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43Folders.com is Merlin Mann’s website about finding the time and attention to do your best creative work.

ADD/ADHT/ADT getting tested...

Hi guys,

Quick question for you... I'm thinking about getting tested for ADD etc., and was wondering if there is anything I should know. Particularly in regards to future work employment issues etc. Is there any negatives to getting labelled ADD? I don't want to dig myself into a hole that I might not be able to get out of. I've been functioning fairly well, but I'm pretty sure I know what the outcome of the tests will be. :)

I'm all ears! Hey, let's go ride bikes!

pooks's picture

When my son was diagnosed...

When my son was diagnosed with ADD I figured out that I had it, too. This is pretty much a tragedy when you consider that the poor little guy needed structure and somebody to help him learn coping skills, and I was totally unequipped to do those things for myself, much less him. (wry smile)

Thing is, I went on and got a diagnosis, and I do have ADD. In my case because of my lifestyle and self-employed status I can pretty much work around it (or not work, if I'm having an unfocused time period). This doesn't mean it's great; it just means I can function.

But I do know it's real, and it can really have a negative impact on your life, and medication can help. Systems like GTD can help. Just knowing you have it can help.

One of the best descriptions I read is that this may be a genetic thing that goes all the way back to our days as hunters/gatherers. While a gatherer/farmer person can look at a plot of ground, imagine the future when it has a crop on it, and do the planning, the work, the maintenance, etc. over many weeks or months to bring that to fruition --

The hunter is always scanning the horizon, looking for prey, or for an idea, or for danger, or for something exciting to happen. This is hardwired into us. I doesn't mean we can't adapt, but simply that understanding our hardwiring is the first and most important step.

If my lifestyle were different, I'd be trying meds. I may do so, anyway, one of these days.

 
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