A question for those dx'd with both AS and ADHD

Post Reply New Topic

Well, first:

Anecdotal evidence is not meaningless. It is still evidence. It is simply not statistical.

Also, there are no peer-reviewed studies about hyperfocus of which I am aware to rebut or support this. As far as I know, no one's ever studied hyperfocus.

Also, I think Barkley's thing there with "Autism is hyperfocus, ADHD is perseveration" is an attempt to give hyperfocus a "bad" label to hammer home is argument that there is nothing good about ADHD. I think his use of "perseveration" in that context is incorrect, and it is not that I object to being told I perseverate, because I do perseverate, sometimes even when I hyperfocus. But I don't think labeling hyperfocus as perseveration is accurate.

I agree with Barkley that ADHD is not really associated with positive things. Generally speaking, it can wreck your life, and characterizing it as this amazing gift you can use to be creative or productive or whatever is like the opposite of what ADHD statistically is.

On the other hand, I bridle a bit at Barkley telling people who have ADHD how to relate to having ADHD. It's like how I don't care if someone says AS isn't impairing to them, but it annoys me when they assume everyone else with AS must be as unimpaired as they are.

Anyway, as far as it goes, Barkley isn't just a professor, he's one of the foremost researchers on ADHD. He's been studying it for decades and produced some of the longest-running longitudinal studies to better understand ADHD as a disorder and its impact on people's lives. The vast majority of what he says is right on the money, even when he doesn't sugarcoat it, and he usually does not.

No argument there.



No argument again. Both are contained in DSM-IV.



And I stand corrected. Not only is there an ADHD-NOS diagnosis, there's also an ADHD-Partial Remission one as well. Wish what I looked at had said three major subtypes, but alas it didn't, just "three sub-types," which confirmed everything I'd remembered reading. Five possible diagnoses for ADHD. Wouldn't have thought that to be the case in a million years. Thanks again for pointing out my error.



Actually, I'm taking it as proof that some days you just are not going to win. So much for being an "Everything Health Guide" :rolleyes:



I see "Three Subtypes of ADHD" in big letters. I see .75 + .20 + .05 and draw the obvious conclusion. And then I march off and post incorrect information. I guess I was supposed to be tipped off when the sub-heading did in fact add the wording "Most Common." But, alas I was not. Phooey.

WOW having ADHDI and Aspergers I can agree with this man that it is no gift. My ADHD symptoms can become extremely debilitating. I'll try to do something I like and I won't have the mental capacity or attention span 50% of the time. I'll read something and it'll be gone.

I'm AS and ADHD-PI as well.

One of the conflicts that is most obvious in my life is actually where boredom and routine interact.

My bf is almost certainly AS (undiagnosed) and always does things in certain patterns.
My patterns habitually include some form of randomness, because otherwise I get bored and stop paying attention to anything.

Walking home from the station, he'll always want go the same way.
I'll pick a route at random (from a subset of acceptably efficient routes) because going the same way every time is boring.
I still however am often resistant to adding new routes to my subset that I didn't define...

Where do you draw the line between AS quirks and ADHD quirks? I'm not sure I can personally.

This sounds very much like me.

Thanks to everyone for the very helpful posts

WorldsEdge- The neuropsychologist that gave me the ADHD-NOS diagnosis was a bit of a jerk and told me "I just do testing. If you want to discuss it, find a therapist." I have two guesses as to his reasoning: 1) I do tend to be a bit impulsive; not enough, I think for an ADHD-C dx but maybe too much for ADHD-I? 2) My symptoms seemed to puzzle him a bit but he adamantly refused to consider the idea that I had made it to adulthood without an AS diagnosis if I had it (even though that's what I went in to be tested for) so he dx'd me with what he saw as plausible. The testing seemed really incomplete and shallow to me and the only AS test he gave me was for children, but he insisted that it was all that was necessary.
Pensieve- I tend to have several lesser interests in addition to my main one, and even though they are much less intense, it does help to give me something to try to make conversation with.
Blindspot149- as well as stressful and exasperating...
Verdandi / WorldsEdge- I am very interested in Dr. Barkley's work as well and am familiar with that video; while I appreciate the fact that he does not sugar-coat, he did seem awfully negative on the whole perserveration/hyperfocus point. While it is important for people to understand how much of an issue ADHD can be, I'm not sure I agree with him entirely on this.
Sorry for the group response, but I have been working incredibly long hours on a school project to finish before Thanksgiving break and it always takes me a while to write these posts!

Oh, I completely disagree with him on the hyperfocus/perseveration thing.

Barkely is so negative about hyper focus and many ADHD symptoms because his brother had ADHD and committed suicide.

I believe in focusing on both negative and positive traits. If you're completely negative you're just miserable but if you can allow yourself to see some skills in there that could be related to ADHD then you're not going to get down about it. Same applies for autism or any other disorder or issues you have.

Lately I haven't been hyper focusing but I've been lacking in organisation and routine. Hyper focusing to me is a very specific thing, usually me jumping into something and sticking at it for hours. Stop, and realise how much time I wasted and fall flat on my face exhausted.