THE BENEFITS OF ADHD

By Rebekah Devlin

Any neurotype has its considerable benefits and perks. The ADHD brain can be quite brilliant and lead to wonderful success, a heightened ability to remain calm in difficult situations and amazing creativity, says Tara Kent.

1 | CALM DURING A CRISIS. When others are in a crisis, we can be cool, calm and under control. People with ADHD often pursue and excel at careers like ER doctor, nurse, police officer, journalist, athlete, or entertainer. In contrast, we may struggle to pay attention in calm situations; we need tips and tricks to help us stay on task.

2 | CREATIVE. One study showed that people with ADHD tend to be more creative than people without ADHD. For this reason, people with ADHD can also excel in creative careers. Just don’t forget that structure and organisation is important when following through on those creative ideas in order to see them to completion.

3 | INTUITIVE. ADHD brains often take longer to process sensory information (sights, sounds, etc.) than typical brains. While this may seem like a downside, it can actually mean we notice things that others don’t. In other words, we can think outside the box.

4 | SPONTANEOUS. People with ADHD are often quick starters that tend to jump right into a new project or idea. Instead of getting stuck following the status quo, we are often motivated to try new things. Planning is often a good thing, but too much planning can also mean you might miss out on a time-sensitive opportunity or that you don’t get anything done.

5 | CURIOUS AND DRIVEN. People with ADHD tend to focus really intensely for long periods of time on subjects they’re interested in; this is called hyperfocusing. This is great for working on our hobbies or studying a subject we enjoy. And if we happen to hyperfocus on one thing when we should be doing something else, we usually have people around us to give us a reminder.

Tara Kent is a registered specialist behaviour practitioner (non-ABA, neuroscience-based) with Instinct Au, and a developmental educator and director of DivergAntz Collective and TecAntz. You can watch her clips in TikTok or YouTube by searching Miss_DivergAntz.

Read more on adapting your approuch to ADHD here.