• merc@sh.itjust.works
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    4 days ago

    Anybody who thinks that non-ADHD people go straight from start to end has never listened to another human tell a story.

    Sure, there are times when someone has a well-rehearsed story that they’ve told 1000 times so they’re basically doing a monologue they’ve memorized. But, mostly people forget details and have to go back, or stop to clarify something, and so on. Losing their train of thought is also perfectly normal.

    I’m sure that people with ADHD are more scatterbrained. But, you should have a realistic comparison for what’s “normal”.

    • OmgItBurns@discuss.online
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      2 days ago

      Im going to assume you’re not trying to be an asshole here and don’t really understand.

      Yes, most of us know that this is hyperbole. We understand that non-ADHD folks aren’t robots and generally have an understanding of what social interaction for people without ADHD looks like.

      Its the degree to which this effects us that is in play. When it comes to most things with ADHD if you read it and it sounds like something that everyone experiences just be aware that folks with ADHD experience it to a debilitating level.

      It isn’t that other people don’t get sidetracked or go on tangents when telling a story, it’s that ADHD folks struggle to or are unable to tell a concise story. Even if we’ve practiced and rehearsed it 1000 times. It’s common for us to clarify something multiple times because we’ve forgotten what we’ve already told you or start in what seems like the middle of a conversation because we’re unaware that you’re lacking context. It’s common for us to start explaining something, completely forget what we’re talking about half way through, and just keep talking and hope we somehow answer the original question. It can be legitimately difficult to have conversation on a specific topic.

      To the best of my understanding, this can be explained by the fact that most of us have a very limited working memory and struggle to pass information between working, short term, and long term memory. Often, we’ve quite literally forgotten what we were talking about and are using context clues to keep going.

      edit: Noticed that I missed a few words/had a partially rewritten sentence. I feel like I accidentally proved my point somewhat.

    • Awkwardparticle@programming.dev
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      3 days ago

      The difference is chaos. ADHD brains are trying to manage the chaotic thoughts but are not doing a great job. You are just witnessing the struggle.

    • tetris11@feddit.uk
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      4 days ago

      I tend to exhibit ADHD-type speech patterns when I’m overwhelmed by a new task that I’m trying to explain, inadvertently letting random facts and emotions creep haphazardly into the dialogue.

      I hear myself do it and think “huh, this must be what ADHD people feel like all the time”

    • bob@feddit.uk
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      3 days ago

      But then it wouldn’t be funny. I don’t think this is meant to be taken too literally.

    • deur@feddit.nl
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      4 days ago

      This post isn’t for you and nobody is sorry about it.