The mind of a person with ADHD is full of the minutiae of life (“Where are my keys?” “Where did I park the car?”), so there is little room left for new thoughts and memories. Something has to be discarded or forgotten to make room for new information. Often the information individuals with ADHD need is in their memory…
You might be overwhelmed by the number of tasks on your to-do list or find it difficult to sit still for long periods. Your mind is always going and racing with thoughts, which can make it hard for you to concentrate on things like schoolwork or conversations with friends or family members.
ADHD affects brain functioning in several ways. The condition has links to abnormal cognitive, behavioral, and motivational functioning. ADHD can affect the regulation of moods, emotions, and brain cell connections. It can also affect communication between different areas of the brain.
If you are someone who has ADHD, you may be more prone to intrusive thoughts. Intrusive thoughts are unwanted thoughts that pop into your head and cause a great deal of anxiety. They can be disturbing and make it difficult to focus on anything else.
Racing thoughts: People with ADHD may experience a constant flow of thoughts, making it difficult to focus on any one thing. This can lead to racing thoughts that are hard to control and can interfere with daily life.
Despite overthinking being a prominent feature for most people with ADHD, it's also worth knowing that some people living with ADHD do the exact opposite. Some develop no thinking or reflecting methods to deal with their ADHD brains.
The ADHD brain operates differently, but in this case "different" doesn't mean better or worse. Do people with ADHD have fast brains? People with ADHD do not think more quickly or less quickly than people without ADHD.
With ADHD, that part of the brain is always turned on, which causes the endless look of intrusive thoughts to replay in your head like a bad song. In short, when you have ADHD and your Default Mode Network region is wired neurodivergent, it makes your mind wander on a continuous loop.
INCUP is an acronym that stands for interest, novelty, challenge, urgency, and passion. The term was first proposed by psychologist William Dodson, who suggested that these five things are the top motivating factors for someone with ADHD.
Because your brain works faster than people without ADHD, you can do more thinking loops than your non-ADHD peers. This means you experience more of these negative feelings. It is helpful to reflect back on a situation and see what worked and what you would do differently next time.
The ADHD brain also gets easily consumed. This means ADHD and overthinking kind of go hand in hand. The ADHD brain grasps hold of your thoughts and runs away with them, while emotions keep the engine running.
With ADHD, a child or teen may have rapid or impulsive speech, physical restlessness, trouble focusing, irritability, and, sometimes, defiant or oppositional behavior.
People who have ADHD frequently experience emotions so deeply that they become overwhelmed or “flooded.” They may feel joy, anger, pain, or confusion in a given situation—and the intensity may precede impulsive behaviors they regret later.
ADHD, Combined Presentation is a neurobehavioral disorder that is characterized by both hyperactivity (moving constantly including in situations where this is not appropriate, fidgeting, excessive talking, restlessness, “wearing others out”) and impulsivity (making hasty, unplanned actions such as interrupting others ...
Differences in emotions in people with ADHD can lead to 'shutdowns', where someone is so overwhelmed with emotions that they space out, may find it hard to speak or move and may struggle to articulate what they are feeling until they can process their emotions.
If a task is inherently boring to someone with ADHD, dopamine levels are so low that their brain is unable to “activate” to do the task. They can't pay attention even if they want to. They are in a state of hypofocus. This is like trying to move a car when the engine is turned off—the car needs to be physically pushed.
People with ADHD have an Interest-Based Nervous System. This means that normal motivating factors for getting work done (importance, rewards, consequences) aren't actually very effective for motivating the ADHD brain. Instead, they rely on what I call the 4 Cs of Motivation: Captivate, Create, Compete, Complete.
People with autism, engineers, and those with ADHD tend to say they think in pictures; teachers, in words, and when a word-thinker hears that there are those who think not in words, but pictures, they often are flabbergasted, taken aback, and have a hard time bending their mind around this alien thought form.
ADHD brains are no different - they're programmed to focus on past mistakes and future danger. But ADHD brain EXTRA prone to ruminating because they are constantly fighting a part of our brain that I like to call brain recess (or the Default Mode Network if you want to get technical).
Falling in love can be an emotional roller coaster for most teens. But for teenagers with ADHD, symptoms like impulsivity or trouble managing emotions can make falling in love or starting a relationship an even bumpier ride. That said, not all kids with ADHD struggle in the same way, or to the same degree.
Brain MRI is a new and experimental tool in the world of ADHD research. Though brain scans cannot yet reliably diagnose ADHD, some scientists are using them to identify environmental and prenatal factors that affect symptoms, and to better understand how stimulant medications trigger symptom control vs. side effects.
Those with combined hyperactive-impulsive and inattentive ADHD experience both poor sleep quality and a later bedtime. Many ADHD symptoms are similar to symptoms of sleep deprivation. Among others, adult ADHD sleep problems can lead to forgetfulness and difficulty concentrating during the day.
Thereby, individuals with ADHD reported significantly more often about a wide range of hypersexual fantasies and behaviors in comparison to individuals without ADHD.