They are repeating a phrase they have heard that indicates an admonishment of a behavior. They may also repeat it to themselves to self-direct their own behavior. A person may rehearse what they are going to say by repeating the sentence quietly to themselves before addressing another person.
Some research suggests that people with ADHD are especially sensitive to sounds. This sensitivity, combined with impulsivity, may lead to echolalia. Difficulty processing language and following conversations could also lead individuals with ADHD to repeat phrases they hear.
1 It can involve anything from making repetitive movements to saying specific words or phrases over and over again. For people with ADHD, stimming can serve as a way to focus their attention and control their impulses. It can also help them calm down when they're feeling overwhelmed or stressed out.
Obsessing and ruminating are often part of living with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). No matter how hard you try to ignore them, those negative thoughts just keep coming back, replaying themselves in an infinite loop.
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.
As some people with ADHD tend to be more sensitive to emotions, they are more likely to get anxious or angry 😠 over small things around them. And when these negative emotions manifest inside our brains, we can lose control over the situation and eventually get into a state of negative ruminations.
The rarest type of ADHD diagnosed is the hyperactive-impulsive type with no indication of inattentive or distracted behavior, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.
Stimming can take many different forms: visual: staring off into space, drawing, spinning things like pens or coins. verbal/auditory: repeating sounds, excessive giggling, constantly clearing throat. tactile: rubbing fingers, chewing/biting nails, chewing the inside of cheeks.
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…
It's hard to keep things straight in the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) brain, with so many different thoughts racing around in there. Verbalizing helps us sort through things. Saying something out loud makes it more tangible, and thus easier to follow and remember.
In one study, researchers found that people with self-reported ADHD symptoms earned lower scores for affective empathy compared to other participants. However, they were still within the range of what's considered typical for empathy levels overall.
Obsessive worrying: ADHD can cause individuals to become fixated on specific worries, going over them repeatedly in their minds. This can lead to anxiety and stress, making it difficult to complete tasks or make decisions.
Executive functions have other roles which affect how someone thinks. In people with ADHD, these executive dysfunctions impact thinking in numerous ways. People with ADHD don't really think faster than people without it, but it can sometimes seem like they do. People with ADHD do think differently though, in a sense.
Autism is very distinct from ADHD, but the core symptoms of ADHD-Combined type, i.e., attention deficit, impulsivity, and hyperactivity, would appear to also be features of autism. ASD and ADHD are neurobiological disorders characterized by similar underlying neuropsychological “deficits”.
Atypical Presentation of ADHD Symptoms
Sleep disturbances (has trouble with sleep initiation, sleep deprived, can't wake up easily, etc.) Weak executive function (poor recall of information, internalizing language, controlling emotions, problem-solving, etc.)
ADHD Stimming
Children with ADHD may stim more in the form of fidgeting. This can entail a child squirming in their seat but can also include more noticeable and disruptive behaviors, including speaking over other people, humming loudly, picking at skin or hair, or pacing back and forth.
“Opposites Attract”: People with ADHD are attracted to “organized” and joyless workers bees who can keep the trains running for the both of them and who in turn are drawn to their free-spirited ADHD partner's spontaneity and sense of fun.
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.
Adults with ADHD rarely fall asleep easily, sleep soundly through the night, and then wake up feeling refreshed. More often, ADHD's mental and physical restlessness disturbs a person's sleep patterns — and the ensuing exhaustion hurts overall health and treatment. This is widely accepted as true.
A: ADHD brains need more sleep, but find it doubly difficult to achieve restfulness. It is one of those ADHD double whammies: ADHD makes it harder to get enough sleep, and being sleep deprived makes it harder to manage your ADHD (or anything else).
Trauma and traumatic stress, according to a growing body of research, are closely associated with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD or ADD). Trauma and adversity can alter the brain's architecture, especially in children, which may partly explain their link to the development of ADHD.
Famous People with ADHD: Simone Biles, Emma Watson, Johnny Depp, Channing Tatum.
Usually, the most difficult times for persons with ADHD are their years from middle school through the first few years after high school. Those are the years when students are faced with the widest range of tasks to do and the least opportunity to escape from the tasks that they struggle with or find to be boring.
ADHD Is Not a Deficit Disorder
The challenge is controlling it. Therefore, we argue that a more accurate descriptive term is “variable attention stimulus trait” (VAST), a name that allows us to “de-medicalize” ADHD and focus instead on the huge benefits of having an ADHD brain.