Very interesting... The attempt to reframe ADHD as a strength always seemed like cope to me, and my understanding of the research was that it was clear that it involved severe deficits in multiple life domains.
(For my MA thesis, I did a review on the history of scientific controversy around ADD/WO vs ADHD, and the status of SCT (sluggish cognitive tempo) as a potential symptom cluster or possibly a distinct disorder--last I heard, Barkeley believes the research suggests the latter...SCT is a separate, although not yet officially recognized disorder, albeit one that is comorbid with ADHD about 50% of the time, much like depression and anxiety are distinct but overlapping and very frequently co-occuring.))
The fact that you can have a genuine disability and also incidentally have strengths that can help you to compensate for it always made sense to me.
But this theory has the advantage of being falsifiable, and it rings true with my experience. Openness is my most extreme Big 5 score, and I've always been extremely curious. And it has been my "superpower"; I never did assigned readings but read difficult academic material for fun instead. And I finally put my ability to educate myself to use by becoming a self-taught programmer, by basically locking myself in a room for a year, going from having no career to speak of to being a senior dev in a few years.
And I've always felt...kind of out of time or something. Even though I've always been a bit of a loner, I do well in groups. The atomization of modern society always just felt wrong to me; I just felt in my bones that that's not how humans were meant to live. I can be very self-directed, but actually do well in hierarchy. I actually loved military boot camp. And I crave stimulation and challenge. I've always been into video games, but apparently unlike most, I actually want to (and do) do those kinds of things in real life: run, jump, climb, swim, parkour, explore, martial arts, archery... I've taken up ice plunges. I just need that kind of intensity to feel alive. (See the book, "What Doesn't Kill Us".) Modernity is killing us with comfort, and it just astounds me that so many people seem to be okay with that.
I am a researcher in this field (also neurodivergent), and I would recommend checking out the following, it was an eye-opener for me (discusses the Strength's Based Approach etc...): Fung, L. K. (Ed.). (2021). Neurodiversity: From phenomenology to neurobiology and enhancing technologies. American Psychiatric Pub.
Amen, captures my feeling. I had given up on finding a positive framing since I feel like ADHD limits my agency. But of course it was never that simple. Everything has pros and cons, and this is such a spiky thing, of course there could be significant benefits.
You sound like a smart person who just didn’t learn/wasn’t exposed to structure and discipline until a little later on. In my opinion, that experience doesn’t need a pathologizing diagnosis.
Very interesting article, and it makes sense that it is a human trait that was useful in previous types of societies.
I am reminded of Einstein's comments about holding on the curiosity of a child. At some stage it would be interesting to consider what a positive education might do for ADHD people to hone their abilities and curiosity rather than suppress them. Perhaps something more intellectually adventurous, like Steiner schools, may develop their curiosity and problem solving skills?
I went to a Steiner school. I have ADHD and I thrived there. I have never medicated. I went to Stanford and have had a curiosity driven career! I think it can be an advantage in the right environments
Thank you for sharing that, and I am glad to see from your interests and posts that your curiosity hasn't been dimmed! I suspect that the fact that your parents were switched on enough to consider a Steiner school as a benefit for you suggests to me that your parenting was also a strong feature in your successes.
You also mentioned medication - it is sad, I think, that medicating children has been such a feature of childhood and parenting in America. It has long seemed to me that many normal range behaviours in children are made into 'symptoms' to be managed by a drug therapy regime, when the solution may lie in the home or local environment.
I will admit to considerable scepticism of an industry that takes chemicals and tests them to see what they seem to do to animals in the hope they can be prescribed as pharmaceutical treatments for illnesses, and at the same time encourages doctors that behaviours and ailments within the range of normal are turned into 'isms' requiring treatment, all with the sole purpose of generating increased profits for drug companies and their investors.
Further, of all the things we teach kids at school, supposedly to prepare them for life, we do not teach them parenting skills and they(we) are left to work that out for themselves. Utter folly, to my mind.
Summerhill school in UK was based on this premise. I don't know if it's still going.
Montessori schools are worth a look.
I don't understand why our standard schools have not truly progressed to encourage curiosity, after all these decades of experimental schools, and all the research.
I believe we live in times which will require the kind of curiosity described above ("hypercuriosity") as well as awareness and analysis of environmental circumstances (in every sense).
Our world is changing so fast in so many ways, with new circumstances and threats developing. These ADHD traits are not just an historic anomaly anymore: they will become increasingly valuable and must be nurtured.
BTW
Steiner schools have some good ideas but these are sullied by bodgy anthroposophy ideology which can shut kids down if they don't follow the 'norm'. This happened to my son who was very curious about language, and ideas in books, so wanted to read before the Steiner prescribed age, and not because I was pushing him.
He was treated very poorly by his Grade 3 teacher... Appallingly.
This Steiner approach can be emotionally and psychologically harmful for some very curious children.
We had to withdraw my son so he could thrive in his own way.
Firstly, I think it is important to understand that State sponsored education is there to make State supporters, cultural and political believers, and compliant, well-behaved citizens, workers and consumers. No part of it is designed to make curious, independent and well-rounded human beings - that's the LAST thing most States want!
Bear in mind that early education was usually provided by churches, predominantly the Catholic church is many Western countries, to indoctrinate more compliant Catholics! The same applies today in Islamic schools. We have, perhaps moved on, but not very far!
Secondly, as we all know, the quality of our individual teacher (for good or bad) is often fundamental in our own personal attitudes to the rest of our lives. A good and empathic teacher can bring out the best in us, and rote-learning or insensitive teacher can damage and suppress us. Whilst Montessori schools may attract more conscientious teachers, I am sure some end up there for the wrong reasons, or are simply inadequate for the tasks and environment, as anywhere.
The Pareto Principle suggests that 20% of anything, including people, achieve 80% of the 'success' in any field or production. It follows that 80% of people produce just 20% and aren't very good at their job.sadly that includes schooling, and even Montessori schooling must be vulnerable too.
A longtime friend of mine, recently retired from a lifetime of running his own private education centre in London, and despite making his name for educating bright kids with ambitious parents in what are now called STEM subjects, and coaching kids for entry into top English private schools, he nevertheless believes that school education is only 50% about the formal subjects. His view is the face-to-face social networking, social skills, communication and cooperation skills, relationship skills, are at least equally important to the child's future successes.
His own two sons were brought up attending his classes, and attended a good London private school, but were also sent out to all kinds of courses, from adventure weekends to piano and guitar lessons, to ballroom dancing, to karting, to fencing....... any that they enjoyed, they would continue with for as long as they wanted. Both ended up well-rounded, very confident in themselves and their abilities, and high achievers in a quiet way. One discovered a talent for languages, spent years in Asia, speaks fluent Japanese and several other Asian languages. The other, after years abroad, now runs the school business.
I have always believed that education should be so much more; broader, more exciting, more fun, but also more subjects and more opportunity for curiosity and adventures, both individually and in communities. Sadly the future seems to be the opposite for most students; no need to learn any facts because they are all on my phone, and no need for research or critical thinking because AI can do all that for me, and I can get top marks from the overworked teacher without even trying.
Thom Hartmann laid out that thesis very well in his book "ADHD: A hunter in a farmer's world". It was the first look at ADHD as an evolved adaptive trait that only becomes a "disability" when the environment changes.
Interesting - my Genetic Lifehacks analysis of my dna shows not only higher risk genes related to adhd (I’m auADD) - but I am also homozygous for the hunter gatherer gene and don’t have the farmer variant (CLTC1 gene rs1061325 - hunter gatherer less adapted to high carbohydrates)
This is a great interview and a very accessible way to delve into this high-level research. The findings remind me of a hypothesis I read in a book that I can wholeheartedly recommend: "Good Reasons for Bad Feelings" by Randolph M. Nesse.
He also discusses the advantages ADHD can offer in a gatherer society, as there is always a trade-off between continuing to gather in the same area (consistency, focus) and exploring new areas (curiosity), since returns in the same area will inevitably diminish. From an evolutionary perspective, these traits can be advantageous, but as the conditions we live in have changed, they may be perceived differently.
Absolutely love this article. It’s such a refreshing take. I particularly appreciate the discussion of practical interventions to harness patients' strengths. This is exactly the kind of paradigm shift we need to embrace neurodiversity more fully! Have shared this article in my latest email.
This is a very believable thesis and one that perhaps corresponds to my particular life experience. I look forward to more detailed research on this relationship.
Yep. I wonder if ADHD’s increased diagnosis coorelates with increased exposure to seeming even actual contradictions - High Functioning ADHD so to speak although I don't know if anyone with ADHD feels high functioning.
Afterall, this isn't a Communist country - we're not expected to “ignore the contradictions.” Contradiction seem like opportunity.
It's the seeming contradictions, particularly with reality, that get me, not the constructed ones.
fascinating! I used to do this as a child - walk around the perimeter of the school playing field running my hands along the chain link fence, looking at all the little nooks and crannies in the mud, or at the leaves on the trees, while all the other kids played in groups.
The is is so interesting! As a hyper curious person with ADHD, it’s definitely true for me. I spend so much time trying to obtain information that it’s actually a distraction in itself.
Very interesting... The attempt to reframe ADHD as a strength always seemed like cope to me, and my understanding of the research was that it was clear that it involved severe deficits in multiple life domains.
(For my MA thesis, I did a review on the history of scientific controversy around ADD/WO vs ADHD, and the status of SCT (sluggish cognitive tempo) as a potential symptom cluster or possibly a distinct disorder--last I heard, Barkeley believes the research suggests the latter...SCT is a separate, although not yet officially recognized disorder, albeit one that is comorbid with ADHD about 50% of the time, much like depression and anxiety are distinct but overlapping and very frequently co-occuring.))
The fact that you can have a genuine disability and also incidentally have strengths that can help you to compensate for it always made sense to me.
But this theory has the advantage of being falsifiable, and it rings true with my experience. Openness is my most extreme Big 5 score, and I've always been extremely curious. And it has been my "superpower"; I never did assigned readings but read difficult academic material for fun instead. And I finally put my ability to educate myself to use by becoming a self-taught programmer, by basically locking myself in a room for a year, going from having no career to speak of to being a senior dev in a few years.
And I've always felt...kind of out of time or something. Even though I've always been a bit of a loner, I do well in groups. The atomization of modern society always just felt wrong to me; I just felt in my bones that that's not how humans were meant to live. I can be very self-directed, but actually do well in hierarchy. I actually loved military boot camp. And I crave stimulation and challenge. I've always been into video games, but apparently unlike most, I actually want to (and do) do those kinds of things in real life: run, jump, climb, swim, parkour, explore, martial arts, archery... I've taken up ice plunges. I just need that kind of intensity to feel alive. (See the book, "What Doesn't Kill Us".) Modernity is killing us with comfort, and it just astounds me that so many people seem to be okay with that.
I am a researcher in this field (also neurodivergent), and I would recommend checking out the following, it was an eye-opener for me (discusses the Strength's Based Approach etc...): Fung, L. K. (Ed.). (2021). Neurodiversity: From phenomenology to neurobiology and enhancing technologies. American Psychiatric Pub.
Amen, captures my feeling. I had given up on finding a positive framing since I feel like ADHD limits my agency. But of course it was never that simple. Everything has pros and cons, and this is such a spiky thing, of course there could be significant benefits.
I completely relate to this. Thanks.
You sound like a smart person who just didn’t learn/wasn’t exposed to structure and discipline until a little later on. In my opinion, that experience doesn’t need a pathologizing diagnosis.
Very interesting article, and it makes sense that it is a human trait that was useful in previous types of societies.
I am reminded of Einstein's comments about holding on the curiosity of a child. At some stage it would be interesting to consider what a positive education might do for ADHD people to hone their abilities and curiosity rather than suppress them. Perhaps something more intellectually adventurous, like Steiner schools, may develop their curiosity and problem solving skills?
I went to a Steiner school. I have ADHD and I thrived there. I have never medicated. I went to Stanford and have had a curiosity driven career! I think it can be an advantage in the right environments
Thank you for sharing that, and I am glad to see from your interests and posts that your curiosity hasn't been dimmed! I suspect that the fact that your parents were switched on enough to consider a Steiner school as a benefit for you suggests to me that your parenting was also a strong feature in your successes.
You also mentioned medication - it is sad, I think, that medicating children has been such a feature of childhood and parenting in America. It has long seemed to me that many normal range behaviours in children are made into 'symptoms' to be managed by a drug therapy regime, when the solution may lie in the home or local environment.
I will admit to considerable scepticism of an industry that takes chemicals and tests them to see what they seem to do to animals in the hope they can be prescribed as pharmaceutical treatments for illnesses, and at the same time encourages doctors that behaviours and ailments within the range of normal are turned into 'isms' requiring treatment, all with the sole purpose of generating increased profits for drug companies and their investors.
Further, of all the things we teach kids at school, supposedly to prepare them for life, we do not teach them parenting skills and they(we) are left to work that out for themselves. Utter folly, to my mind.
Summerhill school in UK was based on this premise. I don't know if it's still going.
Montessori schools are worth a look.
I don't understand why our standard schools have not truly progressed to encourage curiosity, after all these decades of experimental schools, and all the research.
I believe we live in times which will require the kind of curiosity described above ("hypercuriosity") as well as awareness and analysis of environmental circumstances (in every sense).
Our world is changing so fast in so many ways, with new circumstances and threats developing. These ADHD traits are not just an historic anomaly anymore: they will become increasingly valuable and must be nurtured.
BTW
Steiner schools have some good ideas but these are sullied by bodgy anthroposophy ideology which can shut kids down if they don't follow the 'norm'. This happened to my son who was very curious about language, and ideas in books, so wanted to read before the Steiner prescribed age, and not because I was pushing him.
He was treated very poorly by his Grade 3 teacher... Appallingly.
This Steiner approach can be emotionally and psychologically harmful for some very curious children.
We had to withdraw my son so he could thrive in his own way.
Interesting comments. Thank you for sharing.
Firstly, I think it is important to understand that State sponsored education is there to make State supporters, cultural and political believers, and compliant, well-behaved citizens, workers and consumers. No part of it is designed to make curious, independent and well-rounded human beings - that's the LAST thing most States want!
Bear in mind that early education was usually provided by churches, predominantly the Catholic church is many Western countries, to indoctrinate more compliant Catholics! The same applies today in Islamic schools. We have, perhaps moved on, but not very far!
Secondly, as we all know, the quality of our individual teacher (for good or bad) is often fundamental in our own personal attitudes to the rest of our lives. A good and empathic teacher can bring out the best in us, and rote-learning or insensitive teacher can damage and suppress us. Whilst Montessori schools may attract more conscientious teachers, I am sure some end up there for the wrong reasons, or are simply inadequate for the tasks and environment, as anywhere.
The Pareto Principle suggests that 20% of anything, including people, achieve 80% of the 'success' in any field or production. It follows that 80% of people produce just 20% and aren't very good at their job.sadly that includes schooling, and even Montessori schooling must be vulnerable too.
A longtime friend of mine, recently retired from a lifetime of running his own private education centre in London, and despite making his name for educating bright kids with ambitious parents in what are now called STEM subjects, and coaching kids for entry into top English private schools, he nevertheless believes that school education is only 50% about the formal subjects. His view is the face-to-face social networking, social skills, communication and cooperation skills, relationship skills, are at least equally important to the child's future successes.
His own two sons were brought up attending his classes, and attended a good London private school, but were also sent out to all kinds of courses, from adventure weekends to piano and guitar lessons, to ballroom dancing, to karting, to fencing....... any that they enjoyed, they would continue with for as long as they wanted. Both ended up well-rounded, very confident in themselves and their abilities, and high achievers in a quiet way. One discovered a talent for languages, spent years in Asia, speaks fluent Japanese and several other Asian languages. The other, after years abroad, now runs the school business.
I have always believed that education should be so much more; broader, more exciting, more fun, but also more subjects and more opportunity for curiosity and adventures, both individually and in communities. Sadly the future seems to be the opposite for most students; no need to learn any facts because they are all on my phone, and no need for research or critical thinking because AI can do all that for me, and I can get top marks from the overworked teacher without even trying.
Not good. Not good at all!
.
Thom Hartmann laid out that thesis very well in his book "ADHD: A hunter in a farmer's world". It was the first look at ADHD as an evolved adaptive trait that only becomes a "disability" when the environment changes.
Interesting - my Genetic Lifehacks analysis of my dna shows not only higher risk genes related to adhd (I’m auADD) - but I am also homozygous for the hunter gatherer gene and don’t have the farmer variant (CLTC1 gene rs1061325 - hunter gatherer less adapted to high carbohydrates)
Good comment, GS. I'm unfamiliar with those genetics patterns, but sure sounds interesting!
This is a great interview and a very accessible way to delve into this high-level research. The findings remind me of a hypothesis I read in a book that I can wholeheartedly recommend: "Good Reasons for Bad Feelings" by Randolph M. Nesse.
He also discusses the advantages ADHD can offer in a gatherer society, as there is always a trade-off between continuing to gather in the same area (consistency, focus) and exploring new areas (curiosity), since returns in the same area will inevitably diminish. From an evolutionary perspective, these traits can be advantageous, but as the conditions we live in have changed, they may be perceived differently.
Thank you for your comment! Yes this format seems to be a great way to introduce such topics.
Yes we are big fans of Randy Nesse here and his work - there may or may not be an interview with him in the works...
So interesting thank you! As someone with ADHD who is obsessed with concepts of evolutionary mismatch this really resonated!
Absolutely love this article. It’s such a refreshing take. I particularly appreciate the discussion of practical interventions to harness patients' strengths. This is exactly the kind of paradigm shift we need to embrace neurodiversity more fully! Have shared this article in my latest email.
Thank you Megan appreciate it!
This is a very believable thesis and one that perhaps corresponds to my particular life experience. I look forward to more detailed research on this relationship.
i like that she acknowledges the hardships and focuses on the ‘why?’ rather than pathologizing.
Yep. I wonder if ADHD’s increased diagnosis coorelates with increased exposure to seeming even actual contradictions - High Functioning ADHD so to speak although I don't know if anyone with ADHD feels high functioning.
Afterall, this isn't a Communist country - we're not expected to “ignore the contradictions.” Contradiction seem like opportunity.
It's the seeming contradictions, particularly with reality, that get me, not the constructed ones.
I like to unravel, not unpack.
Wow, this just articulated my personal default cognitive operating procedure.
Interesting. ADHD people I know have a tendency to "explore the perimeter" when they are in a new place.
fascinating! I used to do this as a child - walk around the perimeter of the school playing field running my hands along the chain link fence, looking at all the little nooks and crannies in the mud, or at the leaves on the trees, while all the other kids played in groups.
So interesting and like all good research, inherently obvious. All ADHDer’s need to focus and read this.
The is is so interesting! As a hyper curious person with ADHD, it’s definitely true for me. I spend so much time trying to obtain information that it’s actually a distraction in itself.
i always knew we were the witches they feared. 😏
Isn’t this just what Thom Hartmann has been saying for 30 years? Accept his version is more practical and less academic and stuffy.
My thoughts too while reading this. Perhaps the reasearcher wasn't aware of him and his work.
Whenever I hear the beginning of a sentence "Humans are hardwired for...", I ask to see the wires.