Chapter 36 Understanding ADHD Part 3: nature and nurture
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- Опубліковано 4 бер 2024
- Chapter 36 recapping my unexpected Autism and ADHD year: this week I continue going through and reflecting on my course notes of King's College London's Understanding ADHD course, available on the Future Learn website.
Week 3 of the course was about nature versus nurture in terms of ADHD, the extent or heritability and/or environmental factors, and whether they can be parsed or are inextricably linked. ADHD + environment + outcome, basically. My course notes also look at whether ADHD can be 'diagnosed' via a simple brain scan. ADHD + environment = outcomes.
Please do like, share and subscribe to my channel and videos if you resonate or find any of this useful, or message me to get in touch.
Contact email: amineurodivergent@gmail.com
Some useful links:
ADHD Self-Test:
psychology-tools.com/test/adu...
FutureLearn Understanding ADHD online course:
www.futurelearn.com/courses/u...
How To ADHD (Jess McCabe): How Dopamine Affects Learning and Motivation in ADHD Brains: • How Dopamine Affects L...
Neurodivergent Insights: Misdiagnosis Monday: neurodivergentinsights.com/mi...
Exceptional Individuals: Dyspraxia vs ADHD: Differences & Overlaps: exceptionalindividuals.com/ab...
AQ Autism Self-Test:
I'm going to keep posting the link to the AQ Self Test for autism every episode in case this is the first video in the series people come across. Take the self test (remember it's JUST a self-test) and see how you score. You may have been on the autism spectrum all along and just had no idea, like I was:
psychology-tools.com/test/aut...
Cat-Q Test (Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire): An alternate self-test if you've gone a long time masking.
embrace-autism.com/cat-q
I’m glad you were up to posting. I always love getting your insights.
Glad to have you back 🙂
Good to see you again Struan. Sorry to hear you’ve been struggling. I’m just coming out the other side of a Christmas burnout myself so I understand how tough it can be to keep going with plans. Look after yourself first, we’re all still here for you.
You’ve been missed! Thank you for another great episode.
Glad you're back 🎉
I remember being in a bit of shock and confusion when I first got a diagnosis. I’m at a point where I hardly ever give it a thought. As a family we see it as an advantage.
Great to see you back. I didn't occur to me to get in touch worried about you, I presumed you were taking a break for various reasons but I can understand why viewers contacting you, concerned about you, would be a nice thing ;)
I've not been able to comment on any videos in recent times, though I've still been watching, I do appreciate the work you put in and the videos have been as informative and as helpful as ever. (Not to be interpreted as a demand, please go at your own pace and schedule and be kind to yourself) :D
Cheers - I don't feel these videos as demands, weirdly, because there's no insistence that I do them (other than the target of 52 I've set in my head). I enjoy doing them when I have the spoons and love that people find them informative and helpful. Thanks a lot for messaging!
another great one! Thank you for doing these and please don't worry about doing more (or not doing any) at your own rhythm. It's how we all do it ;-)
Nice to see you again, Struan, and I hope you're doing well. I very much resonate with the issue of "differences" vs. "deficits." The medical model - "deficits" - arouses my impatience at all times, and sometimes, my anger. It says, "you're missing something" and then, walks away. It's a dead-end for neurodivergent people. I suppose that must provide some measure of security and comfort for the people who subscribe to it. It certainly does nothing for people who are labeled thusly.
Also, I wanted to mention, if you don't already know her work, Taylor (her channel is Mom on the Spectrum) also was late diagnosed with both autism and ADHD. In particular, she's got a couple of videos about how her autism hides her ADHD, and her ADHD hides her autism, which seem spot-on to me (late and self-diagnosed with autism, also suspecting ADHD but there are no resources, damned or otherwise, in my area). Your mileage may vary, of course.
Lynn in Vermont, U.S.A.
Hi Lynn! Yes, I've already started looking at my notes for my next video (the final one on the Understanding ADHD course) and the medical and social models are definitely something I want to give my thoughts on. It gets my anger up a bit sometimes too that we're (society, I mean) still in this place with the dialogue on this. I have watched a few of Mon on the Spectrum's videos - I'm hoping to carve out more time for things like this and making contact with other content creators in the future - and she talks a lot of sense. Autism and ADHD 'hiding' each other is definitely a thing, and definitely doesn't make being blessed with both any easier for the individual to deal with and negotiate when there's so little understanding of it, or resources available around it, out there in the wider world. Cheers and nice to hear from you!
Another great video 😊
Kinda happy I'm awake at 2:54 am to watch your latest video but I think some has gone over my head as I'm a bit sleepy now so I'll watch again the next evening.
The waitlist here in the Netherlands is also very long. But I suppose my wait is hopefully nearly over. I'm at 11 months now.
No appologies. Just glad you are okay. Take care.
Good to see another video from you :-)
The mind wandering during tasks requiring attention was a pretty heavy hitter.
The nature versus nurture debate pertaining to ADHD is an interesting one. I did a live stream with Mike from autistic AF and kind of touched on this. I basically said that I personally believe there are higher instances of misdiagnosis's with ADHD than there is for autism. That might be an unpopular opinion and I'm open to discussion but this is my current hypothesis.
There is a lot of crossover with trauma and ADHD symptoms as well as diet, lack of exercise, and consistent interaction with technology that might lend to hyperactivity or inattention that could easily be diagnosed as ADHD.
To my knowledge, I think we have narrowed autism down more to hereditability and possibly epigenetics... However there still isn't really apparent evidence for later onset autism as there is for ADHD. So those with autism and co-occurring ADHD My guess is it's more likely genetics. However with ADHD alone it's a little less clear.
Anyway, The specific example of elongated sense of time when traveling back from a destination with no reward of reaching the destination was super relatable. Same.
I am sure people would love to hear some feedback on ADHD meds and how they can be effective for some and not for others. I often question my own use of them with not having pure ADHD and how they affect my brain type with also having autism.
See you next time! Cheers
Hey Jenn! Yes there's definitely, definitely room for misdiagnosis around 'pure' ADHD. A person close to me I was convinced was ADHD consistently scores low on self-tests. It increasingly seems with them it's all just trauma response, and specifically childhood trauma, but the symptoms and the way they manifest can be very, very similar - and they're present constantly. There's a lot of blurred lines and overlap around this, I'm increasingly seeing. Those Misdiagnosis Monday venn diagrams on Neurodivergent Insights are really, really helpful I'm finding.
You're back🎉
I'm the opposite. I dislike the journey towards something and am so relieved going back home.
Yeah, this can also happen to me sometimes if I'm unfamiliar with the place I'm going. I suspect this aspect's more ASD (the going somewhere unfamiliar) than ADHD!
@@amineurodivergent guess so. I just really like it if I know what to expect and if the environment is adjusted to my preferences in terms of brightness, temperature and noise levels.
When I was trained in psychology in the early 00s it was believed that Autism and ADHD don't co-occur.
Yeah, it's only relatively recently they've realised how common co-occurring autism and ADHD really is.
Dyslexia. If your reading and writing is somewhat on par, they don't diagnose you. Back when I was 18 me and my family (mom dad and twin brother) participated in a scientific research into heridibility of dyslecia. They all tested us bith with real Dutch words and words that followed Dutch spelling rules but weren't real. In stead of a family of 2 people with dyslexia and 2 without it turned out I was the most dyslectic of my whole family. But when I was send to be assessed for an actual diagnosis I wasn't far enough behind in reading and writing for my age to qualify as dyslectic. I compensated too much to be considered dyslectic
This was 2000 though. But yeah I'm probably dyslectic. But I compensate too much to be called that. Just as I fear when my assessment for ASD will say I'm not effected enough in daily functioning to be called Autistic. GAD I did receive as a diagnosis though, while in my first burn-out.
@@toaojjc I score high-ish on dyslexia self-tests but I don't think high enough to warrant seeking an official diagnosis. I've got enough going on, and my reading speed and how tired I get reading could also be other ND aspects. With your ASD assessment (when It eventually comes) just try not to mask too hard and communicate how you are on your worst days, not your best days. It's really hard to not try to present your best face when you spend so long doing that (and finally hit a scenario where doing that is actually counter-productive, if that makes sense!)
@@amineurodivergent it is such a mindf*ck this whole assessment thing. All my live I've tried to blend in. Practising hours and hours a day on how to get through reces at school. Never show what didn't came natural. To be honest there are days I wanna call the whole thing off.... But I also know I'll keep second guessing my self-diagnosis if I don't go through with it.... Just wish they would communicate a bit better on the timeline.... I'd like a bit off a heads-up.....