Sorry to be a drip. Dispirited, because all of this recognition wasn't recognized until too late to do me any good. When the book "You Mean I'm Not Lazy, etc" came out, like a personal diary of my life, I dared to enquire at Kaiser mental health did they have any services for ADHD. The receptionist nearly sneered at me. It was several years later that wow! How about that! Kaiser practitioners formally diagnosed me. My Mom had my school review cards from elementary school, boiling down to: "She's really bright, BUT doesn't apply herself; can't get anything in on time; not paying attention;" (Kind of flaky!) Emotional disregulation? The whole nine yards would have been nice to have some kind of a handle on to cope with. Especially because the gifts are there, too. "Seeing patterns others miss?' CREATIVITY? God bless my sisters and brothers being recognized now. You go, kids!
My experience with Kaiser mental health wasn’t good either. I have compelling evidence that I was diagnosed at ten and that my parents hid it from me. I have memories of being tested.
I went to Kaiser for conference and was given a test that I clearly saw as culturally biased and told I showed signs of psychosis.
You brought back another memory of mine: I dared to enquire about possibility of parasites in completely different situation from mental health, and got referred to a social worker on suspicion of some kind of derangement! Now you can hear TV ads constantly warning to tell your doctor about parasitic infection! Kaiser definitely clung to dogma prejudices, but it's hard to forgive when they were disrespectful!
"ADHD isn’t a disorder to be managed, but a powerful cognitive toolkit that evolved for exactly these kinds of high-stakes, fast-moving environments." This is exactly what I'm talking about in the (ranty) podcast episode about neurodiversity I uploaded today. We aren't sick, or broken. We are just different.
I am a hunter, and I underperformed. This had largely to do with my blue collar upbringing. My Mexican heritage was another factor. The nearly all white schools I attended dismissed my gifts. I excelled in a blue collar trade and that put a target on my back for many less talented coworkers.
Hi Thom: I have been following your written thoughts on "hunter/gatherers" since at least 2002. I think your "take" on the upside of those who fit the criteria for ADHD is solid. I am very disappointed that this has not been explored enough by my colleagues. I am a retired shrink who wrote my first book at age 65 and updated it in 2013 (age 67).
I will spare you the details, unless you would like to interview me someday. My 2011 book, revised in 2013, has been called a "game changer" because of my conclusions about the upside and downside of both the ADHD type and nonADHD type. I have been unsuccessful in contacting you since 2013. I feel fortunate to be able to discuss these concerns at substack. I feel like I have found a new and better home.
My 2013 book entitled Adult ADD Factbook takes the reader through a large amount of documentation that clearly shows what constitutes the correct hypotheses related to the upside of ADHD and downside of ADHD (which I do not call a disorder).
I should note that a large amount of my book documents the science that shows that the ADHD brain type cannot be legitimately scientifically referred to as a disorder. Disorder means there is no upside and it also implies that it is not the norm.
I use the term "type" for what we currently call ADHD -- "disorder." There is no solid scientific proof that there is such a thing as the normal brain. We know a lot about the variations, which are endless. To that extent all brains are neurominorities and to try to come up with a so-called average brain type is impossible. The nosology in neuroscience and psychiatry (DSM) is fatally flawed.
I will spare you the details on how I argue that the ADHD type is the norm in the Western Hemisphere. You can only consider that a possibility, unless you read my book, which is based on over 30,000 pages of published research literature. (911 citations)
However, you reference the studies in this post and refer to the concept of "hunter/gather" type being a "superpower." So, you seem to recognize that the ADHD brain type clearly has an upside. Others, obviously do not. I have, however, clearly shown how and why you are correct. But . .
I would hesitate to overstate the case by using the term "superpower." I think the term "superpower" is so value laden as to reveal your anger at being treated as "less than" so often in this world due to all the faulty assumptions about the "ADHD" style. Clearly, you and most of the studies you quote, have proven there is a significant upside. But, the terminology is off target.
I will try to keep this short. A quick summary of what I learned in 20 years of intense reading and clinical practice with a large number of undiagnosed and misdiagnosed adult ADHD types, you should know.
I am in the process of updating my 2013 book to conform to any new information that should be incorporated in it. So far, I have not discovered any significant non-supportive literature as I have reviewed over 4,000 pages of research literature in the last year.
Simply put, working memory is so well understood now to rely on a certain balance of dopamine processes and functions. I won't go into detail right now, but would be happy to do that if asked.
The scientific community has only recently been able to get it that good baseline working memory is the key to academic success. Not so much IQ. IQ is a variable, but even with high IQ, poor working memory can provide significant challenges to what we typically call academics.
So, those folks who do not fit the criteria for ADHD and test out with optimal working memory, with average IQ have been shown to outperform in academics. With high IQ and good working memory, academics can be a "breeze."
The idea that dopamine is only a "pleasure" related system is so out of date it hurts. The scientific community now knows that the dopamine system is overwhelmingly involved in something much more important than pleasure – "survival."
The low baseline dopamine-created low baseline working memory might make academics problematic, but it nevertheless produces that exact best human response to "threats" of all kinds. Why?
Threat increases several dopamine processes, including what has been called tonic dopamine, which, guess what, "treats" low working memory and mitigates what we currently call ADHD. Thus, the ADHD type (without sensory sensitivities) is the best brain for survival (threat response).
The non-ADHD brain type, by definition high working memory (and very few characteristics of what we call ADHD) does not handle threat very well. Dopamine is "stimulated" (short for a complex process) by threat for everyone.
So, in the nonADHD type, it goes to above optimal quickly. Above optimal dopamine (think too much stimulant medication) is really problematic. Think of it as "over-amping." It makes reaction times longer, confuses, decreases working memory, increases heart rate and blood pressure, produces anxiety, heating up, shakiness, and nausea (that often can lead to vomiting – due to the excess dopamine threat response).
In the ADHD type, low baseline dopamine, low working memory scenario, threat increase dopamine presence and function (like it does for everyone), and produces the correct balance for optimal threat response. Not overamped, better working memory (focus, follow-through, calm, faster reaction times, better planning, very little increase in heart rate, breathing, or blood pressure, and very infrequent nausea due to the threat situation).
I apologize for making this such a long comment, but, I am so excited that the non-scientific community gets it. I think the language being used, however, does not allow for the correct understanding of the upside and downside of the ADHD type AND the upside and downside of the nonADHD type.
To put it simply it is not a "superpower" to be able to respond effectively to threat. It is a survival power. And, it just happens to work way better than the nonADHD baseline optimal dopamine good working memory type in all threat scenarios (again, unless there is also present sensory sensitivities).
To sum it up: The ADHD brain type is the best for the "jungle" and not so great academics. The nonADHD brain type is great for academics, but not so great for the jungle. Since humans have only recently left the jungle and have been attempting to advance academics and similar pursuits (civil behaviors), the ADHD type is actually the predominant type.
As a nonADHDer you should probably avoid cage fighting and similar activities. There is no effective way to reduce dopamine response that does not also cause impairment.
As an ADHD type, who might be using dopamine enhancer meds to treat the "poor working memory" you should likely not use meds when jumping out of airplanes (or similar) since the optimal baseline dopamine brain (from meds) is a disadvantage for threat related activity.
I think you recognize that the "hunter/gatherer" of your realm is best suited for threat related activities. If so, then, you might connect the dots the way I do. The most advantageous brain set for survival (the jungle) is the ADHD type. Why wouldn't it be the dominant brain type for all humans? Something to think about, eh? For sure, what is going on for the ADHD types is a huge evolutionary mismatch.
I will leave it at this, even though there is so much more to say.
Sorry to be a drip. Dispirited, because all of this recognition wasn't recognized until too late to do me any good. When the book "You Mean I'm Not Lazy, etc" came out, like a personal diary of my life, I dared to enquire at Kaiser mental health did they have any services for ADHD. The receptionist nearly sneered at me. It was several years later that wow! How about that! Kaiser practitioners formally diagnosed me. My Mom had my school review cards from elementary school, boiling down to: "She's really bright, BUT doesn't apply herself; can't get anything in on time; not paying attention;" (Kind of flaky!) Emotional disregulation? The whole nine yards would have been nice to have some kind of a handle on to cope with. Especially because the gifts are there, too. "Seeing patterns others miss?' CREATIVITY? God bless my sisters and brothers being recognized now. You go, kids!
My experience with Kaiser mental health wasn’t good either. I have compelling evidence that I was diagnosed at ten and that my parents hid it from me. I have memories of being tested.
I went to Kaiser for conference and was given a test that I clearly saw as culturally biased and told I showed signs of psychosis.
I never went back.
You brought back another memory of mine: I dared to enquire about possibility of parasites in completely different situation from mental health, and got referred to a social worker on suspicion of some kind of derangement! Now you can hear TV ads constantly warning to tell your doctor about parasitic infection! Kaiser definitely clung to dogma prejudices, but it's hard to forgive when they were disrespectful!
"ADHD isn’t a disorder to be managed, but a powerful cognitive toolkit that evolved for exactly these kinds of high-stakes, fast-moving environments." This is exactly what I'm talking about in the (ranty) podcast episode about neurodiversity I uploaded today. We aren't sick, or broken. We are just different.
I am a hunter, and I underperformed. This had largely to do with my blue collar upbringing. My Mexican heritage was another factor. The nearly all white schools I attended dismissed my gifts. I excelled in a blue collar trade and that put a target on my back for many less talented coworkers.
Hi Thom: I have been following your written thoughts on "hunter/gatherers" since at least 2002. I think your "take" on the upside of those who fit the criteria for ADHD is solid. I am very disappointed that this has not been explored enough by my colleagues. I am a retired shrink who wrote my first book at age 65 and updated it in 2013 (age 67).
I will spare you the details, unless you would like to interview me someday. My 2011 book, revised in 2013, has been called a "game changer" because of my conclusions about the upside and downside of both the ADHD type and nonADHD type. I have been unsuccessful in contacting you since 2013. I feel fortunate to be able to discuss these concerns at substack. I feel like I have found a new and better home.
My 2013 book entitled Adult ADD Factbook takes the reader through a large amount of documentation that clearly shows what constitutes the correct hypotheses related to the upside of ADHD and downside of ADHD (which I do not call a disorder).
I should note that a large amount of my book documents the science that shows that the ADHD brain type cannot be legitimately scientifically referred to as a disorder. Disorder means there is no upside and it also implies that it is not the norm.
I use the term "type" for what we currently call ADHD -- "disorder." There is no solid scientific proof that there is such a thing as the normal brain. We know a lot about the variations, which are endless. To that extent all brains are neurominorities and to try to come up with a so-called average brain type is impossible. The nosology in neuroscience and psychiatry (DSM) is fatally flawed.
I will spare you the details on how I argue that the ADHD type is the norm in the Western Hemisphere. You can only consider that a possibility, unless you read my book, which is based on over 30,000 pages of published research literature. (911 citations)
However, you reference the studies in this post and refer to the concept of "hunter/gather" type being a "superpower." So, you seem to recognize that the ADHD brain type clearly has an upside. Others, obviously do not. I have, however, clearly shown how and why you are correct. But . .
I would hesitate to overstate the case by using the term "superpower." I think the term "superpower" is so value laden as to reveal your anger at being treated as "less than" so often in this world due to all the faulty assumptions about the "ADHD" style. Clearly, you and most of the studies you quote, have proven there is a significant upside. But, the terminology is off target.
I will try to keep this short. A quick summary of what I learned in 20 years of intense reading and clinical practice with a large number of undiagnosed and misdiagnosed adult ADHD types, you should know.
I am in the process of updating my 2013 book to conform to any new information that should be incorporated in it. So far, I have not discovered any significant non-supportive literature as I have reviewed over 4,000 pages of research literature in the last year.
Simply put, working memory is so well understood now to rely on a certain balance of dopamine processes and functions. I won't go into detail right now, but would be happy to do that if asked.
The scientific community has only recently been able to get it that good baseline working memory is the key to academic success. Not so much IQ. IQ is a variable, but even with high IQ, poor working memory can provide significant challenges to what we typically call academics.
So, those folks who do not fit the criteria for ADHD and test out with optimal working memory, with average IQ have been shown to outperform in academics. With high IQ and good working memory, academics can be a "breeze."
The idea that dopamine is only a "pleasure" related system is so out of date it hurts. The scientific community now knows that the dopamine system is overwhelmingly involved in something much more important than pleasure – "survival."
The low baseline dopamine-created low baseline working memory might make academics problematic, but it nevertheless produces that exact best human response to "threats" of all kinds. Why?
Threat increases several dopamine processes, including what has been called tonic dopamine, which, guess what, "treats" low working memory and mitigates what we currently call ADHD. Thus, the ADHD type (without sensory sensitivities) is the best brain for survival (threat response).
The non-ADHD brain type, by definition high working memory (and very few characteristics of what we call ADHD) does not handle threat very well. Dopamine is "stimulated" (short for a complex process) by threat for everyone.
So, in the nonADHD type, it goes to above optimal quickly. Above optimal dopamine (think too much stimulant medication) is really problematic. Think of it as "over-amping." It makes reaction times longer, confuses, decreases working memory, increases heart rate and blood pressure, produces anxiety, heating up, shakiness, and nausea (that often can lead to vomiting – due to the excess dopamine threat response).
In the ADHD type, low baseline dopamine, low working memory scenario, threat increase dopamine presence and function (like it does for everyone), and produces the correct balance for optimal threat response. Not overamped, better working memory (focus, follow-through, calm, faster reaction times, better planning, very little increase in heart rate, breathing, or blood pressure, and very infrequent nausea due to the threat situation).
I apologize for making this such a long comment, but, I am so excited that the non-scientific community gets it. I think the language being used, however, does not allow for the correct understanding of the upside and downside of the ADHD type AND the upside and downside of the nonADHD type.
To put it simply it is not a "superpower" to be able to respond effectively to threat. It is a survival power. And, it just happens to work way better than the nonADHD baseline optimal dopamine good working memory type in all threat scenarios (again, unless there is also present sensory sensitivities).
To sum it up: The ADHD brain type is the best for the "jungle" and not so great academics. The nonADHD brain type is great for academics, but not so great for the jungle. Since humans have only recently left the jungle and have been attempting to advance academics and similar pursuits (civil behaviors), the ADHD type is actually the predominant type.
As a nonADHDer you should probably avoid cage fighting and similar activities. There is no effective way to reduce dopamine response that does not also cause impairment.
As an ADHD type, who might be using dopamine enhancer meds to treat the "poor working memory" you should likely not use meds when jumping out of airplanes (or similar) since the optimal baseline dopamine brain (from meds) is a disadvantage for threat related activity.
I think you recognize that the "hunter/gatherer" of your realm is best suited for threat related activities. If so, then, you might connect the dots the way I do. The most advantageous brain set for survival (the jungle) is the ADHD type. Why wouldn't it be the dominant brain type for all humans? Something to think about, eh? For sure, what is going on for the ADHD types is a huge evolutionary mismatch.
I will leave it at this, even though there is so much more to say.
Thank you again for this post. Take care, Ron