All the data used in this article have been collected from the information available on the internet. The creator/writer, who is not a trained psychologist has done an extensive research to prevent misinformation but apologizes in case of any error that might’ve crept up.
ADHD, the term, stands for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. It was formerly known as ADD or Attention Deficit Disorder. As the name might lead you to believe, ADHD is a lot more than a person’s capacity to sit still or pay attention.
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| An ADHD Brain [Photo Courtesy: google/EurekAlert] |
The terms Neurodivergent (ND) and Neurotypicals (NT) are being widely used in recent times. Which raises the main question, what is exactly categorized as ND and NT?
Neurodivergent brains are brains that develop or work differently than the “typical” brain for various reasons. This means that the ND will have different struggles and powers than what’s considered typical. Some examples of ND disorders are Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia, and many more. They have various strengths as well: Higher IQ, photographic memory, etc.
Why is ADHD classified as Neurodivergent?
As stated, Neurodivergent brains are those that are different in some way. ADHD is not a mental illness or some kind of behavior disorder; rather it is a development problem of the brain where people have poor self-management skills.
Talking chemically, an ADHD brain lacks Dopamine. Dopamine is the happy chemical of the brain which is released when the brain is expecting a reward.
This lack of dopamine results in hyper fixation. Hyper Fixation is when a person gets fixated or obsessed with one thing/person/job. The link between the two will be discussed in brief in another post.
Types of ADHD:
It is classified into 3 types:
- Primarily Inattentive ADHD
This was what used to be known as ADD. This type of ADHD deals with difficulty focusing. People with Inattentive ADHD have a harder time following instructions, meeting deadlines, and keeping up with conversations. These people can be the ones who might cut you off while speaking to point out a squirrel.- Primarily Hyperactive ADHD
This deals with the ability to sit still. Sit still as in they are constantly doing something. The word ‘calm’ is hard to find in their dictionary. People with this type of ADHD will always be moving, shaking legs or hands, they tend to squirm a lot when their movement is restricted and may speak at the most inappropriate time.People with this kind of ADHD are “driven by motors” they lack control over their impulses and may talk non-stop and blurt out answers in between.
This type of ADHD is a little hard to identify in children as people consider children to be naturally a little more active than adults and they do not disrupt the educational environment, causing the disorder to go undiagnosed in children.
Stimming is related to this type of ADHD, where constant movement helps the person to calm down.
- Combined Type ADHD
This is the combination of the above two types of ADHD. Meaning that the person with the combined type will show symptoms of both facing trouble paying attention and the ability to sit still.
It is also the most commonly diagnosed ADHD, and a person to be diagnosed with this must show at least six of the nine symptoms in both the above-mentioned category.
The causes of ADHD are majorly unknown, but genetics play a very important role and it has a heritability rate of 74%. Regardless of the popular myth, ADHD does not appear to be related to any particular style of parenting or discipline.
This was the basic introduction to ADHD where we understood it at the basic level, as mentioned ADHD is a lot more than just inattentiveness and hyperactivity, there are a lot more problems a person with ADHD has to deal with which might not be taken into consideration while diagnosing but is part of the package.
Authors:
Garima Dhanania, Enakshi Ganguly
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