!!

I have diagnosed ADHD and a strong suspicion of autism. I think "sluggish cognitive tempo" is more accurate than it might appear. It's not that I lack intellectual capacity: I'm usually the smartest one in the room. But I tend, in some sense, to think in paragraphs rather than sentences, so while throughput is higher than others around me, tempo is indeed slower, it takes time to collect my thoughts, and if a group conversation goes back and forth too rapidly, I tend not to be able to get a word in edgewise. I have a suspicion that a factor in autism may be that information is processed in larger batches with fewer batches per unit time. This could explain sensory issues; if thoughts are larger and take longer, and every sensation that crosses a certain threshold interrupts a thought, then with a given threshold a greater percentage of thoughts will be interrupted and more total mental capacity will be lost to interruptions. An individual with a low threshold will hardly be able to think despite ample capacity, and an individual with a high threshold will be able to think just fine, but will hardly notice anything in the outside world. This could also explain comorbid motor issues: if information takes longer to process, then motor planning is likely to lag sensory input by more than it would in a neurotypical.

This is a really great video about these two conditions and how they differ. What I would love to hear more about is the symptom complexities when they co-occur. Thanks again!

Thank you Dr Barkley for another brilliant lecture. Truly grateful for the knowledge you share.

The more I learn, the more I think my grandfather may have been on the spectrum and I may be as well. I went to be tested for ADHD and was diagnosed with EFD. There was mention of quirks in my assessment but at that time it wasn't of any concern to me. I'm at the point in life where I'd like to understand myself more and think I'll go back for more insight. I appreciate all of the information you've shared!

Thank you Dr. Barkley you are the best !

Very informative, thank you!

Sr. Barkley, thank you for this video. I'm an brazilian ADHD. I had my psychological report in December 2022, accompanied by a psychologist, psychiatrist and neuropsychologist. I'm loving your videos and your book "Taking Charge of Adult ADHD". I would like to know more about difference between perseveration and hyperfocus. Thank you so much.

Thank you Doctor! Very helpful information 🎉

Would love to have you on the podcast Specifically talking about: - ADHD, ASD in Entrepreneurs - Late diagnosis - Overlaps w/ other conditions - Emerging protocols as possible solutions beyond the current solutions - AI's benefits/problems for people w/ ADHD, ASD I know you're busy and I'll understand if you're not able to do this But nonetheless, thank you from all of us working through some of this stuff with your help Your continued work in the space has been immense :)

I got my ADHD diagnosis 7 months ago, I've done a lot of research but it doesn't sound like me aside from needing high levels of stress to finish or focus on a task. I can listen to people, I'm not easily distracted, or forgetful as typical of ADHD, I however can't persist, self-motivate, or switch tasks. I can't find relief overall because I 'mask' too much and can't remember who I was before 'masking'.

I was diagnosed with ADHD in the 90's back when if you were diagnosed with one you were automatically precluded from the other and I believe I was very likely misdiagnosed at the time. I have very little to no overlap with the symptomology of ADHD, but Autism with a fairly high level of impact/impairment fits both my past and current experiences far more accurately. It is nice to see that there have been advances in symptomology identification and distinction over the years. SCT naming withstanding is interesting to see mentioned and outlined.

Thank you sir.

It would be good to note in the description what the new name for sluggish cognitive tempo is.