What Is ADHD? 

Um wow it felt like you literally screwed my head off, cracked open my brain and poured out the contents. I have never felt so SEEN- WHAT THE F U C K. It's like you handed me the puzzle pieces I lost and gave up on trying to find. Wow I love you. I have to sort out my life now. Cool. Thanks. Good talk. ❤❤❤

Refreshing the comments and seeing hate ones gone is great. Oh housework... I’m trying to clean my apartment lately and keep the dishes from piling up. How do people manage cleaning all the time?

Just sent this to my mom. What you said about walking through 4 feet of water and the exhaustion, as well as how afab people are socialised and it’s impact on how we deal with ADHD was spot on. I respect you so much Aaron and appreciate your advocacy and authenticity in all you do. 🙏🏼

I have inattentive with hypoactivity. I am 44 and was diagnosed at age 7 (back when it was called ADD). I also have comorbid disorders, as I am assuming most folks with ADHD have. I have learned so much from your videos. You are a very kind, wise, intelligent person. Thank you !

I would be interested in a video about being both autistic and having ADHD. Because often I found that people having multiple neurodivergences/diagnosis is not talked about a lot, and a lot of therapist don't know how to diagnoses multiple neurodivergies in the same person because they would think that this traits must be due to the one neurodivergency they already diagnosed. I'm also wondering what you think about autistic non-ADHD activists and ADHD non-autistic activists : do you think the communities are good to make space for intersectionality for people who are both and stuff like that?

THE AD/HD POOL. It’s all just one big pool party with no lifeguards. An accurate image.

Aaron, I have watched probably every video on RU-vid regarding ADHD and this by far is the best and most relatable one. I also experience periods of hyperactivity and a lot of periods of hypoactivity and I was originally diagnosed with bipolar disorder 🙄then later on diagnosed with ADHD and I’ve never heard anyone talk about hypoactivity. I always just labeled it as depression bc that was the closest thing I could understand, but now I know it’s hypoactivity most of the time. Thank you for sharing your experiences💗

I love how you touched on the fact that adhd is often misdiagnosed! I thought I was bipolar for a while because of the hyper/hypo activity cycles (to the point where I told my doctor and referred me somewhere but I never made the appointment bc it didn’t /feel/ right) but then my mum was diagnosed with adult adhd. I started researching it a bit further and all of a sudden everything made sense I then started talking to people that I knew who had adhd and telling them that I thought I also had adhd and they were all like “duh! It’s so obvious that you adhd!”. And I’m just nobody thought to be like hey I think you might have adhd??? Like rude okay Haha Your new videos have been so well put together and thought out! I’m really enjoying them!

I definitely do not have adhd, but I love Aaron and some of my closest friends do have it and I think this will definitely help understand them.

Legit binged watch your content. I’m 39yrs old and have just started figuring who the heck I am. I was diagnosed this year with ADHD, have been treated for years with anxiety and depression. Finally full diagnosis was ADHD, PTSD, depression, panic disorder, and OCD tendencies. I have been watching your videos and omg it’s like you are speaking my actual real language. The best I’ve found relating to me and I love you for it. Thank you, I’m so open about myself because it helps me to not feel so claustrophobic, and hearing you talk helps me to not feel so alone. It’s been 30 some years of feeling completely inadequate in so many ways, and it’s heart breaking to think of my child self feeling so stupid, and yet exciting to help that little one heal and me to grow into and love who I am. You’re truly a blessing from the universe. As well, my son has been diagnosed with adhd. I didn’t know I had been suffering throughout my life and now I can see what he is going through; it helps me help him. Like it literally helps me to understand ways to help my son. He is such a sweet 17 yr old, and I’m so thankful to be able to help him while he’s still developing in life so he doesn’t have to wait a lifetime. Keep up the great work for so many people in the adhd, trans, disability community. Absolutely have an advocate and subscriber here for life.

I'm watching this video at 1.25 speed because I'm behind on my RU-vid videos and you're talking about being hyperactive and it just makes you seem even more hyperactive. It's kinda funny

I know this is an old video, but OMG... You've just discribed my life. I too was first diagnosed with depression, I too pick at my skin, I too get extremely exhausted, I too felt like nothing gave me any kind of satisfaction in life so maybe living was a waste of time and maybe I was just weak and lazy and not cut out for... well, for life. I had this constant feeling of "Is this it? - And if this is it, then I don't know that I want to stick it out.". Being an adult I too had taught myself how to act around others and to apply simple basic politeness in social situations. Being born (cis-)female I too was taught to contain my fidgeting and my extra energy, to sit still and to not be so loud. I thankfully ended up in the office of a really good psychiatrist who more or less instantly spotted my ADHD. I got my diagnosis a few weeks ago at the age of 43. Thank you so much for this video and for your channel! - I think you're brilliant!

I've been diagnosed with ADD, when it was still ADD, and childhood depression so both of those just compounded it. The most issues I have are with motivation, the other issues are still a major problem, but that is the worst for me. I completely understand where you're coming from and that lack of dopamine thing really makes sense to me. But, that lack of motivation feels like I have _zero_ control over it. I spent a lot of time in my life hating myself for not being normal. It's soul crushing seeing everyone else be able to function at a level of normal where even if they don't _like_ doing something like washing dishes or cleaning your room etc, they'll still do it. And then me sitting here like, I cannot find any way to get up and do this, it makes me feel like I'm a failure. And as much as I like helpful reminders to do things, being _told_ to do it, just no ifs ands or buts go do it, compounds it even further. I'll get to it, just because my brain isn't functioning on your level, doesn't mean I'm not doing it on purpose because I'm just lazy.

I have ADHD...and you explain it very accurate. It is different for everybody...that is why it's difficult to to find it. But what I find out is that ADHD and autism are actually survival skills in history...just in this era it is a drag. Because there are to many things that trigger people with this.

Tw: suicidal thoughts For me the suicidal thoughts came from this feeling of everything being too overwhelming. Because of executive dysfunction and constant failures and criticisms, I doubted my own ability to resolve problems that came up. This feeling of overwhelm was amplified by my emotional dysregulation, until many times my problems and situations felt entirely insurmountable. I couldn't see any other way out than suicide. This experience of a sudden meltdown caused by a change in circumstances, that resolved itself when the real or imagine problems were dealt with isn't actually typical of depression, but I didn't know that at the time. I mean, sure, I've been legitimately depressed before, but I don't think this was that.

This was really helpful! I have a request/suggestion. Can you do a follow-up video on the things that you do or that others do to help cope with ADHD besides medication? I am a teacher, and as such I am often in a fun hands-tied situation: I can see symptoms of ADHD but 1) the student is on medication but not taking it, 2) the student is on medication and it's ineffective, 3) the student is on medication but its not being taken correctly, 4) the student is not on medication and teachers cannot suggest to parents that they maybe look into getting their kid evaluated, 5) all sorts of fun combinations of the above and other situations that get more specific. So as a teacher, I'd like to be able to give my students tools to help them concentrate, calm down, take a mental break, whatever it is that they need so they can survive my class without feeling like they are the worst or that I'm the worst or that everything is the worst. Not with the aim of going to them and saying "You have ADHD, do this thing!" but rather "Hey, you're a little spacey again today, why don't you try this?" Bonus: maybe things that others can do to help support you, reduce your social anxiety over having ADHD, and things like that?

Lam Tail 10/10

Holy shit, this video has given me some things to think about. It hit on so much of the stuff that's making my life difficult. My last therapist suggested that I might have ADHD but we weren't able to get far enough for me to get a diagnosis or some word one way or another before things fell through with the place she was working. I also quickly lose interest in things, take somewhat longer to untangle my thoughts than some of my peers do, have difficulty with motivation, pick at my skin, etc. - you basically described me in this video.

I can't even put into words how much your videos about this topics have helped me. The one about executive dysfunction was eye-opening to me, not because I didn't know I suffer from it before (that I know very well since years ago) but because it made me realize it's likely that my executive dysfunction is bad enough to require medication in order for me to deal with it. It's so bad that since I left home and moved to the city (to Madrid specifically if you're curious) to start college roughly a year and a half ago I've spent most of my time in bed in an almost completely lethargic state, have skiped the immense majority of my classes and therefore also failed everything, haven't done a single new friend here (living in one of Europe's most populated cities where surely there're thousands of people I could potentially meet and befriend) because I almost don't leave my flat and struggle to keep contact with my old friends and mostly forget to answer or outright ignore their texts, have lost 25 pounds because even buying food and cooking it is already too much for me, can't keep my room or the flat for that matter minimally tidy, struggle to keep my personal hygiene, won't do little things that supposedly require minimal effort like the example that you used about putting your phone to charge (that's happened to me more times than I care to admit)... my life is an unmanageable mess, that's what it is for me right now. As you say, it kind of sounds like I am seriously depressed, but I'm not, my mood is even pretty good considering how badly I'm doing, I just can't do the tasks necessary to do better than barely surviving. The problem is that I don't even have an ADHD diagnosis in the first place, and I don't think I'll be able to convince a doctor of that my executive dysfunction needs to be treated with medication without having one even though I'm autistic (which also I only got diagnosed two months ago and really late in life, at the age of 19, so thank you very much public health system, great job...) and executive dysfunctioning is also an ASD trait. I wanted to purchase an ADHD diagnosis immediately after my ASD diagnosis because I've suspected I have both (and also OCD, which I don't have diagnosed either, but that's another topic) for years, but the therapist who diagnosed me kept telling me that even if I met the diagnostic criteria for ADHD (which she never bothered to check), overlap of traits between neurodevelopmental conditions like autism and ADHD is normal because they are kind of similar (which is true) so a second diagnosis wasn't necessary in her opinion (totally ignoring the huge rate of comorbidity both conditions have). But after watching this video I'm now almost 100% positive I do have ADHD and that I need to get it diagnosed as much as I needed to get my autism diagnosed (which was a lot). The part about hypoactivity ALSO being an ADHD trait (which considering that some people with ADHD have terrible executive dysfunction that prevent them from doing most of the activities and tasks they want or need to do, like in my case, makes sense) and about hyperactivity being sometimes internal instead of external and manifesting itself in the form of constant racing thoughts about lots of things all the time (I sometimes wish I could just silence my internal monologue to be honest, it's exhausting) is what has finally convinced me, I relate too much with both things (and also have known since forever that I completely lack the ability to pay attention consistently in class, studying or even in a conversation unless I'm hyperfocusing, like I do when doing research about my special interests and stuff, which the last therapist I visitied used along with the fact that I hadn't missed a single appointment with her as proof that I don't lack executive functioning cognitive skills but motivation, which made me think "you really don't understand neither autistic special interests nor executive dysfunction at all..."). Sorry again for rambling, I always leave such long comments in your videos, but honestly it is because I relate so much to what you say that it creates in me the need to share my experience here too. So yeah, thank you again, you're the best :333

I have always wondered why I do the things I do. Like become chroncially bored, have at least 20 tabs open on my laptop, cant focus on certain things for more than an hour if that. I looked into ADHD a few months back and it really made sense

OMG THIS MADE SO MUCH OF MY LIFE MAKE SENSE!

This helped me so much. The last part of your video really hit home. I really thought that stuff was all my fault and just in my head, thanks for letting me know that it’s not

this video is so helpful, I’ve never felt like my feelings and actions could be explained and categorised so accurately. it’s been 8 years of me thinking I’m depressed or anxious or bipolar and only recently did I think to look into adhd because I always only concentrated on the hyperactivity part which is definitely not me. everything you describe is like......so exactly how I feel and it’s so relieving. I’m unable to access a therapist or medication due to my home/family situation but as soon as I’m free I’ll be looking into this. I was teetering on the edge of thinking I have adhd but this confirmed it for me BIG TIME!!!! Thank you so much!

What you explained about doctors not taking you seriously because they just expect you to show 100% of your symptoms at all times, without manners and without masking is exactly how I felt when I got evaluated for an ASD, they said I didn’t show any signs of stimming or talking out of turn, or have any sensitivities or strong like for certain sensory things. Although I clearly told them I did but because they didn’t see them, they didn’t take it seriously. Like I’m an adult who has had to live in the real world with all these things so I’ve adapted out of certain behaviors but it doesn’t mean I don’t still have them.

just commenting to boost ratings in the eyes of the algorithm

Dude..... you fucking rock! NEVER left a comment on RU-vid before (despite watching it everyday) but as a newly diagnosed 40yr old with ADHD i have found your truth and content one of the most beautiful things ive ever watched. Sending you love and light angel xxx

Thank fuck for folk like you who are able to articulate this so well. Especially since I again lack insurance, and it is so hard to get appointments here. This helps so much, I basically have to struggle to find folk who are diagnosed expressing the same thoughts. Then when I maybe can get coverage, and hopefully appointments, can seek actual diagnosis for myself. Until then, I just have to research and learn more directed coping skills.

Gonna rewatch every so often for the rest of the day because thankfully this one has ads 💗

That "jumping into the middle of things" with "no context" and the having to finish that train of thought - that is how my mind thinks, though there is deep context to it which neurotypicals will understand if they, ironically, don't get too impatient and distracted by "getting to the point" when I'm actually trying to explain something far deeper that requires context. Also getting deep into that context just feels right and satisfying, being able to fully process that thought in order to identify the complex CONTEXTS causing the original problem the thought is symptomatic of. So thank you Aaron, I always feel like I can particularly understand your way of talking and it's so rad to have finally found other people like me. You be you and don't be pressured to conform to a particular way of speaking or thinking, I find your being yourself super and talking the way you do super relatable and comforting. Plus, y'all know we have superpowers as the ultimate problem solvers.

Thank you Plant Daddi, your vids are always educational, well explained, easy to understand & very respectful so I've been showing them to friends/family who want to learn about these subjects (along with Chase, Stef, Ash, the whole gang). I personally have atypical ADHD (dx of "ADHD NOS" but it might be called something else now) but my partner has severe ADHD-PI so his symptoms are drastically different from mine & neither of us were properly dx until adulthood. It's such a commonly misunderstood condition due to stigma & stereotypes in the media, so it's incredibly important to help spread awareness & proper education. I wish I had known about my ADHD much sooner but it was always mistaken as anxiety, depression, OCD, bipolar disorder, even BPD (same as you!) but now that I'm properly medicated (Vyvanse, also same as you!) everything finally makes sense now. Edit: Oh yeah one of the most important things I wish people understood is the concept of mental/emotional hyperactivity, since that's the kind I have. It manifests (for me at least) as anxiety, intrusive thoughts, panic attacks & even OCD, then when I "crash" afterwards I get physically & mentally exhausted which manifests as depression. You can see why doctors thought I was bipolar :/

Great video Aaron, & you always express yourself so well. Even though I don't want to hear it sometimes... being told I'm being "too quiet", or "I'm talking too fast", is a way to help step back & reevaluate everything that is going on with myself. Lamb tail ❤

You explain this so well. Thank you so much for making this video. You make me feel so much more normal about my adhd.

Videos on the different types would be awesome! I already want to show this video to everyone, it does such a good job explaining.

I have literally never heard a more accurate description of my life

Coming back to this video after years and years of realizing...this might apply to me. This video was so eye opening, thank you Aaron 💕

Omg my whole life makes so much sense now!!! I never realized all my problems were connected to ADHD until now. Super helpful!

Your video(s) help(s) me figure out things about myself, I'm 31 so I know it's kind of late and there's so much mechanisms in my life that I already kind of "conditionned" so I could fit societal expectations (like you said about yourself), so that makes it all blurry in my mind. But you're helping :) I send a lot of love your way.

executive dysfunction is like trying to break thru that wall thingy in Detroit become human except u can never break the wall and then everyone gets mad at you

This has been the most comprehensively relatable & personally-positive video I have ever seen. Thank you @Aaron Ansuini

You have helped me so much with all my disabilities, and I just wanted to sincerely thank you for it! Thank you Aaron!! Thank you for all that you do to help people understand their disabilities more. I just can’t express how much you’ve helped me with all my problems. Now that I understand a lot more about my disabilities I can focus on how to live better with them. I now can even try to overcome them in some ways. So thank you for that!! 💚

This was such a good and informative video! Please make more focusing on the specific types and more about your experiences too, it really helps c: Also your mention of suicidal thoughts bc of ADHD shook me, I could describe my suicidal thoughts from a few years back almost the exact same way you did. ADHD has such an impact on mental health, I wish people took it more seriously :c

God bless you for this. I'm trying to find videos to explain to my family what I fail to get across, and this is definitely one I'm showing them. Thank you.

you make some of the best ADHD videos on youtube. Thank you.

I'm 56 and recently diagnosed with ADHD., It took me a couple of years to find the right doctors, I can't even think what my life would of been like if I had this done earlier. I can't tell you how many times I've heard that I was just lazy or I should just suck it up, so frustrating. I thought I was the only one that had trouble with just the simple things, like plugging in the phone that is right next to you. I really urge people who think they have ADHD to be tested!!! Thank you!!!

Love your videos, thanks for posting this! I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety disorders when I was 13/14 years old. Now at almost 25 years old I’m certain I have ADHD. The more videos I watch and the more I read about ADHD, the more it all makes sense.... I can definitely relate to the skin picking. I haven’t been re-diagnosed in years but I never mentioned the skin picking before bc I was embarrassed :/ I’m hopefully getting top surgery soon and then I want to look into getting medicated properly. Thanks again for your informational videos.

I had to watch this video / pieces of it so many times lol but this is so good thank you!!!

Thank you so much, these videos are so helpful for me.

I love you videos on ADHD. I was diagnosed when I was 19, and I'm almost 21 now. My little brother however was diagnosed at 5, and has taken every medication under the book. I always thought I had adhd but I react to stimuli so different than him I never thought I would actually be diagnosed. I was also shortly after diagnosed with bipolar, so the doctor started me on Lithium, but it only made me not feel as numb, but not any more focused. I know many problems in my life would be fixed if I could find practices to help me focus better, but finding the perfect practices to cater to my personal needs is hard in a world where no one else seems to have a brain like mine. I think so fast that I can't always process the information, which may make me appear slower on the outside but on the contrary I'm not. I've always learned way faster than my peers, but did poor in classes cause I could never care about a class I figured out before everyone else. Being diagnosed as an adult definitely is a different expierance, but I'm so glad to get to understand why I react to certain situations the way I do. I'm aiming for constant improvement.

Similarly to how people think of hyperactivity but hypoactivity is also a problem, hyperfocus can also be a problem and can explain how someone can be ADHD and get good grades/ do well at focused work. I'm not really good at focusing on some small thing for hours, I'm bad at not focusing on some small thing for hours.

I feel this on such a real level it’s crazy !

i relate to your symptoms a lot. i was diagnosed with adhd inattentive type a year ago. it's a struggle but it feels good to know that there's an explanation for the problems i've had for my whole life. there is so much stigma and so many misconceptions about it, though. when i first started my evaluation i was surprised to hear they were suspecting adhd. y'know, since i seem calm and polite and so on. i really had no idea what adhd even is, and i've found that that's the case with a lot of people. but like you said my appearing calm is the product of adapting to society while having these issues. i've always been told i seem calm and collected and every time i think "how?" because my mind never shuts up and i feel anxious all the time. really relate to the suicidal part of this, because it makes life so fucking difficult. i'm glad you don't feel that way anymore, and i'm on my way there too i think. this video was reassuring and informative. i really like what you've been doing with your yt channel lately, aaron :)

This is so helpful for people who not only cope with ADHD, but also the people who support them. I learned so much about how to help my partner because of this, thank you.

i really appreciate this video

OMG this video is me. Especially the feeling like things are pointless and getting no satisfaction out of them or feeling lethargic and like there is no real joy or reason in anything.

This video was very touching and relatable to my experiences (I’m also AFAB) and partway through I had to pause and calm myself down; I was directly facing a lot of what I have been questioning for a long time. I’ve been diagnosed with generalized anxiety, and I have experienced depressive and suicidal periods, but something still felt incorrect or incomplete. I started learning more about executive function and attention deficits this year and for months I’ve considered I might have ADHD. But the fact that I was never diagnosed as a child makes me terrified to even bring it up. I think nobody will believe me, and I’ll just be labeled as looking for excuses for my laziness or disorganization, or that it’s only anxiety/depression or it’s because I’m vegan and I’m unhealthy. I’m thinking that possibly my dysphoria overshadowed a lot of my other feelings and symptoms, and not until my transition reached a comfortable stage was I able to recognize and focus on them. I’ve made an appointment with my physician to talk about anxiety medication but I’m also going to ask for referral to someone who could help me sort this out.

Wow this really resonated with me....I've been thinking more and more about the possibility that I have undiagnosed ADHD and possibly misdiagnosed anxiety/depression. I've definitely HAD depressive episodes in my past...but looking back I think it was due to the situation I was in causing me to be depressed. Huh. Hopefully I can find a good therapist/doctor to actually LISTEN to me and not just brush off my hunch and want to get tested for adult ADHD.

Over the last couple years I've been thinking more and more that I probably have ADHD. I was diagnosed with it about 13 years ago and was put on all the usual meds at the time one after another but none of them helped, so eventually I thought maybe I don't have it and it was just anxiety. My anxiety and depression (which I've had all my life) both got worse and worse until a few years ago when I finally started getting treatment that helped, and at this point I don't feel like depression is a problem and anxiety is much less so... yet I still have MASSIVE trouble concentrating and can relate to like... 90% of the other things I see people saying about ADHD in terms of how their brains work. ANYWAY all this to say I really appreciate the videos you're making on this topic as it's something I'm thinking a lot about right now and you're so good at articulating your experiences and being educational at the same time!

Please make more videos about ADHD! Could you also add sources such as articles to your videos? I'm very interested in this side of the ADHD, and it explains really well experiences me and few of my friends have gone through ever since childhood, but which are interpret either as depression, anxiety or just pure laziness.

Oh mah lorttt thank you for making this video. I was diagnosed a while back but I’ve never found anyone who understands it quite like this. My teacher always says “there is no way you have ADHD you don’t act blah blah blah blah blah all the time” and I try to explain and she just shuts it out and I’m like: *- .-* cause everyone who knows me well is like o_O “you don’t see how he acts?” And you got the hypoactivity soooo spot on cause as a kid my mom and other family members would get mad at me for acting the way I did so it became kind of... automatic to try and “control” myself, and It’s just tiring. Ps I’m so sorry if this comment goes alllll over, cause it’s hard for me to not jump from topic to topic.

Aaron ive never related to someone so hard. We're so similar and these videos have been so helpful. Im going to ask my doctor about vyvanse

I'm crying right now. This sounds like me. Idk what's different in my brain but there's something and I'm just trying to figure it out, but it's really hard. "Being lethargic is not the same as being lazy" :'( I needed to hear that right now

I am afab and wasn’t diagnosed until I was 15. When I was evaluated I thiught I’d be diagnosed with inattentive or combined. I was evaluated over the summer and the past November I had been diagnosed with anxiety and depression. I am diagnosed with hyperactive type but my mom and I think that had to do with the manifestations of my anxiety (to be fair though, my mom doesn’t believe my adhd diagnosis at all soo...). I wasn’t medicated for the adhd because you can’t combine adhd meds and anti-depressants, and the only option that would cover both would lower my already low blood pressure. My doctor said that sometimes the adhd results from the anxiety and depression so if we continued treating that it may help the adhd. She also said something the adhd causes the anxiety and depression which makes way more sense to me. Now I’m 18 and while my depression and anxiety has improved from pretty severe to mild/moderate, my adhd hasn’t. I’m now considering discussing adhd meds with my doctor, however it does really scare me because I don’t want to return to the place that I was. However being productive currently is incredibly difficult. I’m really hoping that treating my adhd will help my depression and anxiety not get worse, otherwise it seems that I’m lacking serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine...

bro ty for uploading this

I have felt like I have ADHD for a while but I'm not sure how to tell my therapist and doctor I think this without them think I'm self diagnosing myself. I relate so much to hypoactive and being called lazy or inattentive. Being told this has made me worry constantly and make sure I dont act that way but sometimes I just cant help it. Being told to grab something from the kitchen walking to the kitchen and then forgetting why I was there. It's so frustrating and I dont know what to do anymore. I dont want to be forgetful anymore. I want to be able to focus and comprehend without stressing about if I will be able to focus. Thank you Aaron. 💜

cool video I have ADHD(doctors told me in 2nd grade)I'm here to see you I love your videos

I got an ad! Yay!

I have adhd, and one thing that absolutely makes every symptom so much worse is feeling trapped, controlled or unable to do something. Like being forced to sit down and do nothing, i feel jittery and crawling in my skin. I feel anxious paniced and very frustrated. I can sit and focus but i need to be able to get up and move when i want, even if i dont get up once, just knowing i have the ability to. if that makes sence.

Thank you for sharing! I got here looking for some information about rejection dysphoria and I'm letting your videos auto-play.

I was diagnosed with ADHD in my first year of university, and stated taking medication for it after taking this diagnosis to my family physician. To this day, despite the fact that I know I am either hyperactive or combination type, I have “inattentive” type written in my medical info from my doctor just because I’m not jumping around the room and talking a mile a minute when I, a grown man, go to see my doctor. I wish doctors would think to ask questions about your daily experience before thinking they know everything about you.

Thank you !

You made it very easy to understand ADHD and as someone who does not have ADHD i'm really glad someone has explained to me i know it is something someone is just born with but finding out actual the brain chemicals this has defiantly made understand it better and i feel like i can be a better person to someone with ADHD!

This makes so much sense!!! Omg I have been diagnosed with add at an early age but like my hyperactivity has always been their just in different ways like you mentioned! Thanks Aaron!

I was very very recently Diagnosed with ADHD and this was beyond helpful! I had no clue any of the things I was feeling were ADHD until my diagnosis and hearing that other people have those same feelings is so reassuring. I thought there was something wrong with me, that I was just a failure or that I was stupid, and when I was diagnosed it all fell into place and everything made sense. I never understood how it was I could get 100 percent in theatre, art and LA and in everything else, 50's or less. Being able to read 10 books on Beat Poetry in a day but unable to read a 100-page booklet on biology. I could commit to theatre every day after school from 3 until 9:30 at night but not science class every day for an hour, nothing added up until I was diagnosed. Sending lots of love and positive vibes

Before this video I was thinking, that this topic is not the first to take to the psychotherapy, but now I am sure, that this problem is the cause of many others in my life. And I need to do something about it. Thank you! I can relate to a lot what you are telling.

Wow I saw so much of myself in these descriptions, especially the hypo activity and the skin picking

This is the first time I’ve heard of hypoactivity in ADHD but it makes sense. I told my therapist about those hypoactive days and apparently they can commonly follow days or bouts of hyperfocus, and then you crash and burn and “hypofocus” so to speak.

Thank you for the way you present information! Like others have suggested can you do a video on Autism and ADHD? I’m seeking an autism diagnosis but sometimes wonder if it’s actually adhd. I’ve had such a similar experience with misdiagnosis like you’ve described. Even now my doc sticks with GAD and MDD when I don’t actually fit the criteria for either. I don’t remember the article but it was saying how certain neuro disorders like ASD, OCD, and ADHD actually are all involved in the same circuitry so that’s why they often co-occur. It’s amazing how easy it is to get dismissed when you are socialized female and are very quiet. Thank you for sharing on this subject mater!! Love your videos and dig you as a person :)

good video, my dude, please do one talking a little more about inattentive type :)

Wait, hypoactivity explains sooooo much omg

i dont have adhd but this video has helped me with learning what it is! also i love your videos please keep it up,, your voice is so calm and you present your points well :)

I feel just like this constantly including the low mood history stuffs and GOSH, I've been having a lot of trouble with my doctor not taking me seriously and is saying it's to do with my depression or borderline personality disorder but...idk how to explain why i dont feel its that. its this attention thing. i find writing comments hard even though its something i clearly care about because it means i have to take the time to form a sentence.(*lol literally just blanked out and couldnt focus myself mid-type*) THANK YOU with talking about how you're expected to act rudely but being a grown person who has had to learn to adapt to the world can mean, though that may happen, ESPECIALLY with a BPD diagnosis i'm not going to yell even if i can't pay attention and it makes me want to scrape my face along the wall. I would want to see a video about the differences in the commonalities/similar behaviours associated with/ between anxiety, BPD, ADHD and depression.

uhh yeah im crying. ive been told im lazy and careless all my life, and everything you describe makes me feel so seen and validated. my parents dont think adhd is a real thing so im not really sure what to do, and im a little scared because i cant get by at school by just being smart anymore and im so scared of things going downhill i really dont know what to do but im just relived that it might not be my fault that i struggle with all these things im scared that il never get disgnosed since my parents think that everything can be resolved by gummy vitamins, also afab and pretty quiet around teachers and people i dont know edit: i also wanted to say thank you for making this aaron. its explained so much and ive a lot of research and thinking about my own life to do now

Hhhh I resonated with more than I'd like to admit,,,, especially people saying I'm not trying hard enough Ho boy time to give this train some more thought! Haha Either way, this will really help me to support my boyfriend better who has ADHD! Thank you for the wonderful video!! ♥️

Amazing as always ♡ i suspect that i have ADHD since i was 11, but i never talked about it because ive never shown this highly visible hyperactivity. I'll talk to my psychiatrist this week

You deserve so much more recognition your videos are very helpful and fun to watch+ cute catttt lil lamb such sweet

This video is absolutely amazing. I've been diagnosed with depression, anxiety, ADHD, and an OCD related disorder. I was actually a psychology major and still couldn't figure out why I had so many issues and how they were connected. This is the first time I've ever heard that all my symptoms can be from one thing. When you talk about depression and a lack of motivation and especially the never being happy thing sounds like you're talking about me instead of you. Do you have any resources about the "in between" symptoms? I want to learn more about it!

I was just saying to my mom how I think my dad and I both have undiagnosed adhd. Would love to hear you talk more about it, how you manage it, if it’s worth trying to be properly diagnosed etc

Waitwaitwaitwait making more mistakes while you’re doing something though you might be trying really hard is a symptom of adhd? I didn’t realize there was a reason that happened,, I’ve always made more mistakes doing something than most people, and doing things flawless is near impossible. I always mess up a few math problems on any assignment, messed up some parts of any dance routine, messed up any piano song, etc. And I’ve never known that had anything to do with adhd,, I just thought people were exaggerating how good they were at things or that I was just bad at it. Huh

First, thank you for this. I'm not entirely sure if I have ADHD of inattentive sort , but I may. I do have asperger's, and my psychologist mentioned I may also have ADD. But I'm thinking perhaps I could have ADHD combo version. This video, and videos others have made (whom also have ADHD) have helped me to see that some of my quirks and fun energy flip flops may in fact be ADHD -related, rather than depression related. Or anxiety related. My life is filled with ups and downs of motivation, energy levels, even within the same day, etc. I didnt think much of it, because it's always been my life, ya know? But, as I got older and into college, let's just say life was no longer so simple in the homework department. I had to keep up with everything, on my own. Schedule myself , stick to that schedule, etc. It was hard for me to integrate socially (autism) and in a timely fashion (probable ADHD) . I generally don't struggle to turn stuff in on time, mainly because of some fear of seeming really pathetic or something. (Thanks to you, I know that is likely linked to RSD) Feeling like a failure, or i will fail is common for me. I've been labeled shy , when it's more "I'm overrstimulated by the world " or "you're just not that interesting " lol. I'm preaching to the choir here, you know how that feels. Guess I'm just saying , nice to meet you and I hope you continue making lovely videos like this and that you're really brave to come out here and share what you have. I dont have the bravery, sadly. Not at the wide scale. I touch one life at a time ^^;;;; TL;DR , not sure where the point in this comment is. That's probably the ADHD talking lol;;; Anyway, nice to meet you =)

My little sister has the inattentive type and this was really helpful in me understanding her❤️

Hyperactive impulsive type here! Appearently we're most often found in prisons and rehab centers.... that's a fun fact to hear in group therapy. We also are emotionally the most liable and are likely to have psychotic episodes but seriously, group therapy is a great help; because it helps you connect with people who struggle with the same stuff, it helps demystify your diagnosis and feel less like a label and more like a description of a set of traits. So in adults with ADHD group therapy we got taught handy dandy tricks to help us function: such as how to read and organise mail, how to keep a calendar, how to work throuh emotional blindness (being so emotional that you can't think rationally) and how to plan and schedule when time management has failed.

Ive always thought I had ADD. Informative video thanks

If you decide to talk more about ADHD I'd like to hear about how it affects circadian rhythms. I've heard from a few ppl that their ADHD makes them night owls who cant fall asleep til like 3am and then they sleep until noon and wake up naturally that way and cant function waking up in the early morning (which has been smth I've tried explaining to my mom who believes I just need to try harder to keep a "normal" schedule)

I'm currently on the waiting list to be tested for DCD but after watching this video i feel as though i can fully see myself in it. Im a trans guy aswell and my brother was diagnosed with autism in nursery while my older sister has DCD and dyslexia ( part of why i thought that could be it ). I hope if it turns out that i actually have ADHD and not DCD that the doctor will find that out for me, i can greatly relate to the more lethargic type you mentioned. With how described the characteristics of that type with not processing time normally and with others it felt exactly how i feel.

I only recently got diagnosed with adhd as an adult. I could be told how and when to do something but I have to be able to motivate before I’ll actually do something

Also, even though I have severe ADHD, I have a lot of something called “g” which is a drive to learn in something that interests me. My psychologist is the one who told me that, and it makes sense because I’m in 2 schools, one normal high school, and the second one is a veterinary science class, and I’m doing better in that class than any other class I’ve ever been in. So if you have ADHD, the way to survive school is look for what interests you and take any classes even somewhat related to it! It will help you so much :)

My parents recently told me that when I was in elementary school my ADHD was so bad they tried to put me into special education but my parents refused. Now I get straight As and I am always getting top scores. I literally started crying and thinking, “would I still be where I am right now if I was put in?”

kitty butt at 7:40 :D

Yea I get that I’m always lethargic and unmotivated to even do the things I like doing. I’ve always tried to be well mannered. As much as I can be forgetting their name and zoning out and forgetting what they were talking about but most of the time I’m just interested in what people have to talk about and when that happens it’s easy to not fall out because I have a curiousness that wants to know what they’re saying.

Hi Aaron, Really interested in this subject. Aside from the neuro-chemical processes that you mention, have you come across at all any suggestion of the psychological processes that might be at work - especially hypervigilence, so let's say an inability to feel safe resulting in an inability to concentrate for long periods of time? (So I am leaving out hyperfocus here though there maybe a separate though related reason for this) I don't if it is possible for you to answer but I hope mentioning it is at least useful in some way. :)