Hi! I’m Alex*!
*Not my real name
I live in a country and I study a science*.
*Yeah, sorry, no more details than that for now. (I’m a private person!)

I have ADHD! And not the low-grade presentable kind, where you can mostly get away with saying it’s a blessing in disguise or that it’s really a problem of not being in the right environment for “our kind”. No. I have big bad ugly, severe, embarrassing ADHD.

So, why should you listen to me? Here are my illustrious qualifications:

  • PhD student! That’s gotta count for something, right? Please? I kid, I worked my sorry ass off to get here and it was absolutely the best decision for me. But more importantly, for you, my combination of severe ADHD and not-quite-totally-failing-in-life-yet means that I have a lot of experience with various ADHD treatments and strategies. It also means that, relative to the general population, I can read science papers real good. (I tell myself this translates to me getting hoodwinked less often than, say, an average nonscientist.)
  • Extensive undergraduate coursework in neurobiology. I tailored this to my interest in ADHD whenever possible.
  • Extremely well versed in current medications and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy approaches for ADHD. The ADHD-related CBT strategies are all thanks to a former therapist of mine, and formed the basis of her own PhD work (so they’re, like… not bullshit)
  • …actually that might be all of my qualifications. Wow, ok. Shorter list than I’d thought. Hm.

But wait don’t leave yet!
I’ll go ahead and drop the sarcasm for now, it’s not the style in which I plan to write the bulk of the blog anyways.

The reason I’m writing this blog is because I have worked to treat my disorder aggressively and tirelessly. I’m not a scientific or clinical expert in ADHD, and I’m certainly no guru, but I have gained a wealth of knowledge because of my never-ending determination to learn, grow, and adapt. I want to share what I know. When I was younger I would’ve killed for someone to fill me in on what I know now.

What I don’t know is you, what you want and need and how your experience of the disorder has been. Different people can have vastly different relationships to ADHD, and I don’t want to make any assumptions about you, how you feel, and what works for you.

My current goal for my writing here is to be thorough, realistic, and very very honest. For me, digesting a lot of text can be difficult, so I’ll try to write in ADHD-friendly ways as much as possible. When I have enough posts, I also add instructions on how to generate a PDF of my posts in chronological order, so you can download them to your tablet or e-reader and highlight the shit out of them if that’s your style.

Anyways, that’s me. Feel free to write a comment to introduce yourself and tell me about you.

Best,
Alex

PS - here’s a list of what the blog will NOT be covering, or for whom it might not be appropriate:

  • CHILDREN AND ADHD IN CHILDREN. It’s just not something I’m currently interested in. Also, there may be a small amount of cursing throughout these posts. I have no doubt that there exist browser extensions that will block those words, if that’s what you want to do.
  • Aspects of ADHD 100% specific to hyperactivity. I can only speak to inattentiveness, and that is my primary interest as well.
  • Psychiatric illnesses beyond depression and certain anxiety disorders. I’m in out of my depth there.

Also, I’m a person who is strongly motivated to achieve professionally and I put a premium on personal growth. If that’s not you, some of my posts may fall flat. And you do you either way, I am 100% rooting for you no matter how far out there your goals are.