People with ADHD can quickly list their challenges but often don’t realize that ADHD also gives them strengths. Acknowledging and building upon your strengths is one of the best ways to overcome your challenges.
As a specialist in behavioral health, David Leszkowitz, DO, at White Lake Family Medicine, has helped many children and adults with ADHD learn to focus on their strengths and create a thriving, fulfilling life. Here, our team explores the positive and negative traits of ADHD.
Strengths gained from ADHD
Though there are more ADHD strengths than the ones we included in this blog, we chose four that we often identify in our patients:
Focus
ADHD is known for difficulty in paying attention. However, the symptom of inattention balances with another quality in people with ADHD — they can maintain a sharp focus for an extended time when motivated by a subject they enjoy. Finding your passion can focus your attention and lead to success at school and on the job.
Creativity
A team of psychologists at the University of Amsterdam studied overall creativity, idea generation, and creative problem-solving skills in people with ADHD. Their results revealed that those with ADHD are highly creative and use this skill to drive real-world achievements.
Creativity is an unstructured, free-flowing process nurtured by inattention in ADHD. When allowed to think outside the box and use their creativity, people with ADHD excel in finding uncommon associations, generating new ideas, and finding creative solutions.
Energy
Having too much energy defines the hyperactive side of ADHD. And there’s no doubt that hyperactivity can lead to various problems in school and work. But excess energy properly channeled is an incredible strength.
Your energy can motivate you and others to work together to complete a project, lift others when depleted, and generally guide success in life.
Resilience
Everyone needs resilience to overcome hard times. It’s a vital trait for children and adults with ADHD who face daily struggles ranging from academic difficulties (despite innate intelligence) and emotional outbursts to poor job performance.
However, there’s a word of caution about resilience. When inquiring parents and teachers to rate resilience of their children and students with ADHD, the results showed that 50-60% of children with ADHD were perceived as being resilient.
The good news is that resilience is a learned trait. If you or your child struggle to bounce back, we can help you build that skill.
Challenges caused by ADHD
ADHD symptoms define the challenges you or your child face. Your symptoms depend on whether your diagnosis is inattentive ADHD, hyperactive-impulsive ADHD, or combined ADHD.
If you or your child have inattentive ADHD, you may:
- Struggle to pay attention
- Overlook important details
- Make reckless mistakes
- Frequently get distracted
- Forget to start or finish tasks
- Struggle to get or stay organized
- Daydream instead of paying attention
- Have a hard time following directions
People with inattentive ADHD tend to lose items like homework and keys. You may also avoid tasks that require mental effort unless the tasks involve your favorite interests.
People with hyperactive-impulsive ADHD may:
- Not be able to control impulses
- Fidget when required to sit still
- Be constantly on the go
- Feel restless or impatient
- Talk a lot or blurt out answers
- Struggle to wait their turn
A common hyperactive-impulsive trait is interrupting conversations or disrupting a game already in progress.
Combined ADHD
People with combined ADHD have some symptoms of both types.
You can overcome the challenges of ADHD and build on your strengths with help from the team at White Lake Family Medicine. To learn more, call the office or request an appointment online today.
