Comment by LeonM

Right. But then when someone says "I see the symptom of broken legs everywhere now. When the blog author said they had trouble getting up the hills of San Francisco, I just knew they must have an undiagnosed broken leg", it's fair to be more than a little skeptical.

That analogy ignores what was actually confusing about this topic. A better analogy would be:

Alice has a medical problem related to hill walking so she walks up the hill wearing sneakers, Bob also had a medical problem related to hill walking so he uses a handkerchief to wipe off his sweat while walking up the hill, and Charlie, the out of shape adult, also uses sneakers and a handkerchief but not in a medical way even though his feet hurt without sneakers and he does sweat.

ADHD-I has a range of symptoms where the person needs 5 or more that are significantly disruptive to their life for at least 6 months.

So when someone reads the first paragraph and immediately thinks the author has to be ADHD because they talk about 1 of these symptoms that in isolation the majority of the world has, I ask "but aren't we all like this?"

(throwaway account for anonymity)

> ADHD is the difference between having difficulties starting some tasks and being absolutely unable to start a mundane task until you curl yourself into a corner and cry.

Can't agree with this enough.

I'm currently suffering from absolutely crippling procrastination.

I'm a successful respected principal engineer with 25+ years industry experience but in the last couple of years my procrastination has got so so much worse. I've just got through my third PIP (Performance Improvement Plan) in the last 18 months. Thankfully my employer believes in me and continues to give me a chance, but they're not a charity and they've made it clear that I need to continue to perform or I'm gone.

For example, the last PIP I knew exactly what I had to do, it was agreed in advance and completely fair. I should have had no problem completing everything without having to work silly hours. I just needed to grind my way through it and apply my experience and expertise as and when needed (when to escalate, etc). Instead I sat on things for weeks and weeks until the fear and panic of not being able to provide for my family (I'm the sole earner in the house) started to really hit and give me the necessary motivation. It was an immensely stressful position I put myself in. (To be clear, the company is awesome, they're very supportive and they really want me to succeed.)

Taking any significant time off isn't an option. It's not burnout (been there, done that). I can't afford not to be working. We're stretched very thin already due to other medical problems amongst my immediate family but we can get by if I'm working. Changing companies isn't going to solve anything either; my current employer is not the problem. I am. Anywhere else would probably be far worse.

It is utterly crippling at times; and the majority of the time. I can sit at my desk for days and do 30 minutes of "work" each day. Then the deadlines hove into view and I'm doing a days worth of work in 30 minutes.

I'm awaiting an official ADHD diagnosis and expect to be diagnosed with Inattentive type. Hopefully medication will make things easier for me.

I should have gone down the diagnosis route many years ago but, guess what, procrastination.

> procrastination happens even when they actively don't want to procrastinate, and even when it hurts them right now to procrastinate.

That applies to just about everyone. It’s why there are countless books and articles on defeating procrastination.

I don’t think you understand depression. There’s a big difference between depression and sadness … like the difference between purple and green. They are just not comparable. This is not shades of a different color. My personal experience is: “I’m sad” and that can mean… “I want to cry” But If im depressed can be like “I’m happy.., and yet.. I don’t see the point of living.”