As a therapist working in Exeter, I have the privilege of working with people who are both self-diagnosed and formally diagnosed with ADHD. This has become an area I specialise in, and its something I am very passionate about.
People with this neurotype have already experienced a lot of discomfort and pain throughout their lives as they’ve tried to adapt and fit in to a society where standards have been created by neurotypical people, people without neurodivergence.
These social and relational traumas’ i.e. judgement, criticism and perhaps even punishment have become a familiar experience for failing to meet these standards that simply do not fit their neurotype. As a result, they may have made decisions about themselves e.g. I’m a failure, I’m lazy, I’m different and blame themselves for repeated failed attempts at trying to fit into a world that wasn’t set up for their way of being.
I think ADHD is still very misunderstood in society and this is continuing to cause harm to people with this neurotype. I also think it’s under researched and there are still many questions unanswered. More research and education are needed so that people in positions of authority and influence can identify the different needs and reframe from judgements around trying to make people with ADHD fit the dominant societal structure. We also need to challenge our biases, so we lose the projections that we place on different neurotypes.
I do not see ADHD as a disorder or deficit, I see it as an ‘attentional difference’ as people with this neurotype certainly have no trouble with attention, in fact they often pay attention to things a neurotypical person wouldn’t attend to. But because an ADHD neurotype would rather focus on the interesting, coloured birds in the tree outside and not algebra, they are often mis-understood and judged.
As a therapist, I challenge the protocols that we currently have in place to make a psychiatric diagnosis of ADHD as there is so much lacking in the assessment criteria. The diagnosis symptoms we use to assess are how a neurotypical person would look at a person with ADHD and leaves me questioning, from which lens do we decide if its hyperactive behaviour or hypoactive? What is the norm? What about co-occurring diagnoses? Are these being fully considered during diagnosis e.g. anxiety, depression, perfectionism. I think we’re at risk of both over-diagnosis and under-diagnosis.
I see people with ADHD as people who are already whole and not in deficit, there is nothing wrong or ‘disordered’ so I challenge both the ‘deficit’ and ‘disorder’ labels. What I see is people with a different neurotype who need support to move towards healing and wholeness by finding a way to interact with their environment in a different way. I see this as letting go of the dominant neurotypical standards that are imposed upon them and by finding a way to come to terms with their environment and feeling proud for who they are and who they have always been.
If you are undiagnosed or diagnosed with ADHD and you would like to discuss how therapy could support you, please do get in contact using the link below. My practice is located in Exeter and I also offer therapy online.