People with ADHD (the full name is attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder) have an unusually hard time focusing on tasks and paying attention, and they may be unusually impulsive. Everyone struggles with these things sometimes, so how do you know if it could be ADHD?

Symptoms of ADHD fall into two categories that experts call inattentive behaviors and hyperactive or impulsive behaviors. The issues you’ve noticed might fit more in one category or the other — or you can have a combination of both.

Inattentive behaviors can look like:

• Making careless mistakes or getting easily distracted

• Struggling to listen or zoning out when people are talking to you

• Difficulty following instructions

• Problems staying organized (for example, your room is always a mess, despite your best efforts)

• Extreme avoidance of tasks that aren’t super interesting to you, even if they’re not hard and you know you need to do them

• Always forgetting or losing things that you regularly use — phone, keys, ID

A lot of people associate hyperactive or impulsive ADHD behaviors with young kids — always running around, never sitting still. For teens, hyperactivity tends to look a little different. Behaviors can include:

• Extreme impatience — you hate waiting around for activities or for another person to finish speaking if you want to talk

• Frequently interrupting or blurting things out because you’re excited or worried you’ll forget what you were going to say

• You might have trouble sleeping or falling asleep because you can’t “shut off” your brain

• Fidgeting — it might be hard for you to sit through class without shifting around or tapping your foot

• Impulsivity — you tend to leap before you think, perhaps more often than your friends do

  
  

ADHD and focus

There’s a common misconception that people with ADHD simply don’t have the ability to focus or pay attention, but this is not true. When it comes to activities or subjects they enjoy — anything from playing a video game to science research — they can summon an extraordinary amount of attention, experiencing a phenomenon sometimes called hyperfocus. Hyperfocus feels good, but it can be so engrossing that you might forget to eat or go to the bathroom for hours at a stretch.

On the flip side, what people with ADHD find challenging is finding the focus to complete tasks that don’t feel good — cleaning their room, homework assignments for classes they’re not really into. It’s probably true that few people find these activities pleasurable — but if you have ADHD these tasks feel insurmountable. And when you are able to tackle one, you probably do it all at once and at the last minute, driven by stress or fear.

It's an exhausting cycle that can make you feel really bad about yourself. You might tell yourself that if you just try harder, you would be fine — but it’s crucial to understand that ADHD is a disorder that has to do with the way the brain develops, not a lack of willpower.

People with ADHD tend to be creative thinkers (and not just in an artistic sense), but symptoms of ADHD can prevent you from reaching your goals and showcasing your talents. ADHD can also affect relationships with family and friends — you might interrupt people, zone out in a conversation, or forget birthdays or plans.

Support for ADHD

If you are struggling, reach out to a mental health professional for an assessment. You might meet the criteria for ADHD, or your trouble focusing could be caused by something else, like anxiety. It helps to enlist a trusted adult to help you — maybe a parent, family member, or school guidance counselor — because getting the support you need shouldn’t feel like another dreaded task.

ADHD is best treated with a combination of medication and therapy. Learning strategies to manage it yourself can also help. (Put it this way: medication can improve your ability to focus. It will not remind you to study.) There are various medications and treatment plans for ADHD, and a good clinician will work with you to see what works best for you.