> At the end, she told me she would review my exam and have the results ready in a few days.

Yeah man I can go ahead and let you know early if you want.

I spent a decent amount working on ADHD diagnostics and unfortunately it sucks. To my knowledge, to this day, there isn’t a single reliable biomarker that identifies autism spectrum disorders. It’s usually correlation studies paired with questionnaires which for lack of better words can be described as “incidental” at best. Most z scored tests I know are also developed with small samples, a hundred participants with an outgroup of 20 would already be a LARGE sample. The standard ADHD questionnaire was validated on some 35 people.

There might be some hope in deep learning, particularly in observing eye movement components to deliver reliable biomarkers in the future, but I’m not so confident any time soon.

It’s dreadful and fascinating at the same time that defining and testing for ADS has been so elusive for so long…

Opening up devtools during ADHD test is so ADHD, almost as if he didn't even need the psychiatrist to explain the results :D

That doesn't have to be ADHD, could be the *tism too. The tells are usually somewhat overlapping.

In general, if you are in the industry, save yourself (and your kids) some trouble and get diagnosed before it becomes a problem.

Add: I wonder why they don't just give people some ritalin and ask if they feel calmed down? Except the obvious reason of course

That was my first thought. I only wish my type was to put in the work for a blog post instead of just thinking on it and getting overwhelmed with all I need to get done.

Trust, this blog post was in the works for weeks and was actually supposed to have a YouTube video accompanying it that I never finished T_T

I didn't think of this until after haha

I took a similar ADHD test. It seemed so easy and simple that I always wondered how it was actually supposed to catch me.

Good to know that neurotypical people mostly likely test differently than I did.

I found myself trying to come up with a system that used the position of my hands to “solve” the problem for me.

But then I worried if my system worked, I would be misdiagnosed.

It didn’t work. I was 98th percentile.

Thanks for sharing this!

this sounds interesting! would love to hear more about this

hi! author here, please let me know if you have any questions :-)

No questions, but feedback for you from an engineer in a similar situation (late diagnosis), make sure you go back and get them to check for every other thing under the sun. You really don't want to dive into the ADHD side and find out it was something else (other things can masquerade as ADHD), so a good neuropsychologist is critical. And "body medicine", too, for example adrenal disorders. It's worth being extremely thorough at this point - you're off the standard path, embrace it.

Also, congratulations, once you figure it out your life is going to change for the better in a way you can't currently understand (literally, lacking the brain regions and/or development for it, take it from me), but the process can kinda suck a lot, so stick with it, it's worth it in the end, wherever you end up.

Would you mind sharing the test platform?

Have you got some fancy scroll thing for your blog? Something in my brain is noticing that scrolling feels smoother than your average site, though maybe im crazy.

Following through on the top comment, surely you realized when you decided to forgo the back half of the test that, had the program compensated for it, you were consciously leaning into the ADHD diagnosis, right?

Sure! However, I think at that point I just felt trapped and overwhelmed that I no longer cared about the test or its results.

Which is exactly how it manifests, at least for a lot of people. ADHD isn't just "I can't focus lol", it's "trying to focus feels like dragging myself through broken glass"

He says while commenting on HN as CI runs...

This is basically what I did to every online based quiz in school. Big respect lol.

this method works more often than not :P

Ahahah the end got me laughing

Great article!

ADHD is way more complex than just an attention issue, I mean just the amount of average daydreaming and "rumination" and the constant multi-threading of thoughts... is just next level, I believe it's not properly explained to outsiders that might just think that X guy just have a hard time going in the flow but in reality it's much more catastrophic than this and will create many more mental health issues if left unmanaged.

Most ADHD people that have jumped on some sort of strong treatment (stimulants in general) are discovering a new world in pretty much 1 hour, the first time the mind goes "quiet" is incredible. I advise everyone to read more on this website https://www.adxs.org/en - it's also friendly to scrape to be used with LLMs.

ADHD isn't a good thing to have imo, it's a serious dysfunction and it's sad to see that it's being romanticized lately in social media or plainly discredited by some people/media, and while treated ADHD can make you productive "all the time", you end up addicted and pretty much permanently require drugs to function well.

> it's a serious dysfunction [...] treated ADHD can make you productive "all the time", you end up addicted and pretty much permanently require drugs to function well

On its own, its not "a serious dysfunction". Within the context of operating within the current societal setup for a paycheck that provides basic survival needs, yeah.

It allows me to sit down and do 'something' without being taken completely off task for the rest of the day because someone kept knocking on the door or reading a hostile/complaint email. What that 'something' is is not always 'productive' but now I can do it without everyday things or upcoming events throwing me in a completely different direction.

Meds helps with the alignment issue. If you are taking meds and its making you "productive all the time" and you find yourself addicted to it, I suggest talking to your doctor about that. I had to work with CBT just to form a habit of remembering to take the medication, and it took a few years before I finally started to remember regularly. I still forget on days that dont fit into that routine

I agree that ADHD is a serious condition for many people, and that it's overly romanticized and that isn't good when it comes to getting help for those that do need it.

To that point, I'm going push back on this language just a bit:

> you end up addicted and pretty much permanently require drugs to function well

That is negatively framing medication, which if taken properly as prescribed is no different than any other medication someone might take to help with a chronic health condition. It slightly encourages and leans into the idea that ADHD is "fixable" without medication and so taking medication is a problem (or due to a weakness, etc).

I'm not discounting the value of other forms of non-medical treatment, but in many case medication IS appropriate as part of the overall treatment that a person requires to manage their ADHD. We should not use language that stigmatizes treatment that should be between a person and their doctor.

I think it is also worth reframing what "functioning well" means. Society expects certain things of us and our brains function in a way that those things are more difficult. Is that our fault, or society, or some mix? Isn't it possible that society itself could adjust in such a way that people who naturally struggle to sit in a cubicle doing the same thing all day every day could be offered other options? Seems like our capitalistic system that requires "productive" work as measured by those who already control the capital is maybe also a problem here.

I'm on stimulants and I agree that the post you responded to needed reframing. But I think we do ourselves and anyone else who isn't "normal" in body or mind a huge disservice just focusing on acceptance of treatment when there are larger societal changes that could be made.

I can't fix society. I can, however, take a pill that lets me hold down a job long enough to not fall into crippling debt.

Agree with original commenter but +1 to reframing the language. I was very afraid to begin medication because I would always hear about how addicting this medication can be. But like you say, you wouldn't tell someone with diabetes that they're addicted to insulin.

fully agreed with this. it's the same stigma that I see get applied to SSRIs - that you become 'dependent' on medication, it's not 'natural', etc

in reality, if the side effects are minimal and you function better on it, it's a sip of water and a pill a day and that's largely it for health outcomes. most drug interventions are generally extremely well-studied with very large sample sizes. there's a reason why clinical research is considered gold-standard - the regulatory requirements to even get a drug to market is monumental and some of the most rigorously audited and vetted processes in the world

the ironic thing is that most of the big pharma detractors are also ingesting dozens of supplements, the vast majority of which have little to no good empirical evidence backing them (and very small effect sizes to boot) along with even less regulatory oversight for issues like contamination, formulation, or if it even contains the active ingredient. which isn't to say that 'big pharma' doesn't often pursue avenues for profitability reasons instead of the public good but that's not the typical critique that an anti-empiricist brings most times

I'm addicted to several things. Like eyeglasses, and breathing.

The difference the medication makes is similarly revelatory to putting on eyeglasses. Of course you never want to take them off.

> > you end up addicted and pretty much permanently require drugs to function well

> That is negatively framing medication, which if taken properly as prescribed is no different than any other medication someone might take to help with a chronic health condition.

The medication is an actual addictive substance that is much more controlled than regular medications. You are not allowed to get an advance supply and your doctor has to sign off on all refills. In every interaction involving these substances, doctors are more concerned with losing their DEA license than the health of any patient.

There are plenty of reports online of people going into withdrawal because a paperwork snafu meant they couldn't get their refill on time that month, or they left their pills on a trip and their doctor won't help them get more. The system treats you as a drug seeking addict or dealer supplementing their income by diverting medication.

This Doctor's videos reframed the clinical work and actual research for me, very informative and helpful to me personally. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0tLWu7ljYVFPiZQfHjTMsA

> > you end up addicted and pretty much permanently require drugs to function well

No? First, even when I was taking it almost every day for three years, I kept forgetting to take it. Today, my last refill was in February this year.

I recommend against raw-dogging reality with ADHD without meds. At least so you have baseline "this is what normal feels like"

> it's a serious dysfunction and it's sad to see that it's being romanticized lately in social media or plainly discredited by some people/media

The author of the article is contributing to this by using their medical diagnosis to "outsmart" the system for writing material. Presenting a proper ADHD assessment as merely an online test just adds fuel to the fire (and if this is the only interaction they had I am skeptical of the assessment procedure).

> and while treated ADHD can make you productive "all the time", you end up addicted and pretty much permanently require drugs to function well

That's an unfair and sweeping characterization of the immediate therapeutic benefits and long-term health outcomes of individuals.