ADHD and the Myth of Laziness

For adults with ADHD, tasks can take longer and seem more difficult to finish. There are ways to improve your symptoms—but understanding your symptoms first can help you manage them.
 
Some symptoms of ADHD can resemble laziness—especially to those around you, like bosses, coworkers, and partners. This can easily lead to frustration and guilt. But having ADHD doesn’t mean you’re lazy; understanding and accepting that is an important step in your journey.
 
Busting The Myth
 The myth that adults diagnosed with ADHD are lazy is just that—a myth. It’s a misconception that seems to persist despite plenty of scientific evidence that ADHD makes it significantly more difficult to complete tasks in a timely fashion. In fact, studies of the ADHD brain suggest that in many respects, someone with ADHD may actually be working harder than a similar person without ADHD.
 
For those of us with ADHD, it’s often more difficult to focus and remain motivated at work and elsewhere. From an outside perspective, it can seem that you’re lazy or don’t care about finishing the task—but of course, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
 
Coping with Shame or Guilt
It’s only natural that failing to complete tasks on time can lead to haunting feelings of shame or guilt. You may be familiar with a negative spiral of turning to distractions or other tasks just when you need to be focused on something more urgent—which leads to lots of guilt and little enjoyment.
 
The first step in dealing with these feelings is to accept your diagnosis and understand that it isn’t your fault. You shouldn’t feel ashamed about your unique struggles. While your ADHD symptoms may make it difficult to remain organized and finish tasks, it’s not impossible. With proper training, therapy, and perhaps medication, you can overcome these hurdles.
 
Answering Questions from Others
Those who don’t have ADHD may have trouble understanding why you can’t always complete your work on time. Over the years, you may have been chided for your inability to stay afloat when work or homework assignments piled up. This is usually because parents, teachers, friends, and partners who don’t have ADHD have trouble imagining what’s going on in your brain, and may become frustrated with the results they see.
 
Of course, when you’re both frustrated, things only get more difficult. Education is the best answer to this problem. The more that others know about ADHD, the better they can understand and empathize with the ways in which it affects you. You can explain your own symptoms to them, but they may need to do some research of their own as well.
 
For more information on managing adult ADHD symptoms and the shame or frustrations that may accompany them, contact me at Cloud Counseling today.

Your adult ADHD diagnosis means that day-to-day tasks that seem simple to others can be daunting, but there’s no reason to despair. With knowledge and counseling, your symptoms are manageable. To learn more about strategies for tackling the symptoms of adult ADHD, contact me at Cloud Counseling today.