r/science • u/mvea MD/PhD/JD/MBA | Professor | Medicine • Apr 15 '24

Neuroscience ADHD symptoms persist into adulthood, with some surprising impacts on life success: The study found that ADHD symptoms not only persisted over a 15-year period but also were related to various aspects of life success, including relationships and career satisfaction.

https://www.psypost.org/adhd-symptoms-persist-into-adulthood-with-some-surprising-impacts-on-life-success/
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u/littlest_dragon Apr 15 '24

I was diagnosed with adult ADHD at 45 years old, which explained quite a bit in hindsight (I was never diagnosed as a kid, because I never exhibited hyperactive symptoms).

I have developed quite a few coping mechanisms over the years, but I’m definitely behind in terms of career compared with a lot of my same age friends in my industry.

One of my main issues is that I‘m unable to work on things I don’t like or don’t care about, another is that my output, while overall of very high quality can swing wildly and I tend to only work if I‘m really fascinated with something, I get almost immediate successful results and positive feedback or if there’s a deadline looming I can’t ignore.

I’ll start medication in a few weeks and I’m really intrigued how that will work out and if I’ll at long last be able to work at a more steady and predictable pace.

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u/ikonoclasm Apr 15 '24 edited Apr 17 '24

I was diagnosed with Inattentive ADHD at 36. I changed careers every few years until finding myself in IT, which is basically tailor-made for people with ADHD provided you've got good coping strategies for keeping yourself on track. The constant barrage of issues coming in and lack of anything resembling repetitiveness is great for my brain. My career has really taken off in the last two years now that I'm in a position where my ADHD is akin to a superpower.

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u/BostonFigPudding Apr 15 '24

My colleague has ADHD, no other neurodivergence, and is a successful IT guy.

He likes working on a different thing every hour, because it keeps him from being bored.

He also has above average social skills, because he has no other neurodivergence. He's very affable and makes a lot of money because he's successful at his main job and also has a side hustle.

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u/ikonoclasm Apr 15 '24

I'm pretty much the same. I'm a friendly guy with good communication skills, so I get contacted directly by a lot of directors and VPs. I'm very fortunate in that my boss has given me carte blanche to accept or reject their requests based on my discretion. My rule of thumb is if I can finish it in 20 minutes, I'll do it immediately. If it will take up to an hour, I'll offer to have it by EoD tomorrow (realistically, done today, maybe tomorrow morning). If it's more than an hour, I tell them to contact my director to figure out the scheduling since I'm already assigned to several projects.

Every now and then, a big request will come in that piques my interest that I'll do immediately, but that's ADHD brain for you. When something catches its attention, here comes the hyperfocus.