Especially when you don’t have the hyperactivity part (used to be ADD, now it’s ADHD - inattentive type), this makes so much sense as to why I was just called lazy and sensitive as a kid and teenager. Getting diagnosed in my late 20s made so many things make sense in hindsight.
A better name for the syndrome would be Executive Function Disorder. Executive Function is the term used to describe the ability to exercise agency and rational judgement when making decisions. Disorders of executive function leave a person having difficulty not responding impulsively. This affects attention; what I decide to pay attention to, and how long I hold my attention there, and it also affects emotional expression, how well I maintain an even keel and exercise control over how strongly my emotions become and how they influence my behavior. In ADHD people have difficulty deciding where their attention will go and also tend to be more emotionally labile. Shame sensitivity is frequently reported.
The problem there is that the name Executive Function Disorder is sort of taken.
If your experience of teenagerhood was similar to mine, you probably had a number of very frustrating moments where you knew what the responsible thing to do was but also knew that you would be unable to follow through on doing that thing, and that if you asked your family or friends to help you that you would not be able to do the emotional self-regulation to keep yourself from resenting them in the long term. Then at some point around 21 to 25, your brain finished growing, and suddenly you were able to make responsible choices!
Some people’s brains don’t make that final set of brain connections, and are stuck with a teenager brain forever. That’s what Executive Dysfunction is.
Oh, sure! The other comments did a pretty good job of explaining things. In my case, I struggled a lot with procrastination and getting sidetracked easily, which led to the lazy descriptor. And as for the sensitive, I tend to feel my emotions strongly and quickly, and I also have rejection sensitive dysphoria (RSD), so I tend to easily assume I’m being socially rejected
“Sensitivity to justice? That is a problem that must be cured.” - what capitalism does to a mf-er
Just to be clear, what the DSM-5 means there isn’t “I’m mad that people are clubbing baby seals to death”, they mean “Greg didn’t take out the garbage like he promised, which is unfair and makes me so angry I can’t look at him without chewing him out about it”. It’s an exaggeration of a normal human thing to the point that it impairs other stuff such a peaceful cohabitation.
If they change the name, people who get coverage and help from programs will experience a lapse of coverage and help until every little department and organization and office in the kluge help network all have the new name fully integrated into their systems, which could be years.
