AuDHD resources

[Trippy_Wonka]

Just wondering if anyone has any favourite books or documentaries specifically about comorbid ADHD and autism. So far all I know of is Horse Boy it seems like a pretty invisible topic.

 

[jsilver256]

I don’t know, but the way AuDHD was explained to me by a psychologist is the ADHD can manifest as an exaggerated version of the “flight” instinct that autistics naturally have. So someone on ADHD for example might decide to spontaneously move or switch jobs in response to escape a painful situation. YMMV.

 

[kriss72]

I don’t know, but the way AuDHD was explained to me by a psychologist is the ADHD can manifest as an exaggerated version of the “flight” instinct that autistics naturally have. So someone on ADHD for example might decide to spontaneously move or switch jobs in response to escape a painful situation. YMMV.

Sounds like me on the job market but mostly because I get bored - it's a conflict, as the autistic me don't like changes and the ADHD get easily bored. I think I have about an average of 2 years between changing jobs, or significant changes in the same job, when I know a job, it is not interesting any more. I have tried to get a phone call in the morning, and accepting it the same day, ending the day with calling my old manger to resign.

 

[marc_101]

In my experience, ADHD symptoms are similar to the symptoms described in the diagnosis but I don't have all of them. I have no problem with time, losing things, planning, or organization. The rest all check. I don't follow strict routines, but I do better with routines.

I don't know of any book that is written for people with both diagnoses. This one for ADHD is decent:

Taking Charge of Adult ADHD by Barkely.

Perhaps any book that deals with executive function or focus could help you, but it depends on what you want to work on. The Additude podcast has some good episodes.

 

[marc_101]

Oh, wait. I just remembered one.

ADHD and Asperger Syndrome in Smart Kids and Adults by Thomas E. Brown.

It's good.

 

[MNAus]

I have to get an appointment for an ADHD diagnosis. Like others I don't fit all the symptoms because the ASD force is too strong in those areas. So the questionnaires have things like "do you find it difficult to plan?" and my response is "hell no, I LOVE that bit". It's just that the moment the thing I planned for starts I get bored and whatever it is is dead to me in a heartbeat.

Travel is the perfect example and demonstrates how my head works. I love flying but it also bores me senseless. I'm lucky that for my work I can fly business. These flights are 14+ hours. I'll plan everything like what time to get to the airport, what's on in the lounge, what I might have for breakfast, which gate for the plane is likely, what movies are on the plane, which seat is best, menu options.... you get the idea.

The big day arrives

I get to the airport and it's "I wanna be at the lounge". I get to the lounge, set up the stuff I planned, and halfway walking back to my seat I wander to the screens to see if we're boarding soon, because, y'know, I want to be on that plane. I get on the plane... "when are we going to take off?", we take off and I'm looking at the map to work out how long it's going to take before we land. It really doesn't stop.

And that is how it is with everything. Once the broad strokes are done I'm bored. With problems, once the back is broken on any problem I done with it, absolutely done.

And like kriss72, my career is.... busy. I've only ever had one job longer than 2 years in a quarter of a century of working.

There's a relentlessness that doesn't stop.

Apologies this message trailed off. I think you can guess why.

 

[marc_101]

@MNAus Sounds very familiar. I'm good at planning and starting great projects but the follow up is the issue. And the restless mind that thinks about 5 things at the same time, even while talking. I can emit sounds while my brain play movies. My current job is the longest, over 5 years, but I'm getting itchy to leave, and I've lived in at least 4 countries and I can't remember how many cities and apartments. And partners...

My other issue is that I'm a machine with only two modes: obessive or lethargic mode.

My understanding is that there are, as usual, multiple views about ADHD+austism. I think that before 2013, the DSM-4 didn't even allow a person to have both diagnoses, then both diagnoses were allowed. But some researchers think they are redundant because ASD is broader and includes executive function problems. Then again, at least in the US, insurance companies require a diagnosis (justification) to approve stimulants, so ADHD+ASD it is. But stimulants for ASD+ADHD don't seem to work well as those with ADHD alone. (I can only take a tiny amount, so tiny that doctors think it shouldn't work, but it does, to a small extent. It helps me get started).

The other podcast that I like on the issue is Austim in the Adult (Theresa Regan).

 

[Fino]

What would be discussed specifically in a comorbid situation rather than simply studying both ADHD and Autism separately?

 

[Trippy_Wonka]

What would be discussed specifically in a comorbid situation rather than simply studying both ADHD and Autism separately?

I mean. That’s why I need help getting research. What I do know is that have those conditions separately manifests quite differently from having them together. I’m hoping to learn more about the how

 

[Fino]

I don‘t know if this will be exactly what you’re looking for but I happen to just come across this.

 

[MNAus]

What would be discussed specifically in a comorbid situation rather than simply studying both ADHD and Autism separately?

I think one of the challenges is that although there is overlap in some traits, others appear diametrically opposed which tends to suggest someone with ASD doesn't have ADHD. At first glance someone who tends to try and anticipate everything doesn't sound ADHD which (at least to the layperson) tends to have that impulsivity marker. So people ask "how can you have ADHD if you like to plan and anticipate?" Likewise I'm terrible with details because I get bored and distracted rapidly. But when you get screened for ASD a typical question is whether you're big picture or detail focused. That's difficult to answer, because although I'm very interested in subtle detail, I'm poor and remaining engaged with it.

 

[marc_101]

I've always been confused with the detail vs the big picture separation. Sometimes it's arbitrary what is the detail and what is the big picture. I need to understand the details so I can understand how they fit into the big picture, but I don't care about details because they are boring. So I'm not sure if I focus on one versus the other. Then there is the issue of autism and systematizing -- the idea that people with ASD then to think in terms of if-and-then, like cause and effect to try to understand how things work. Confusing.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5789212/

 

[MNAus]

I've always been confused with the detail vs the big picture separation. Sometimes it's arbitrary what is the detail and what is the big picture. I need to understand the details so I can understand how they fit into the big picture, but I don't care about details because they are boring. So I'm not sure if I focus on one versus the other. Then there is the issue of autism and systematizing -- the idea that people with ASD then to think in terms of if-and-then, like cause and effect to try to understand how things work. Confusing.

That sounds very much like me. If I have a problem to be solved I will be interested in details in that systemising phase, but become utterly bored by them in the execution phase. It's very much about the problem solving, understanding the pattern, or the meta level dynamics. And yes, at that point the details are interesting. But when it comes to execution, the details become minutiae, and bore me senseless to the point of being frustrating. I will do the same in conversations, and it's rude as hell. Once I get what someone is trying to say I'm keen to get onto the next point (not necessarily mine, either, it can be their next point). That can happen with two words. It's like "Got it, next; got it, next").