ADHD pt 2 | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

[Music]. hello everyone in case you're listening. to these episodes out of order we gave a. heads up in episode one that we have a. kind of a grownup talk about ADHD in. these two episodes so we wanted to say. if you're a parent with a kid who has. ADHD maybe listen to it yourself first. before you share it with them on with. the. show Welcome to stuff you should know a. production of iHeart Radio.

hey and welcome to the podcast I'm Josh. and there's Chuck and Jar's here again. and we're starting up part two of our. double episode on. ADHD that's right and if you remember in. part one we discussed. ADHD some people have it some people. don't and we're going to talk right now. about how you can figure that out uh and. that's called diagnosis uh right now. where we are. scientifically is that uh the biggest. Factor on whether or not you have ADHD.

or not is. hereditary um if you have kids and you. have ADHD as a parent you your kid has. about a 50% chance of having it as well. MH uh and like we mentioned in the first. uh part uh a lot of adults from. especially Our Generation gen xers yeah. have are now getting diagnosed in their. you know 30s 40s 50s um because they. found out that their kid has ADHD and. they're like wow Little Chucky junr. looks a lot like big Chucky yeah that's.

a symptom I thought that was Charming. exactly I thought it was a bug and even. if they don't recognize it in them you. there's a 100% chance that their spouse. will be like I really think you have. this. too uh yeah but there are some other. factors right uh yes um there's issues. during pregnancy that's a big one. usually exposure to alcohol or tobacco. um premature delivery uh if you didn't. weigh very much when you were born if.

you were exposed to lead as a kid if you. had a brain injury as a kid um there's a. lot of concern about some other stuff I. think you said at the very outset of. part one um there isn't any research. that suggests watching too much TV we. living in a go go go World um there is. some research that suggests that um blue. number one and blue number two food dies. may actually at least exacerbate ADHD. symptoms but for the most part they.

think it's a combination of genetics uh. the environment you were raised in and. then possibly like actual environmental. factors like um being exposed to lead or. your mom you know smoking when she was. pregnant with you yeah and just to kind. of clear up the the TV and the screen. thing um watching TV or being on screens. too much or too much TV uh quote unquote. isn't going to uh help give you. ADHD but there is a connection there uh.

if you are a kid with ADHD the pull. toward a screen is going to be way. stronger uh than a kid who doesn't have. it uh that short attention span is going. to um really crave uh like the flashy. Graphics that that video games or. cartoons can deliver you it'll deliver. that steady dose of dopamine um they've. done studies it was I found one a large. study of 5-year-olds uh that compared. attention span of kids who watch less. than 30 minutes per day of TV with those.

who spent more than 2 hours uh in front. of a TV and of course we mean you know. screens basically right uh and pretty. dramatic results uh the kids who um. watched the most TV had almost an eight. times more of a chance of meeting the. ADHD diagnosis criteria uh and it even. out outranked other things that cause. attention problems like uh you know lack. of sleep or uh parent stress economic. stress stuff like that W so there. there's a link it's not going to give.

you ADHD but if you have a kid with ADHD. then you should probably just monitor. screens even more you know you should be. doing that anyway but maybe even more so. yeah because those sites are designed to. release dopamine and train you to come. back and do it again and again and again. and so kids with ADHD who don't normally. have a flood of dopamine when they get. it they really learn to do that thing. that that gives them that dopamine which. again doesn't give you you like a.

Feelgood rush it just comes along with. that and tells your brain this is a. really important thing to do so do it. again and again and again yeah uh for. sure it's also like the age of your kid. is really important when you're trying. to diagnose if you're pre preschool aged. or younger or I guess that counts as all. ages younger than preschool but you know. what I mean um that can be a lot tougher. because there are other developmental. delays that may look like. ADHD uh that change and you may not be. able to get a really good diagnosis.

until they're you know six seven 8 years. old uh and even when they're older like. you know teenagers you got to rule out a. lot of stuff like uh learning. disabilities um mood disorders if you. have like Vision or hearing problems or. sleep disorder a lot of that stuff can. can fool you into thinking you have ADHD. so it can be tricky it can be um so. there's two lists there's an inattentive. list and then there's a hyperactive list. yeah and each one has I think nine.

like criteria things like you know you. um lose things frequently you appear to. to zone out while people are talking to. you stuff like that and if you have six. out of the nine on the inattentive list. you have inattentive type 8hd if you. have six out of nine on the hyperactive. list you have hyperactive type ADHD and. if you really running up the numbers and. you've got six of nine on inattentive. and six of nine on hyperactive.

you've got the combined version of ADHD. adults it's the same thing although the. criteria is adjusted a little bit for. you know uh runs around rambunctiously. in class you don't do that but say you. feel Restless at at during meetings like. it's really hard to sit still you may be. mentally doing that exactly I would love. to jump up and spin in a circle right. right but a kid will actually do that. whereas the adult in the meeting will. just struggle through that exactly so. the the criteria is essentially the same.

it's just kind of adjusted for adults um. and then for adults it's five of nine. yeah for either list and then also with. kids when you're diagnosing kids you. look at their educational records you. talk to their parents you talk to their. guidance counselors you get as much. information as you possibly can um to to. properly diagnose somebody with ADHD. because there's not one like here's our. ADHD test whether it's a blood test or a. written test there's you're basically. pulling all these disperate info. together to to put together like okay.

this kid has ADHD and it's this kind. yeah and that's why you know parent. teacher conferences are super valuable I. think when you first start to have to do. that stuff you're just like oh God kill. me I got to seriously like because your. experiences from when you're a kid like. what a waste of time but it's not at all. when you go in there as a parent you. know how your kid is at home you don't. know how they are at school right uh. because you don't have a little camera. in their classroom where you can just. sit around and watch what they're like. like so rich parents do right yeah maybe.

so uh but you can really glean like I I. think when you have challenges with a. kid at home as a parent you're dying to. know if it's just. you or or if it's just the way it is at. home in other words um obviously not. just the parents fault but um you're. wondering so you're you're like when we. get in there with Ruby's teachers we're. always just like so what's going on. what's she like does she have trouble. with this or that and sometimes it's. like yeah she has the same trouble with. this or that at home and sometimes it's.

like no it's not at all at school and so. it's really super enlightening yeah that. is super enlightening does it make you. feel better or is it more just like it. just answers the question that you have. yeah just I think you know knowledge is. power so uh just knowing that stuff that. dude we should start doing that we with. you and Jerry they need to be adult. versions of parent teacher conferences. oh that's a great idea you know I would. be so anxious oh no it'd be good we do.

it over drinks okay um uh one other. thing you can find a lot of really great. accurate diagnostic tests on sites like. Tik Tok which have lots of misspelled. words in the title so those are always. really great to to test whether you have. ADHD or not be be aware if the I mean. Social Media stuff can help there's a. lot some good resources but uh what was. that study like half of the stuff on Tik. Tok was just wrong yeah I think 52% yeah. when it came to this yeah more than half. yeah so one of the big questions that.

we're still answering today and if you. haven't picked up that we don't have a. full grasp of ADHD and any way shap or. form yet um that's correct but uh one of. the factors that we're trying to figure. out is the prevalence of ADHD um among. kids and among adults and it's kind of. all over the map it does seem like we're. starting to kind of zero in a little bit. we're figuring out like the the criteria. to really like to to Really diagnose. ADHD it seems like the numbers are.

starting to get a little smaller as um. as time goes on and we get a little. better with recognizing. ADHD yeah um and correct me if I'm wrong. because I know that you found some other. numbers uh but we'll just go through. them and you can just. say if I'm off wrong uh between ages of. three and 17 so school age kids in the. US United States of America uh around. 10% have been diagnosed with ad HD uh.

that number does get bigger with age. because a lot of times you won't get. tested until a little later MH and uh. some you know diagnostic testing. requires money and sometimes a lot of. money uh I mean you can do like a uh. just a sort of uh psychiatric evaluation. maybe if your kids go into a therapist. or something and they may just look at. criteria and ask a few questions but if. you want like a real deal diagnostic. diagnostic evaluation like those aren't. cheap and that no sucks because uh like.

these numbers are kids who have been. diagnosed because they were able to be. diagnosed so there I'm sure there are a. lot of situations where that's not. possible there's also a shortage of. psychiatrists in the United States um so. it's it's often there's a long wait list. to even be seen from that psychiatrist. you have to pay a lot of money to um not. all psychiatrists specialize in ADHD so. you really need to find from an even. like smaller pool to choose from of.

psychiatrists and then also um once they. diagnose you that the the outlay of. money is not over there um like you have. to keep seeing them and they charge you. every time for that and psychiatrists. are medical doctors so their fees are. not on the par or on the order of a. psychologist or a therapist they're four. or five times more on average probably. I'm pulling that out of thin air but I I. it it's very clear that you're going pay. more for your psychiatrist than you.

would for a therapist yeah for sure um. generally still uh boys are more likely. to get that diagnosis than girls uh. about 133% to 6% uh there's also. Variations by race uh I believe um the. highest percentage uh is black kids are. at 12% uh 10% for white kids uh 8% for. Hispanic kids and 3% for Asian children. um which is just super interesting it is.

interesting for sure and there there's. got to be some clue in there somewhere. like there that seems like there's. that's weird that there's a difference. because I think all of those numbers. were for kids in the United States yeah. it was um I think globally they've come. up within a 2017 study across the world. that five almost 5.3% of kids have. ADHD um and there's a there's a question. like okay is this overdiagnosed because. I said that the prevalence rates seem to.

be kind of getting a little smaller as. we zero in better and better but the. diagnostic or the rates of diagnosis. have really picked up or they really did. at the beginning of the 21st century. between 2005 in. 2014 diagnoses of kids with ADHD doubled. doubled that's crazy that's a huge. increase doubled it's almost like 100%. more. yeah and you know there's just no.

scientific consensus right now on. whether it's an overdiagnosis or whether. it's just we know more now and there's. less stigma there's more kids getting. tested now uh there you know the the um. criteria changed um in 2013 from the DSM. 4 to the dsm5 right as far as that. threshold so all of those things. probably factor in um to the to the. doubling I would think yeah uh one thing. though if you are taking your kid in to.

be tested make sure that it's um since. they kind of evaluate the kid against. the expectations of their grade level if. they're young for their grade um that. needs to be taken into account because. they can they can easily be misdiagnosed. because they're actually not at that. grade level yet because they're not of. that age quite yet even though they're. in that grade yeah and with Co kids uh. you know potentially missing out on uh. depending on what happened where you. were on a lot of valuable schooling um.

so yeah it's important to look at uh cuz. cuz Ruby is Young for her grade so in. some cases she's like eight or nine. months younger than some of her. classmates M uh and then when you throw. even though she did Co kindergarten. which was a real Boon um they did their. best they it wasn't like regular school. still so uh teachers and educators are. having to uh sort and parents are having. to sort through all of that still um. just to kind of give a hat tip to some.

of our listeners in other countries I. saw that the NHS says in the UK 5% of. kids have ADHD in Australia they. estimate 6 to 10% of kids have. ADHD uh. Canada 5 to. 7% not bad eh uh and then our friends in. Germany can uh expect a percentage of. 4.33 for the number for the percentage. of kids that have ADHD in that country.

fundar so what about adults because as. we now realize adults have ADHD too or. um they probably had it in childhood and. it was just undiagnosed and they just. didn't get diagnosed until later in life. that's typically what happens well my. friends let's take a break and find out. those results right after this. [Music]. y.

y lately I've been. learning about. ins or. alumia how about the one on borderline. disorder better yet bir order heard that. one before but it was so nice I learned. it. twice everybody listen. up oh it's Charles and Joshua.

it's. you all right what a cliffhanger that. was are adult listeners on the edges of. their Collective seat seats seat. Collective seat yeah Collective because. it's Collective Collective Soul. Collective. Soul oh that's a good one um the rate of. the condition into adulthood is all over. the map some you might look at uh one.

thing that says H about 5% cuz you know. that's kind of what it is for kids is uh. and then you might read something else. has said no like 75% adults have it it's. really really startling when you start. looking into this as an adult uh there. was a study from. 2021 um that said that found that um uh. it can fluctuate over time and you know. it's kind of what I was talking about. being on on a spectrum uh but about 9%. of those diagnosed as kids uh they said. had quote unquote fully recovered uh in.

young adulthood so I don't know if what. that means though that like are systems. in place such that they've learned to. manage it yeah that's the weird thing is. there's no known cure for ADHD all of. the stuff that we use for is just. managing it but I think one of the. reasons also that they were like it's. just a childhood disorder that you. outgrow is because some people actually. do somehow so you actually can okay so. that maybe the 9% or part of that 9% I.

guess but to pull one of your old old. school words in it seems hinky to me. like I don't understand how yeah um I. don't understand how you could outgrow. something that arises from your brain. being literally different than other. people's brains yeah I don't get it but. maybe we just don't don't understand it. quite yet but it is true I'm not 100%. sure but for the most part it does seem. like if you have ADHD as a kid you have. it as an adult as well yeah and if. you're an adult with ADHD you're.

probably seeing it play out with. organization and focus um you know a lot. of times with your job but in in just in. your life as well because it's always. there um you might have some pretty. severe mood swings you might be a. procrastinator um a lot of times you're. misdiagnosed uh because it might make. you really anxious so there's like no. you have anxiety or it might really bum. you out with these mood swings and they. might say oh you're just depressed all. of that could just be ADHD or a.

comorbidity yeah um and we'll talk about. comorbidities in a second oh I got it um. but uh with adults you know again adults. don't get up in meetings and run around. the table and you're like just go ahead. I'm listening you know um instead. they're just going to sit there and just. you know use all of their uh energy to. to not do that and then also to try to. focus on what's being said uh and then. girls with ADHD Chuck tend to fall. through the cracks much more frequently.

for a couple of reasons but the main one. that I saw is that girls are so expected. to be like demure and quiet and. self-possessed that girls learn to mask. their symptoms earlier than boys do who. are can get away with being more. rambunctious than girls can so it goes. undetected and then finally when they. you know grow up and have a family. they're just like I can't there's too. many plates I can't do this um I'm just.

exhausted and I'm not doing any of this. the way that I'm supposed to be and. they'll um usually get diagnosed with. depression and then anxiety or something. like that but if they find the right. doctor they'll be properly diagnosed as. ADHD for sure uh you mentioned. comorbidities uh autism is a very. interesting one uh 30 to 80% of people. um with autism spectrum disorder uh are. also diagnosed with ADHD and about 20 uh.

to 50% of people with ADHD also uh have. autism spectrum disorder you're just. like why why aren't they the same. percentages but it turns out that ADHD. is actually more common than autism so. that Brin Buster is solved for sure and. there is a lot of overlap there um I. think before 2013 with the the updated. uh uh criteria in the. dsm5 um they thought that was like a. mutually exclusive thing um and some.

people this is much the minority for. sure but there are some researchers that. do think it's just sort of a single. condition manifesting in a couple of. different ways right but most. researchers don't think that they think. it's like you know two separate things. that live alongside one another a lot of. times uh right and Chuck I just I just. realized um I don't know if we've um. shouted out Olivia this whole time yet. for helping us out with this one but she. did a great job she did a great job and.

before I forget uh the other thing as. far as ADHD and uh autism spectrum. disorder is um you're more likely to to. just do better if you have one or the. other uh than if you have both that may. feel intuitive but I think it was you. know bare saying MH um did I interrupt. and interject that Livia thing uh no. it's. fine um depression's another one Chuck. uh I think kids with or people with ADHD.

are five times likelier to have. depression than um neurotypical peers. yeah and they're not exactly sure why a. lot of people are like well it's obvious. I mean like it's a it can be a really. hard life to have ADHD especially when. it's undiagnosed and untreated um so of. course people have depression other. people are like no we're talking about. actually like clinical like brain-based. depression right it's possible that. there's actually they share similar. roots in the the structure of the brain.

and that might account for it that. there's a lot of overlap physically um. between depression and ADHD yeah for. sure uh and about 40% of kids uh and I. think we touched on this a little bit in. part one uh also have anxiety which just. makes it all tougher to deal with uh. because it kind of feeds on itself um 30. to 50% of kids with ADHD uh fit the. criteria for a couple of other. conditions one called Oppositional. defiant disorder uh and conduct disorder.

uh which we should Maybe cover they we. could probably cover both of those in. one episode at some point we should man. one of the most heartbreaking things. I've ever seen in my life was on a plane. and this kid was just kicking the back. of my chair nonstop hard and I turned. around to look like what the heck's. going on you he said don't Josh no right. um and the parents were there with him. and they just gave me a look like what.

what do you want us to do we can't do. anything and I've never seen two people. look more tired and more defeated in my. life and their kid was probably only. three or four and it was just like like. I still today I just feel so bad for. those people because that's your kid and. like there not a lot of understanding or. treatment with that and certainly not. out in the general public who turns. around like you know what are you doing. why is your kid doing that yeah and in. the old days like you would tie your kid.

to a plane seat or something all. barbaric like that yeah which I'm sure. helps a lot no uh all right so uh if you. don't have ADHD like me. um it helps to grow older because you do. get a little wiser and you do gain. empathy hopefully at least I have um so. it's hard to put yourself in someone's. shoes until you are close to someone. with ADHD and then it. like I said it really benefits everyone.

if you can if you can lead with empathy. and understanding like in your case with. that kid even uh and that's coming from. someone with ad ADHD recognizing maybe. this behavior in a kid but uh it can be. hard if you don't have it to understand. this. stuff yeah so PE like low empathy. generally with people walking around who. know about autism are probably like yeah. that's that's that that has to do with. autism turns out it's a huge symptom. with ADHD too and probably the exact.

same stuff applies to people with Autism. but with. ADHD um it's not that you don't care you. couldn't care less or whatever you do. care you just either lack the ability to. like you said put yourself in that. person's situation so so your empathy. can be triggered or you lack um. emotional empathy which is where you're. like oh man that's terrible that that. happened to you but I'm not feeling. empathy like I don't feel it that's.

that's the difference they're not sure. how many people with ADHD have low. empathy and exactly how it works but it. is a huge problem because again like. there if you can't if you can't. empathize with people that's a basic. human thing yeah and that will really. cut down on the number of connections. you have with people because if. somebody's telling you something and. they've just you know inserted that pop. like the end of it and like this is is. what happened and you're like oh uhhuh.

like you're just taking their words at. face value and you're losing the. emotional component it's missing it's. not landing on you and they're just like. well what is wrong with you what like. you did you not hear what I just said. yeah and you can stop and think about. and be like oh yeah that's crazy but. like in the moment it's not it's not. there yeah yeah totally um another and. this is something I never knew anything. about until we started researching this. but uh false memory or faulty memory uh. can be an issue if you have.

ADHD uh and it's not just um well I just. don't remember things uh as they really. were uh it can literally be like a false. memory they've they've done tests with. kids and it uh they showed that kids. with ADHD are much more likely to. remember things that weren't on list and. and this is sort of the key here uh not. only that but be really emphatic that. those memories were correct and trying. to to defend those memories and that can.

be a uh not only a frustration but a. real challenge especially as you get. into adulthood to sort of be able to. construct your autobiography of who you. are because that's all based on your. memories yeah because if you can accept. that you have false memories um and that. you embellish stuff that you don't. remember inadvertently you don't know. that you're doing this you start to. question all of your memories like which. ones are true which ones are made up. that's a huge problem individually but. also as far as relationships go you're.

accidentally inadvertently gaslighting. the people that you're like no that that. totally didn't happen or you said this. uh I didn't say that and to to get to a. point where you can trust the other. person's version of events what you're. doing you're having. to disavow your own version of reality. yeah and rely on somebody else's version. of reality and that's probably the. hardest. mental thing a person can do in their.

life is abandon like just not like not. trust their view of reality and be like. okay I I trust your version instead it's. one of the hardest things you could. possibly ever do and that's what it. requires to not accidentally Gaslight. people and not getting arguments all the. time because your memories are false. yeah and I imagine you know you keep. kind of going back to this uh how so. much of this can lead to a lack of uh. ability to connect with people in. different ways I imagine when you find.

your person or your persons in your life. it may be a maybe a smaller number than. it would have been otherwise but I I'm I. would think that maybe some of those. connections because so much trust is. involved can be even deeper sometimes. yeah oh for sure if you can find. somebody that you feel like you can be. yourself around and just let your guard. down and they accept you as you actually. are you hang on to those people for sure. and that's true whether you have ADHD or. Autism or like if that's if how whenever.

you find those people but it's like you. said they're going to be much fewer and. farther between because you're lacking. that initial easiness of like oh I like. you oh I like you too let's start. hanging out more and and cultivate a. friendship naturally without even. thinking about it uh each relationship. is a lot of work for people with ADHD so. yeah of course you're going to have. fewer of them yeah for sure um you and. these are you know we're kind of going. through just sort of like what it's like. to live with it so some of these are are. downers uh but you are more uh I believe.

about twice as likely to be injured in. life uh if you have ADHD which sounds. kind of weird but it makes sense you. know if you're uh distractive or. distracted or if you're impulsive if you. take more risks uh that's going to lead. to more injury in life um there's also. this very very strange thing um called. the ADHD sway where it's a literal. physical uh imbalance a postural. imbalance uh that's associated with ADHD.

which could be a short stuff on its own. maybe I think so uh you found this. hilarious video I think on Instagram of. somebody saying like what it's like. walking next to somebody with ADHD and. because the ADHD person will. accidentally walk in front of you or. walk like kind of sway too close to you. or something like that you end up the. guy who's like walking along next to. this girl who's talking to him and like. he ends up up having to like climb over. like a jungle gym and ends up having to.

walk through a bush and like all this. all this stuff and the person with ADHD. is totally oblivious that all this is. going on but it's because of that that. ADHD Sway and they don't as far as I. know no one knows exactly what it is but. they think it could have something to do. with the the differences in brain. structure has something to do with the. balance as well because that's in the. brain as well as in the ears fascinating. beep all right we're in the act 1 2 3 4. 5 we're headed toward the ACT.

six wow is this the one where the guns. go off oh I hope not uh so we're headed. toward act six and we will talk more. about the destruction of masking. behaviors right after. [Music]. this lately I've been learning some. stuff about somnia or.

alumia how about the one on borderline. disorder better yet bir order heard that. one before but it was so nice I learned. it. TW everybody listen. up oh it's Charles and. Joshua. it's you should. know so Chuck you promised that we're. going to talk about masking so I feel.

like my back's against the wall I have. to start talking about masking which I. will right now okay okay are you masking. uh right now sure yeah I think at all. times people with ADHD mask um to. varying degrees for sure I feel very. comfortable on the episode but you know. yeah I didn't mean to put you on the. spot I was kind of just joking what is. masking let me ask you that masking is. um camouflaging your symptoms to blend. in better. and how bad can that get and how bad is.

that for somebody in some ways it's. necessary and needed just to navigate. the world just to blend in and not to. blend in like don't look at me but to. seem but to be able to interact with. people in levels that they're not like. huh what's wrong with you they're paying. attention instead to what you're saying. or you know the the value that you have. yeah it you have to if you have ADHD and. autism a lot of neurotypical disorders. if all of them require you to mask to be.

able to just kind of live in the world. right so in that sense it stinks and. there's a lot of um I think you kind of. mentioned it either earlier in part one. some employers are starting to create. more neurodiverse inclusive workplaces. where it's just like just be yourself. but traditionally if you want to just. make it in the world you have to mask to. some degree right and so in that sense. that's okay or at the very least that's. not the most ins idious version of. masking the problem with it is that.

starts to carry over throughout other. parts of your life and you find that you. eventually develop a version of yourself. that you assume other people would. prefer to be around and in a lot of. cases you're probably correct and so in. addition to you know all of the. exhausting this that it keeps from not. you know getting up and running around. the conference table during a meeting. and being like no go ahead I'm just keep. going I'm listening um you you also your.

self-esteem takes a real nose dive. because what you're training yourself is. that your you is is not good enough you. have to you have to hide yourself for. people to accept you or value you and. that's the most Insidious part of. masking yeah I I can't imagine that uh. to to even it can get so bad where you. lose your sense of self uh because. you're masking so much uh obviously. something like this can manifest in bad. ways um uh mood swings anger uh those.

are symptoms that can be associated with. ADHD because of the. masking uh and you know uh regulating. those mood swings being unable to uh to. be sort of generally in a stable. emotional state can be very very. challenging uh and that takes a lot of. energy and that's part of the fatigue. that can come along with ADHD is you're. uh if you're always on or playing a role.

that you think you should play to fit. into work or life or the world it's got. to be exhausting it is so you're more. irritable so you're more prone to like. get mad at somebody who cut you off in. traffic whereas like a neurotypical. person might be like huh that guy's. having a bad day or or what a jerk or. something like that you know yeah um you. add all this stuff together and and. research consistently shows that people. with ADHD have lower self-esteem lower. self-compassion too than neurotypical.

people and um that's yeah again like I. said it's a really. Insidious part of ADHD and and just. being neurodiverse in general again it's. not just ADHD people who have to mask. anybody who isn't neurotypical will feel. like they have to mask at least in some. situations unless they make a conscious. decision not to do that it's almost like. resisting an impulse and just being like. I am going to be me in every situation. and to tell you the truth I'm not even.

sure that that's possible yeah and. resisting impulse is one of the. challenges anyway right yeah exactly. good point uh so you know as far as. families go we already mentioned that. that can you know family members maybe. on eggshells uh there have been studies. that have shown that um you may have a a. lower uh parental warmth uh and. especially maternal warmth toward a kid. with ADHD which is super sad yeah um. more stress more depression uh they.

found among uh among mothers especially. and uh if you have like one neurodiverse. child one kid with ADHD and two or three. other kids or just one other kid who is. neurotypical that can be really. challenging um for for everybody uh. including the the neurotypical kid uh. and they have found adults with ADHD. have uh about a twice as likely uh. chance of getting divorc worst as a. neurotypical couple right so yeah and.

there there's a lot of challenges just. in In Living everyday life at home even. not not even just at work or at the mall. or something like that um there's some. other real bummer downsides to having. ADHD um as a population um you're very. susceptible to addiction um because. again like these things flood your brain. with dopamine so you learn to do those. over and over and over again so it's. really easy to get a addicted to just. about anything if you have ADHD um.

there's a study of people who were in. treatment in the US I can't remember. when it was conducted but they found a. quarter of them had. ADHD and another quarter between 24% and. 62% of homeless people in the US were. found to have. ADHD um despite again only maybe. 3.1% of adults globally having the. disorder so they're disproportionately. represented in in those. populations um so here's the good news.

everybody we've been through five acts. and a third of some good things some bad. things and real challenges we laughed we. cried we laughed we cried for sure uh. it's a very in fact one of the most. highly treatable um conditions or or. disorder I don't even like saying. disorder you know but I guess that's how. they list it uh that you can have um. there are a few things you can do. treatment wise um there is uh coaching.

there's therapy and there's medication. uh you may try one of these things you. might try two you might try all three as. uh as an individual or a parent if. you're um helping your kid through this. situation that's well that's the that's. the most effective usually is all three. of those yeah I mean medication uh can. be very effective uh as of 2016 uh 62%. of kids in the US uh that are diagnosed. were on medication uh 30% of those were.

only on medication uh 32% uh were on. medication and behavioral treatment and. 15% um shunned the medication and just. did behavioral treatment and that's kind. of understandable for a parent to make a. decision and that many parents to make. the decision like I don't want to put my. kid on speed yeah because again like. central nervous system stimulants are. the go-to drug for treating ADHD cuz it. really really works it's like flipping a.

light switch I understand um where like. just even from the first dose you're. like oh this is what it feels like to be. neurotypical right um and one of those. stimulants that is prescribed one one. type adol viant stratera they are. literal amphetamines so the idea of. putting your kid on amphetamines really. does not sit right with a lot of parents. even though the the state of. understanding the consensus in the. professional ADHD Community despite a.

lot of nonprofessionals giving um. contrary advice or information usually. yeah um study after study has shown that. kids on um stimulants for ADHD treatment. do not get addicted to those stimulants. like it just doesn't happen and then it. also doesn't set them up for increased. um addictions later in life. and it may actually decrease some. Studies have shown the um proness to.

addiction of other stuff later in life. even too and I don't want to be just. like a Lackey for psychos stimulants as. ADHD treatment there's a lot of. different info out there but from what I. could tell when I when I researched it. for this the professional Community. generally agrees they are not harmful um. to be on even long term yeah there are a. couple of Kinds there's uh immediate. release medicines um that's sort of as. needed uh like a maybe up to 4H hour.

effective um time window um you may. crash really hard after that or get. really tired or depressed after that um. there are extended release medications. that that's sort of the the morning pill. uh that can last all day sometimes. sometimes it's six hours sometimes it's. up to 16 sometimes people tag team those. take that pill in the morning and then. either as needed or in the afternoon or. evening um one of the uh immediate. release.

medicines um and you have to get. screened you know for something like. this the they're going to do like a. cardiovascular screen for health risks. and stuff like that um but it's sort of. I believe they haven't found link to. cardiovas vascular disease right but. didn't they uh there was something about. the heart you found that was contrary to. that right yeah there's a study in the. Journal of the American Medical. Association that I think from like 2020. 3 that was like actually we studied some.

dudes in Sweden and it seems like. they're they were at an increased risk. of cardiovascular disease from long-term. psychos stimulant use from ADHD. so again the it's possible that we just. don't know enough or people haven't been. on it long enough but again these things. were developed in the 50s and kids have. been on them since the 70s ' 80s at the. latest when they started putting them on. well effectively speed to treat this. stuff and they doesn't seem to be a lot. of research that suggests they are.

harmful right um if you uh don't respond. well with those if the side effects are. no good there are other uh medicines. that you can take that are not. stimulants um Alpha antagonist sometimes. um sometimes like uh they found that. some medications to treat high blood uh. blood pressure like um. clonidine uh have you know improved ADHD. symptoms um so you know talk to your. doctor if this is something you're. interested in and um you know just we're.

we're not medical professionals so you. know good point speak to your doctor and. like really do some research and dig in. it's it's you know putting your kid or. your adult self on a on any kind of. medication it's not something to take. lightly so just you know really really. dig in there and ask questions for sure. um and no no shade on you if you're a. parent that's like I don't care what you. say I'm not putting my kid on speed um. totally totally get that like I respect. anybody's decision about that because it.

doesn't mean that you don't care about. your kid uh I respect anybody's decision. about stuff like that of course so um I. said that the most effective um I guess. approach to treating ADHD is not just. medication but also different types of. therapy and then also some other. interventions like exercise and. nutrition and when you put all that. together you it it it's much easier to. treat ADHD symptoms. one of the first things especially with. kids with ADHD is um Family training.

yeah where you you teach the family how. to teach the kid how to act and behave. like what's expected of them uh what the. consequences are and not just the kid. the whole family is supposed to fully. understand and be very clear on all of. the house rules and the structure of the. family um and I I guess so the younger. kids can effectively tell on the kid. with ADHD when he misbehaves or she does. right um and I saw that authoritative.

parenting type is the most effective. which was described as high control with. high warmth and high support oh. interesting but also that means okay so. high warmth right does that mean that. some parents make a decision to not be. warm to their kids like they think that. that's the best way to raise kids well I. mean sadly sure there are all kinds of. parents uh but I I I feel like that. probably high warmth means extra warmth. like being really attuned to gotcha.

providing that that extra warmth would. be my guess on fire like a furnace of a. parent uh you mentioned exercise of. course that's good for everybody when it. comes to mood regulation and and your. brain functioning uh at its highest but. uh for sure uh if you have. ADHD um it can increase dopamine um it. can improve your executive functioning. uh if if you have lot of P energy. especially if you're a kid uh you know.

with hyperactivity um exercise can. really can really help for. sure um coaching is another one too. there's therapy obviously but um. coaching is is huge in the ADHD. Community because you're not like okay. what's wrong with you let's figure out. all your traumas and stuff like that. it's like okay you're having trouble. with time management let's figure out. what works for you for getting better at. time management it's it's a it's a. legitimate way to approach ADHD symptoms. so are productive strategies where um.

that will probably also come out of. coaching sessions and um one thing that. you'll learn very early on is um phone. calendars that are easily accessed that. you can put reminders on all the time um. alarms on your phone anything that can. remind you can become like second nature. to use to really help you navigate ADHD. symptoms and remember important stuff. systems baby that's the key that's right. getting systems in place ADHD or not.

systems are just the older I get the. more I realize. that if you don't have a system in place. then you're just you're just flailing. you know you got to get a system uh they. did um you know outcomes are pretty good. there was a survey this is a little bit. old but it's you know I think it's. probably still pretty pretty on par but. uh 2020 2022 2012 survey of 351 English. language studies so I guess this is like. a meta analysis of long-term outcomes of.

people with ADHD uh found that 72% of. people treated had improved outcomes. when it comes to uh everything from. self-esteem to fewer accidents behind. the wheel uh less rates of addiction. antisocial Behavior Uh increased. employment increased uh academic success. so 72% if you are treated um that's. that's great that's really successful. yeah there's a lot of resources too for. ADHD um there's a researcher um named.

Melissa orof she holds marriage seminars. that really kind of paint ADHD in a. almost exclusively positive light uh and. if you were a couple that's tried like. um traditional marriage counseling. you've been like this isn't working it's. because that stuff's geared toward neur. neurotypical typical people hers is. geared toward neurodiverse people um. Melissa orov is very frequently. criticized as being overly posit. positive about ADHD there's a a. researcher named Gina Pera who came out.

with a much more balanced look it seems. like a ADHD called is it you me or do. ADHD which is a yeah um and then Russell. Barkley has written a lot of books too. for kids and parents and adults and he. was the president of the American. Psychological Association for a while so. he's no. slouch no and again be very wary of who. you're listening to on social media but. there are are psychiatrists who. specialize in ADHD who post a lot on.

social media and can be really helpful. on Instagram too that I wanted to shout. out Earth Perry Nichols mandanis it's. great and then the psych Dr MD Sasha. hamdani she has ADHD herself and she. wrote a book called self-care for people. with. ADHD all great resources uh and you know. what let's skip listener all together. and just encourage people to support one. another uh dig into those resources try. and lead with empathy and understanding.

you get much further in life uh and rate. and review our. show well put Chuck very nice uh in the. meantime if you want to get in touch. with us you can email us you can send us. that email to stuff podcast. iheartradio.com. [Music]. stuff you should know is a production of. iHeart radio for more podcasts ihart. radio visit the iHeart Radio app Apple. podcasts or wherever you listen to your. favorite shows.

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