Let’s start answering the main question by giving the definition of ADHD. According to DSM-5, which is a handbook used by professionals to diagnose mental health disorders, “ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder defined by impairing levels of inattention, disorganization, and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity.”
There is no main cause for ADHD but there are some causes that can be given such as genetics, environment, developmental problems. These different causes lead to one specific result. Which is known as ADHD.
In the brain, there are neurotransmitters that help us live through the day. One of them is crucial for ADHD. Dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that works as ‘reward center’ of brain and responsible for memory, movement, motivation, mood, attention, sleep (2). In ADHD, the problem is the low dopamine level of the brain which leads to being inattentive, forgetful, clumsy, and more.
In many journals, ADHD is written as a childhood disorder. Although it is true in a way but there is an important point that has been missed. ADHD not only affects people during childhood, but the symptoms do not just disappear in adulthood. It is defined as neurodevelopmental disorder means that ADHD brain developed as lacking dopamine. This might be dark, but it means that ADHD will be with you until the end. However, you eventually get to know yourself and your symptoms better, which you learn to live with it. ‘Living with it’ phrase led us to another important topic.

“ADHD is not your character. ADHD is not Depression. ADHD is not Anxiety.”

ADHD affects 5% of the adult population, however, less than 20% of adults are currently diagnosed or under treatment (1). Most adults consider ADHD symptoms as their characteristic features like ‘I am lazy’ ‘I am ambivalent’ ‘I am clumsy’. These adjectives might be true for some people but for a person with ADHD, these adjectives are not reflective of that person’s characteristics.
Another problem is misdiagnosing ADHD with other mood disorders. According to a national survey, girls with ADHD are three times more likely to get diagnosed with a mood disorder (bipolar or depression) before diagnosed with ADHD. There might be few reasons for this such as ADHD in girls are more likely to be inattentive compared the boys. This misdiagnosis can be persisted in adulthood too. This also can lead to the use of the wrong treatment method that can create more harm than undiagnosed ADHD.
ADHD in adults and ADHD in childhood might seem not similar but most of the time when a child with ADHD becomes an adult their hyperactivity is internalized. This can be defined as ‘Masking’. Masking behavior is simply hiding symptoms when you are with other people. In order to fit the standard adult behaviors many people with ADHD, also it can include other mental health disorders as well, hiding their symptoms and acting like others. This situation may cause misdiagnosis or not getting any diagnosis or treatment at all.

Superpowers of ADHD

ADHD is not always bad. We, as people with ADHD, are able to hyperfocus after procrastination. That most of the time it comes out perfectly. We are more resilient than others. The reason behind this resilience is that we have plenty of challenges, which are things that can count as not challenging for non-ADHD people, during the day. We are amazing at problem solving because we have a wonderful creative mind. Addition to creativity we also have impulsivity in our nature and if you combine these two features it is clear that we are also big risk takers. This helps us to become more fun to hang out with. Another superpower that you can see in people with ADHD is that we have amazing talking skills. This causes us to be more social and friendly. Last but not least we have very high energy, which is easy to guess. We tend to be good at sports and physical activities.
As can be clearly seen, ADHD is more than a disorder. It is a different style of thinking and doing things than others. And sometimes living with ADHD can be quite fun.

CITATION
(1) Ginsberg, Y., Quintero, J., Anand, E., Casillas, M., & Upadhyaya, H. P. (2014). Underdiagnosis of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in Adult Patients: A Review of the Literature. The Primary Care Companion for CNS Disorders, 16(3). https://doi.org/10.4088/PCC.13r01600 (2) https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/22581-dopamine