EP. 42: Everyone Does NOT Have ADHD!

Before we start, a quick note. If you've been listening to this podcast and thinking, "I need more than insight, I need support." This is for you. Your ADHD brain is not broken. It just never came with a map. That is why I created your ADHD brain is a OK Academy. It's my patented step-by-step framework to help you build a life that finally fits how your brain works. Ready to get started? Click the link in the show notes to sign up or book a free discovery call with me. Now, on with the show. Albert Einstein, Richard Branson, Bill Gates, John F. Kennedy, Tony Robbins, Michael Phelps, Will Smith. That sounds like a list of highly successful Titans in a variety of industries. What else do they have in common? Well, they all have ADHD. But you don't hear much about that. Do you? You know what you hear even less about? A successful women navigating ADHD. And that's exactly why I started this podcast. ADHD for smart-ass women. I'm your host, Tracey Otsuka. I'm an attorney, not a doctor, a lifelong student, not a coach. I'm also the creator of Cartography. A patent pending system that helps people like you figure out what they should do with their life. And we're here today to talk ADHD. Your superpowers, your symptoms, your workarounds and how you proudly stand out instead of trying to fit in. I credit my ADHD for some of my greatest superpowers. And you know what? I spy a happier life for you, too. So without further ado, a shiny new episode is starting now. [MUSIC PLAYING] Hello, I am Tracey Otsuka. And I wanted to welcome you to episode 42 of ADHD for smart-ass women. This week's topic is a short one. And it came about when I was preparing the notes for podcast episode number 40, which was how to prepare for a meeting with your ADHD doctor. I ran across a really interesting study that Russell Barkley had posted in one of his books. Now, I have read everything. Well, most everything that Russell Barkley has written on ADHD. And although I don't subscribe to the pathology of ADHD, I do credit him with teaching me so much of what I know about the science around ADHD. I believe that symptoms of ADHD are largely environmental, meaning that if you're around the wrong people doing the wrong work in your head and focusing on your weaknesses, you will struggle. However, if you're around the right people working in an area of your interest focus on your strengths and working to sharp your weaknesses like, I don't know, hiring an assistant to do the parts of your job that you absolutely hate and are not very good at, you will be wildly successful. Again, our Facebook group, this podcast, it's for smart women with ADHD. So anyway, while I was researching episode 40, and I should also add this was coming off the heels of episode 35, how to respond when someone tells you that ADHD is not real, I came across a chapter in Dr. Barkley's book, "Taking Charge of Adult ADHD" that I don't remember ever seeing before. It's captioned, "The everyone has ADHD symptoms met." Now, we've probably all heard this, right? Everyone has ADHD at some point or time, right? And we're tired of hearing it. And this is the problem. We do all have the behavioral characteristics of ADHD once in a while. You know, at times we all lose things or have trouble starting on a project we don't want to do or we struggle to concentrate or we feel distractable. Of course, everyone struggles with this every once in a while, right? But what distinguishes adults with ADHD from the general population is the greater frequency with which we, those of us with ADHD, display these characteristics. So anyway, Russ Barkley published a book with Kevin Murphy and Mary Ellen Fisher in 2008 that was called ADHD and Adults, "What the Science Sets." And in this book, they conducted a study. In group one, they put 146 adults who were diagnosed with ADHD. In group two, were 109 adults who were not diagnosed with ADHD. And the question that was asked of both groups was whether they had experienced each of the 18 DSM symptoms often. Remember, the DSM, it's the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. You know how much I hate that title or that name. And the DSM is used by mental health professionals to diagnose ADHD. The results of this study are discussed on page 32 of taking charge of adult ADHD. And before I go on, I want to remind you that there are three types of ADHD, right? We've got inattentive, hyperactive, and combined type. So what they did is they started with the inattentive symptoms and they went down the list. Each symptom, they asked group number one, so the ADHD group, if they often experienced the symptom. And then they asked the same question of group number two, the non-ADHD group. And these were the results. Now, I'm not going to give you all the results because I will bore you to death. So these are just the highlights. So when they looked at inattentive symptoms, number one, fail to give close attention to details. 74% of the ADHD groups said they often experienced the symptom versus only 3% of the non-ADHD group. Number two, difficulty sustaining attention. 97% of those with ADHD experienced this symptom versus only 3% of group number two. It doesn't follow through on instructions. 75% of those with ADHD experienced this symptom versus only 1% of the group without ADHD. Number four, avoids tasks requiring sustained mental effort. Think taxes, bills, big projects. 81% of adults with ADHD said they experienced this symptom versus only 2% for the non-ADHD group. The fifth one that I'm going to give you is fifth and final, easily distracted by extraneous stimuli. Let me give you an example. For me, I really have trouble shopping in big box stores. I get completely overwhelmed. You know, large grocery stores like we have a big one here in California called Safeway. I cannot go into that store. I walk in and I cannot even remember what I came in for. I am so distracted because it's overwhelming. So 97% of adults with ADHD said that they were easily distracted by extraneous stimuli often versus only 2% experienced this symptom in the non-ADHD group. Then what they did is they went to the second group of symptoms which were for hyperactive impulsive people with ADHD, right? And I'm taking this again from the DSM. And of course, this survey. Do you often fidget with your hands or feet or squirm in your seat? So did these people feel like they moved a lot? They bit their nails. They picked their cuticles. You know, they were constantly moving around. 79% of the ADHD groups said that they often experienced this symptom versus only 4% of the non-ADHD group reported this. The second one, 77% of the ADHD group said that they often felt restless while only 3% of the non-ADHD group agreed with that statement. 67% of the ADHD groups said that they often struggled with waiting their turn, standing in line, waiting in traffic, yet only 3% of the non-ADHD group agreed with that statement that they often struggled with waiting their turn. So that's just a smattering of the questions, but it gives you a good idea. On average, non-ADHD adults reported less than one symptom out of all 18 symptoms in the DSM, whereas adults with ADHD reported more than 12. So Barkley went on to state that clearly the vast majority of non-ADHD adults do not report having these problems often. There is a quantifiable, statistically significant and noticeable difference between the experiences of those diagnosed with ADHD and others. So no, everyone does not have ADHD. Then what they did is they followed this up by asking both the ADHD group and the non-ADHD group in what domains of life did they often feel impaired by these ADHD symptoms or by their ADHD symptoms? And again, I'm just using a few of the domains of life. So 69% of adults with ADHD said that they felt impaired by symptoms in their home life, while the patients were still in the hospital. only 2% of the non-ADHD group agreed. 75% of group 1 said they felt impaired by symptoms in their work or occupation. Only 2% of the non-ADHD group felt the same way. And this is a big one. 89% of adults with ADHD felt impaired by symptoms in educational settings. We're talking about school here. Only 1% of the non-ADHD group agreed with that statement. 73% of adults with ADHD said they felt impaired by symptoms in both dating or marital activities and money management. Only 1% of the non-ADHD group felt impaired in these areas. Finally, 86% of adults in the ADHD group felt impaired by symptoms in their daily responsibilities. Or I guess I should say with their daily responsibilities. Only 2% of people in the non-ADHD group agreed with this statement. So in most domains of life, a substantial majority of the ADHD group reported that they were often impaired, yet we're perpetually told that ADHD is a set of problems widely experienced by the general population. And we now know that this is far from true. You know, I know for myself, I've thought, well, maybe these are symptoms that most people often experience, clearly based on this study, this isn't true. You know, I think that many times we don't even realize that we're struggling or how much we're struggling in certain areas until we really start learning about ADHD and we start reflecting back on our experiences. For example, in the school question, I think they called it educational activities here. If you would have asked me while I was in school, if I felt impaired and even, you know, 20 years after school, I would have said no, because I got good grades. I was able to do it. But when I really think back on it today, I had to work so much harder and I was organized almost to a fault in order to get those grades. And when I went back and I found old report cards, I saw that every single report card always mentioned the same things. Tracy could do even better if she wouldn't talk so much and wouldn't be disruptive to the students around her. Because I always had really good grades, I don't know. I just sort of glossed over that and just thought, you know what? School was always easy for me. Now, of course, when I got to college, I had to work even harder. And when I think back on it today, I realized that I was organized almost to a fault in order to get those grades in college. And I think I've told the story before of my roommate when I was getting a master's in securities at Georgetown Law. Now, granted my roommate was eight years older than I was. She was already a partner at a law firm, but for personal reason, she had left New Orleans to attend Georgetown. And I remember I did all the studying. I created the notebooks, you know, I created outlines. Then I transferred those notebook outlines to skeleton outlines. Then I created flashcards from those skeleton outlines. And she didn't do anything, but review my skeleton outline the night before an exam. Yet it never failed. She always did a half a grade better than I did. So if I got an A minus, she would get an A. If I got a B plus, she would get an A minus. She was smart, but she did literally one tenth of what I did to be able to, you know, get those kind of marks on her exams, you know, memorizing facts, spitting them upon a test, granted she had my outlines. She was really good at that, but she never knew the material as well as I knew it. So they say that there's no such thing as ADHD. Everyone has ADHD. ADHD is an invention of modern society. ADHD is an American invention. Take a look at podcast 35 for more on that. Clearly though, this study shows that everyone does not have ADHD. And at least for me, the glaring chasm, is that how you pronounce it? Between the 74% to 97% of adults with ADHD who struggle with these DSM symptoms versus the very small one to 3% of those in the non-ADHD group who do as well, that for me, it really verifies, and it should for you as well, that no, everyone does not have ADHD. Fascinating, isn't it? Anyway, that's what I have for you today. As always, you are listening to ADHD for smart ass women. If you've been listening to me for a while, I would really appreciate a review. It's not hard to do. You don't even have to write anything. If you're on the iTunes podcast platform, just scroll down to the bottom and click on the stars. You know, for the last, I'd say three weeks, something has been going, something has been wonky with my, my podcast. And so all of a sudden, we just stopped getting reviews. And I've talked to people and apparently this is something that's happened to other people as well. So my reviews have just been standing still. I think that I don't even know where we are, maybe 114, 115. So if you can post a review, I would so appreciate it. Anyway, if you'd like to know more about me, our patent pending cryptography system that teaches you how to figure out which of the many interests you have is the one that you should actually pursue, or if you have a comment, I guess you'd like me to interview or a topic idea for this podcast. Go to my website at traceayoutsega.com, book on podcast in the navigation bar, you'll see a microphone to your right where you can leave me an audio message. You can also reach out to me at traceayoutsega.com. Thank you so much for listening, and I'll see you here next week. You've been listening to the ADHD for Smartass Women Podcast. I'm your host, Tracey Ed Suka, and we're available on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify and Google Play. If you liked what you heard, we sure would appreciate a review. And not coincidentally, ADHD for Smartass Women. Well, that's also the name of our free Facebook group. Go look it up. We're a totally smart ass community of successful and vicious women who share our ADHD wins, questions and work arounds. We'd love to have you join us. You can also find all my details over at traceayoutsega.com. Don't forget, I spy a happier life for us, and I'll see you again next week. Let's pause here. Have you spent your whole life being told your way is the wrong way? If you try to use systems designed for a neurotypical brain, of course you'll feel like you're failing. But here's the truth. You were never the problem. You just have a different brain, which means you need different systems. That is exactly why I created the AOK Academy. It's my six-step, patented framework designed to help you reconnect with your intuition and build systems based on your unique strengths. Let me help you reconnect with your intuition, trust yourself again, and build a life that actually works for you. You've had the answers all along. I'll help you see them. Look, it's time to stop second guessing and start trusting yourself again. Find the link in the show notes to sign up or book a free discovery call. Now, let's get back to it.