> <X> is part of the natural variation in how human brains work, and ... it's a category error to think of it as a malfunction to be repaired
No! No one is saying that everyone at one end of the spectrum has a disorder. It is specifically not a category error because the term "disorder" is not applied based on the variability, but rather based on whether the variation meaningfully disrupts the individual's life.
That's why the only change the author needs to make here is to say he has an attention deficit rather than saying he has a disorder.
But that exact same person in a different time, place, or career, might not be disrupted. I wasn't diagnosed until recently. The compounding of increasing demands at home with my family and at work, partially due to pandemic side effects lead to it. A hunter gatherer might actually gain benefits from it. Its like saying someone who is very tall has a disorder because it makes them a poor horse jockey, or a very short person has a disorder due to the impact on their NBA career.
> But that exact same person in a different time, place, or career, might not be disrupted.
If you are not disrupted, you do not have a disorder. Psychiatric medicine is about you and how you feel about it. If you feel like you can make a life change and have it not impact you, great! Do that.
> A hunter gatherer might actually [...]
That's nice, but it's not what you are and not how your life currently looks. So why do you think it's relevant? I don't understand this reference.
> Its like saying someone who is very tall has a disorder because it makes them a poor horse jockey
It is not, because this is about mental quirks that impact your life to such an extent that you feel you cannot adequately live it.
No. Again: the diagnostic criteria are not this simple, and it's a strawman to argue against something that isn't happening. Diagnosis requires disruption across multiple areas of one's life—not just an inability to be successful at the highest competitive levels in a specific skill.
I would just add that I like to refer to it as "attention dysregulation" rather than 'deficit'... my experience I can focus on one singular task to the exclusion of all other needs and demands (even base biological ones), to point of being in pain and exhaustion and causing myself harm.
Staying up for 40 hours programming... running trails for hours and hours... I have more than enough attention.
That’s a major reason why Dr. Russell Barkley refers to it as Executive Function Disorder. We actually don’t have a problem with attention; we have a problem prioritizing what we attend to. Everyone with ADHD is familiar with the hyperfocus phenomenon. We can pay attention (even sustained, abnormally intense attention) to activities that provide a healthy dopamine payout, but we don’t really control what those activities are. It’s helpful if they happen to be socially useful activities!
Yes! I've been slowly getting into his work on the various executive functions, not just the intellectual/thinking one... emotional regulation is a big thing too!
Honestly, the emotional regulation component is one of the biggest things for me, as anyone who has ridden with me driving could tell you…
But learning to see it as an executive function disorder that really touches on a whole host of other cognitive functions beyond just attention has been a real game-changer for me in terms of conceptualizing the disorder. It makes it more overwhelming on some level, but it also helps to explain many of the struggles I have beyond just paying attention (which, as we know, often isn’t the major problem we face).
> <X> is part of the natural variation in how human brains work, and ... it's a category error to think of it as a malfunction to be repaired
No! No one is saying that everyone at one end of the spectrum has a disorder. It is specifically not a category error because the term "disorder" is not applied based on the variability, but rather based on whether the variation meaningfully disrupts the individual's life.
That's why the only change the author needs to make here is to say he has an attention deficit rather than saying he has a disorder.