Understanding ADHD
- Maryann Aita
- Nov 4
- 5 min read
ADHD is a well-known but often misunderstood mental health diagnosis. Although attitudes around ADHD, which stands for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, are becoming less stigmatized as research on the topic grows, many people still have negative perceptions of it. For a long time, it was seen as something children grow out of, but ADHD persists into adulthood for most people with a childhood diagnosis. Unfortunately, there are still lots of misconceptions about people with ADHD, like being perceived as lazy, disruptive, or not trying hard enough.
These negative judgments can have an impact on self-esteem, social interactions, and even potential income. So what does it mean to have ADHD, really?
What is ADHD?
Fidgeting, talking a lot, losing things, and having trouble staying focused are common aspects of ADHD, but they are also things most people experience at some point. What differentiates having ADHD from someone being “a little disorganized” is the consistency and number of symptoms. Children need to have six of the DMS-5 criteria whereas adults only need five indicators. These traits also need to be present in multiple contexts. If someone is having trouble focusing at work, for example, but otherwise has no symptoms of ADHD in other contexts, this could be a matter of not liking their job or even a result of anxiety. ADHD is more nuanced than it tends to be presented.
There are three key components to ADHD: inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity. These elements can and do present differently from person to person. Though most of us probably associate ADHD with boys, it affects all genders but is more externalized in young boys–and therefore more frequently diagnosed–than in girls. Cortese et al. (2025) suggest it might be better conceptualized as “attention dysregulation disorder” (p. 349), meaning that people with ADHD may struggle to regulate when and how their focus manifests.
Someone might have deep, long-lasting focus on a personal project but have a harder time shifting that focus to household chores. For some, inattention might mean difficulty focusing on a single task for too long; for others, it might be frequently being distracted by racing thoughts or by external stimuli like light and sound. Impulsivity might look like a student blurting out in class or it could be an adult following gambling urges. Hyperactivity for one person might mean they are very physically active. For someone else, it could be racing thoughts, frequent pacing, fidgeting, or general restlessness. Hyperactive doesn’t mean that all people with ADHD are constantly running around in circles. While someone with ADHD might experience visible hyperactivity, many do not.
Impacts of ADHD
ADHD can impact all facets of someone’s life. Executive functioning deficits are often a part of ADHD, so people will have a hard time with time management, planning, and organization. This can result in problems meeting deadlines and managing a schedule. Socially, adults with ADHD have more relationship dissatisfaction, higher rates of divorce, report more loneliness, and have a more difficult time in social interactions than people without ADHD.
Financially, people with ADHD may have lower work output than non-ADHD peers and overall make less money. Many people with ADHD also report risk-taking or excitement seeking behaviors, which can lead to injuries or financial stress.
Neurodiversity
From a medical standpoint, ADHD is considered a mental health disorder. However, the neurodiversity movement recontextualizes ADHD as a non-pathologized difference in thinking. The term neurodiversity was coined by Judy Singer in the late ‘90s; it encompasses ADHD, autism, depression, dyslexia, dyscalculia, and other mental health diagnoses. Clinically, these are defined by deficits relative to neurotypical people, but many of these “deficits” exist due to societal expectations. Neurodivergent individuals frequently mask their symptoms, meaning they suppress their natural inclinations to try and better fit social norms.
An example of this could be a child with ADHD forcing themselves to sit still during the school day; not only does it take them a lot of effort to sit still, they will feel bad about “failing” if they start getting restless and fidgeting.
Someone with ADHD (or autism, dyslexia, or other neurodivergences) may have a difficult time meeting job standards if they need to be sitting at a desk all day prioritizing a high volume of emails. This same person could do an incredible job where they are talking and on their feet, such as working as a restaurant server or tour guide. But office work tends to be valued more highly than service roles. When trying to understand ADHD, it’s important to consider where misconceptions come from.
ADHD Treatment and Support
There have been a growing number of ADHD diagnoses in children and adults over the past decade, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that there are more people who have ADHD now than in the past. It is more likely that it has been too often overlooked. The increase in diagnoses is due to a combination of factors: a more nuanced understanding of ADHD as research expands, stress during the pandemic prompted more people to seek mental health evaluations, and demands of a changing workforce can make masking ADHD symptoms harder.
This diagnosis also used to be seen as something that dissipated in adulthood, but the majority of people with childhood ADHD will experience its impact as adults. For some, a later-in-life diagnosis can be validating, especially for adults who have struggled to meet expectations in school or at work. Although an adult diagnosis can be empowering by helping people to get appropriate support in managing ADHD, it can also be difficult to learn that things could have been easier with an earlier diagnosis.
It’s never too late to be evaluated for ADHD, and there are many supports and treatments for ADHD in children and adults. Medication in combination with talk therapy seems to be the most effective, but, just as individual experiences of ADHD differ, there is no single best medication or type of therapy. While medication may work well to manage symptoms, therapy can be helpful to learn emotional regulation tools, to process the emotional experience of having ADHD, and to find supportive validation that ADHD is not a flaw; it’s a different way of interacting with the world.
There are lots of reasons people may experience inattention, impulsiveness, or hyperactivity; it is not always ADHD. Even when it is an indication of ADHD, remember that ADHD looks different for every individual, and it varies from childhood to adulthood as well as across gender. Ultimately, getting a professional diagnosis will help people with ADHD get needed support. If you have friends or family with ADHD, you can support them by coming from a place of compassion and curiosity rather than judgment and blame.
References
Bernardi, D. (2024.) What’s driving the rise in ADHD diagnosis among children and adults?
Syracuse University College of Arts and Sciences.
Cortese, S., Bellgrove, M. A., Brikell, I., Franke, B., Goodman, D. W., Hartman, C. A., Larsson, H., Levin, F. R., Ostinelli, E. G., Parlatini, V., Ramos‐Quiroga, J. A., Sibley, M. H., Tomlinson, A., Wilens, T. E., Wong, I. C., Hovén, N., Didier, J., Correll, C. U., Rohde, L. A., & Faraone, S.V. (2025). Attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in adults: evidence base,
uncertainties and controversies. World Psychiatry, 24(3), 347–371. https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.21374
Kosheleff, A. R., Mason, O., Jain, R., Koch, J., & Rubin, J. (2023). Functional Impairments
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Mcgee, M. (2012). Neurodiversity. Contexts, 11(3), 12-13.