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“…People with ADHD cope with this huge emotional elephant in two main ways, which are not mutually exclusive.
1. They become people pleasers. They scan every person they meet to figure out what that person admires and praises. Then, that’s the false self they present. Often this becomes such a dominating goal that they forget what they actually wanted from their own lives. They are too busy making sure other people aren’t displeased with them.
2. They stop trying. If there is the slightest possibility that a person might try something new and fail or fall short in front of anyone else, it’s just too painful and too risky to even consider. So, these people just don’t. these are the very bright, capable people who become the slackers of the world and do absolutely nothing with their lives because making any effort is so anxiety-provoking. They give up going on dates, applying for jobs, or speaking in meetings.”
(and the first has been tied to why women don’t get diagnosed properly bc we already expect women to behave that way)
Does anyone else with autism get that brain thing where their mental dictionary just randomly decides to become unavailable? And all you’re left with is describing the word or saying close approximations until someone says it for you?
“The big… Cleaner. In that room.”
“The washing machine?”
“YES!”
this is called anomic aphasia, which ironically i had to type various approximations of into google to remember.
Is… this also a thing in people with ADHD? Because this definitely happens to me.
Yes!
In fact this is not quite a mental illness thing. Neurotypicals also experience this. However, the difference is that in those with ADHD, or autism, it occurs much more frequently, and the cause has to do with the brain, not just slipping on words from time to time.
This can be caused by different things, as studies have looked into this.
Here is the definition of aphasia, from Mayo Clinic:
“Aphasia gets in the way of a person’s ability to use or understand words. Aphasia does not impair the person’s intelligence. People who have aphasia may have difficulty speaking and finding the "right” words to complete their thoughts. They may also have problems understanding conversation, reading and comprehending written words, writing words, and using numbers.“
Whereas in neurotypicals, an occasional flump in word usage can be associated with the brain’s compartmentalization, in aphasia it is caused by the language parts of the brain being affected by an injury or illness, making understanding, speaking, or both more difficult.
Anomic Aphasia is when the brain cannot remember the name of an object. As the wiki page states, ”Anomic aphasia (also known as dysnomia, nominal aphasia, and amnesic aphasia) is a mild, fluent type of aphasia where individuals have word retrieval failures and cannot express the words they want to say (particularly nouns and verbs).“ Basically this means they know what the object is, they can identify and describe what it looks like and does, and even draw it or point it out, but cannot put the proper name to it.
Aphasia is typically associated with stroke victims, head injuries or brain tumors, but disorders that affect language, such as autism, can also cause symptoms of aphasia.
I would absolutely not be surprised if ADHD can also result in anomic aphasia, since Broca’s Area (a location on the left side of the frontal lobe associated with expression through speech) is in the frontal lobe, the part of the brain most affected by ADHD.
Listen, "the thing with the thing in the thing” is a valid sentence if you wave your arms hard enough
All 3 of my sisters once blanked simultaneously on the name of a kitchen implement WHILE IT WAS ON THE TABLE IN FRONT OF THEM. They had to ask me when I came in “What is this called?!?!”
“The pastry cutter?”
“THAT’S IT!”
… I accidentally referred to a towel as a body napkin so that’s what my fiance & I call them now.
Neurotypical actually means someone without any known mental disability or disorder. When it comes to neurodiverse though, I’d say it covers more than just autism, ADHD dyslexia etc. Regarding mental illnesses though, I think it would depend on who you ask, but I’d say they’re grouped as neurodiverse too
ifesbob 