Hi. My name is Michael Laskoff, and if I had the ‘good luck’ to have an old-fashioned substance abuse problem, then I could spending this time at a local ALANON meeting networking with other drunks. Ahh, to be so fortunate. I’m not, by the way, trying to take anything away from the people with drinking problems, or any other kind of substance abuse issues. Indubitably, addiction problems are bad and addicts – as well as those around them – suffer mightily. But at least they’ve gotten themselves a sometime sympathetic awareness of the reality that they exist and that their condition is not always their own fault.
So let’s try this again: My name is Michael Laskoff; I’m 40 years old and I have ADHD, aka ADD; I’ve always had it but didn’t know that until I was 39. And yes, there are support groups out there that I could attend as a result. But that’s where the similarities end.
- Alcoholism has, as I think you’ll agree, been recognized from time immemorial; Adult ADHD has literally only been on the books since the mid-1980s and if you’re over seven years old, then you can’t currently be ‘officially’ diagnosed as having the condition at all. (I’m not kidding; check your DSM-IV.)
- Alcoholism is considered an adult’s condition; ADHD is only ‘supposed to’ impact children. (No one had the courtesy to remind me to outgrow the condition when I turned 18.)
- Alcoholics and the massive community that supports them have helped the rest of us understand that it’s a disease; adults with ADHD live isolated, furtive lives spent feeling stupid and certain that if their condition were known that they’d lose their jobs at the very least. (Even the very wealthy business people who credit ADHD with contributing to their personal fortunes don’t want anyone to know.)
- And finally, while I’ve heard much mention of the ‘functional alcoholic’, I’ve never hear anything analogous about adults with ADHD.
Tags: ADD, ADHD, adult add, adult ADHD, working
