Adult ADHD What You Need to Know

Diagnosed last month aged 57. Currently hyperfocusing on Russell Barkley, old videos and now thankfully these new ones. I listen to the audio whilst wandering around my house wondering which of the 1000 things in my mental to do list is the most achievable today.

Having someone describe your traversal through life so accurately is sobering.

I got diagnosed at 35 after my six year old got frustrated with his school work and told me he felt like his brain is "twisted up" and I decided to ask my doctor about it. My wife was getting fed up with me constantly losing my keys over and over again. I'd make careless stupid mistakes at work that I should have caught, or I'd get so preoccupied and stressed about an e-mail that I wouldn't do anything else. After getting medicated I dropped around 100 pounds, I don't feel the same existential dread that I used to and I went back to college. I'm currently doing a paper on ADHD and have been watching these videos. Anyways obviously I'm distracting myself and I need to get back to my paper but I enjoy your content and writings!

Timestamps for myself 47:15 Disorders that co-exist with ADHD (I've had to go back to the beginning of this part at least 12 times now because I keep losing the thread) 47:30 Oppositional Disorder 47:53 Conduct Disorder 48:18 Depression 49:20 Anxiety 50:34 Autism 51:29 Specific Learning Disability 52:40 Antisocial behaviour

This video has me crying. My whole life ive suffered with these crippling problems, and I've just seen myself as lazy, awkward, and immature. My entire life is crippled and frozen in time because i can't even motivate myself to see a doctor. Im glad im not alone, but im so very hopeless

Can we all just take a moment to appreciate this wonderful man and his 47+ year dedication to studying ADHD. Dr. Barkley recently retired and is STILL going strong and his passion for ADHD hasn’t waned. Dr. Russell Barkley’s pioneering research and extensive contributions to the field of ADHD have been nothing short of revolutionary. His dedication to advancing our understanding and treatment of ADHD has been a life-changing force for countless individuals across the globe. His work is not only invaluable but also a profound service to humanity, reflecting a deep commitment to enhancing the quality of life for those affected by this condition. Indeed, Dr. Barkley’s legacy is a testament to the remarkable impact that one individual’s scientific pursuit can have on the world at large. Whether or not you found Dr. Barkley by accident, recognize that you are watching history in progress and this man has been and will always be spoken about in the highest regard. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all that you have done and continue to do Dr. Russell Barkley. God bless you sir and I hope you are enjoying your well deserved retirement.

I’m 37. Just finished a computer science degree. I’ve been diagnosed since 13 and it seems to be getting worse. A couple IEDs in Iraq probably didn’t help as well as other head injuries. My iq is definitely right on the normal distribution but that doesn’t stop me from losing 9 hours to a video game, rear ending someone, accumulating parking tickets to where I get booted and all sorts of other dumb behaviors. It’s so frustrating. It’s like I have two brains. Ones a complete self centered moron who wants to strictly pursue pleasure and one who is constantly cleaning up his messes with 20/20 hind sight of what the problem is yet no will or discipline to fix it.

Him talking about resisting distractions, while I’m playing a game on my phone, when I should be studying for an exam and it’s 5 am 😬😅.

Diagnosed at 29, 3 years ago. It was me who suspected I have it, I've been regularly seeing therapists since puberty, none of them suspected that I have it (because I have high IQ) My mental health was so bad that I forgot how to feel not depressed and anxious, I spent years in major depression. Also developed secondary anxiety disorder and OCD. When you're smart but not able to finish anything you start, always late to everything, repeating classes because tou couldnt be on time for the exam, teachers, employers, friends and family decide this is a moral issue. Nobody understand I was physically unable. I tried almost every therapy method and medication on earth except stimulants, nothing worked. Then I realised I might have ADHD. Tried to get a diagnosis, the psychiatrist on public hospital laughed at me saying "yeah nobody noticed it until the age 29?" Finally I found a psychiatrist who is specialized on adult ADHD and get my diagnosis, started treatment. It is a miracle, never been this happy in my life.

I’m 32.I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was 5 (in 1995). I’ve been medicated ever since. I also have generalized anxiety and major depressive disorder as a result of my debilitating ADHD. I barely made it out of high school. Dropped out of college. Got married at 22. Had a baby 23. Divorced at 24. I’ve been fired from every job I’ve ever had. Now unemployed. Denied disability. It’s exhausting.

As a person with ADHD living in a country where ADHD is only known as being hyperactive and disabilities are rarely discussed(South Korea), your research is really life-saving and reliable! I really hope your ADHD videos provide subtitles of other language including Korean 😢 P.S. If possible, it'd help Korean ADHD teenagers and adults greatly for you to share your knowledge and passion on Korean psychiatrist's Youtube channel. Below are the reasons for this. First, it's because Korean ADHD people usually rely on internet information like Youtube videos, which definitely lacks the depth of understanding. (I feel the depth is too shallow to be actually helpful. Only a few symptoms are discussed.) Second, Korea is all about trend. Internet access is easy everywhere in Korea so anything that becomes a trend on the internet become mainstream through tv programs. That means Koreans mostly never be interested in something until the media presents it as a "trendy" content. Lastly, most Koreans are not fluent in English enough to understand English videos. English is difficult language to Koreans because English and Korean is so different phonologically and syntactically. I seriously think many ADHD people in Korea are suffering because they don't know where to get information about ADHD. They don't know how actually important understanding ADHD is. Thank you for reading this long text.

💡This is the full video version, Dr Barkley has been dividing it into categorized segments, later in this playlist : - Part I - Symptoms : https://youtu.be/JJOLRlBONHk - Part II - Nature and Impairments : https://youtu.be/6bq3tOhnwb8 - Part III - Comorbid Disorders : https://youtu.be/oMCJGYCv_-I - Part IV - Diagnosis : https://youtu.be/rBBaPmPKs4Q - Part V - Treatments : https://youtu.be/NVbkoqe3WIU

I’m 30, just beginning to understand the importance of diagnosis. I was outstanding in school all through high school, but left from a great institution the last year of college due to lack of motivation. Hid this from my parents. Although I was a good student, I was a chronic procrastinator and struggled significantly with learning (in hindsight I find my academic achievements surprising considering my hindrances). My physician parents continuously labeled me as irresponsible, and I blamed myself for lack of discipline. Only recently have I started to consider the possibility that these and many other symptoms I haven’t described can be caused by ADHD and, as a consequence, can be addressed. I finally realize I need a diagnosis 😔

I just came home from the store. Couldn’t go into Costco because I don’t have my membership card or any of credit cards. I am medicated. I am so so so tired of losing and misplacing everything. I am 58. I was diagnosed about 11 years ago. I am only now with the help of YouTube videos learning all the ways this has impacted my life. I thought I was just disorganized and distracted when I used to work. Now I see it is basically who I am. Impulsive, forgetful, unable to follow instructions, scattered, impulsive spending, impulsive commitments I make. I’m not even sure how I’ve survived this long to be honest. I forget to eat, brush my teeth. Am I the only one completely overwhelmed by the reality of how this is reeking havoc on my life☺️

This is just anecdotal, but we've been building a house for a while now. I've been very hands-on because of how much more expensive it became because of the pandemic, and it's been really fascinating to realize how many of the craftspeople 'feel' like they have ADHD. Especially the more competent of them. I think it's because of the chaste-system structure of the Austrian school system, where after only four years of elementary school, it's the class teacher and not the student or parents who decides what kind of education the student is going to persue going forward. That's where I think most students with learning disabilities are filtered out from the academic path, and a disproportionate amount of those with ADHD are going to be of an intelligence that would have otherwise seen them go to first high school and then university. And just to clarify: I'm not claiming people with ADHD are more intelligent, just that this system is very likely to rob neurodivergent students of the kind of opportunities afforded to then in e.g. A Scandinavian system Anyways: they've been very surprised by how empathic I've been whener e.g. anyone of them apologizes for how hard it is for them to respond to emails and I've immediately suggested that we rather communicate with photos, videos and messages and only use email for documentation and legal purposes. And when I've mentioned that I find it so hard to switch mentally from one task or project to another, especially when the task isn't fun, so many of them have opened up about how great it is to work for someone who feels the same way, and how other people don't understand that at all. Not to mention the absolute mountains of empty cans of energy drinks and caffeinated beverages they all leave behind! No matter the age, some of these craftspeople seem to know as much about the minute details of their craft as my doctor and lawyer friends, and I just can't imagine that in their childhood their teachers would have gone: "nah, they're too dumb to go to high school" unless they had ADHD or/and Autism that they hadn't learned to cope with. No one with a low IQ at age 11 is going to grow up to be someone who instantly calculates statics and the likes in their head. And again: if you're a gifted student in this country, you don't easily get to say: "I'm not going to high school. I'd rather become a floor tiler". You'd have to either fight your parents and the school system, or purposely do much worse in school. None of these intelligent people became craftspeople despite their academic opportunities.

Gotta give my thanks to you, Dr. Barkley, for allowing me to actually understand what I've been facing for the longest time. No doctor or any other resource I found on the internet and else where helped me understand what it was, only you. So much misinformation, at some point I was even doubting myself and felt like a failure and a loser for something that people like Jordan Peterson have called a fraud, a non-issue. Thank you again.

I realized as I was watching this that the emotional regulation issue is so pivotal. The exterior reaction to the upsetting stimulus becomes like the second arrow in Buddhism. After the exterior outburst it is then turned internally, with the same intensity , attacking one’s own self esteem and self worth.

Where would we be without you, Dr. B?! Thanks as always for your work. Countless lives improved, countless lives saved.

Thanks for all this useful information. Was diagnosed 4 weeks ago at age 21. Started going to therapy due to me lashing out at coworkers and damaging work property on several occasions during my electrical apprenticeship. Using the medication has been rough start as my family (who I currently live with) do not believe ADHD exists and see diagnosing adults with ADHD is a "fad". Them seeing me using medication is putting stress on the already strained parental relationship. Your informative videos however are really helping making my own informed decisions. Thanks heaps Russel

Having ADHD, I had to re-watch this video 10 times in order to complete the lecture. Please make short videos as well. That will be of great help for people like me. I don’t want to miss out on any of your videos. They are truly very informative and helpful. Doctor you are doing a noble job. You are the Diamond in the dung heap. Keep doing the great stuff. THANK YOU!