ADHD in the workplace: Is there an upside?

At age 27, I was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD.

“You don’t have ADHD, you’re smart,” a friend said to me after my diagnosis. He’s right, I have a solid academic track record. I finished university a semester early with a 3.4 GPA in my public relations bachelor’s and finished my master’s degree in international development and Middle Eastern politics with a 3.5 GPA on the US’s 4-point scale.

The misperception that women with ADHD lack mental capability is why women are repeatedly under and misdiagnosed, because our symptoms are not in line with the traditional thinking on ADHD – that is, the stereotype of boys in school who can’t sit still and don’t turn in their homework.

In women, ADHD is understudied and a long-term focused study wasn’t launched on this subject until 2002. Women are more likely to have inattentive ADHD, rather than the more observable impulsive type.

There are three types of ADHD: inattentive, hyperactive-impulsive, and combined. The Cleveland Clinic explains inattentive ADHD as people who “have trouble paying attention to details, are easily distracted, often have trouble organising or finishing tasks and often forget routine chores”.

Around five to seven percent of the global population has ADHD, and in the US, ADHD diagnosis rates for men are estimated at 5.4 percent, compared to 3.2 percent in women, according to 2006 research titled “The prevalence and correlates of adult ADHD in the United States: results from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication”.

The misunderstood and poorly named condition doesn’t necessarily indicate a deficit of attention. It’s rather an issue regulating attention, which makes it harder to plan, prioritise, avoid impulses, remember things and focus. Call it a lack of executive function.

And in women, it is linked with higher rates of depression and anxiety compared to women without ADHD. I have become very good at what is called “masking my symptoms”, which makes them less observable, but that comes at a cost – and that cost is striving for an unobtainable perfection. When I can’t meet that goal, I spiral.

ADHD isn’t an inability to think, it’s an inability to act.

Had I not been seeking treatment for depression and thoughts of killing myself – or suicidal ideation – I may never have received my diagnosis. To cite my psychologist who dropped this diagnosis on me mid-session, it is “incredibly obvious” I have ADHD.

I am fortunate to have a supportive boss who recognised the signs I exhibited of depression and suggested I seek help. I am also fortunate that I work in an environment where I’m not afraid to pen this piece.

I’m still parsing out what parts of my personality are me and what parts are my ADHD. My forgetfulness, impulsivity and inability to perform mundane, menial tasks are all part of my ADHD. I would like to think my work ethic and my resilience are me, but they also function alongside, and in spite of, my condition.

In the workplace, these all manifest themselves in different ways. I cut people off mid-sentence because I know I will forget to say what I’m thinking if I don’t say it right away. Much to the chagrin of my editors, I can write 1,200 words on a complex topic that I find interesting, but I struggle to write 300 words on a simple topic I’m not interested in.

Now, trying telling this to a manager. Even for me, who has been afflicted with this bizarre phenomenon my entire life, it is difficult to comprehend, and daily I tell myself to just try harder – though now I recognise that’s not the answer.

Trust me, if I could see two periods at the end of the sentence I just typed, or could remember where I parked my car when I’m walking around for 20 minutes in the Dubai summer, could remember to display my parking pass saving me four tickets and AED800 in one week (the pass is now firmly sticky-tacked to my dashboard), or remember that I set chicken out to thaw for the third time in a week only to have to throw it away when it rots on the counter – I would.

The circularity of telling myself the same message that never seems to click is exhausting. Imagine knowing a fact or a process – or that you have to display your parking pass – but your brain has decided it doesn’t care about that and routinely gets it wrong.

ADHD isn’t an inability to think, it’s an inability to act. In this paradox, anxiety and depression fester, and our self-esteem is worn away after making repeated errors that we should be able to prevent.

I tried so hard I burned out three years into my career and wound up on antidepressants. I have had to accept very quickly that there are some roles within an office that I may never be well-suited for because of this condition.

For those of you managing individuals with ADHD, please, know we are trying. What would help is better health insurance. Navigating treatment for mental health is convoluted, and therapy, monthly visits to the doctor, and medication are expensive. The financial stress that I’ve put myself under to get the treatment I need has introduced new stress into my life.

Living with ADHD is frustrating, and I can see how frustrating it is for those around me, too.

ADHD has its challenges, but those same challenges can be a gift. No, I will never be able to remember specific details I’m told, but my brain allows me to look at a large picture and put together various pieces to make sense of complex topics.

Additionally, I’m very good at focusing on things I want to focus on when I want to focus on them; we call it hyper focus. That side effect doesn’t mesh well within an office environment where I often have to do tasks I take little to no interest in. But what if we as society came to view this as somewhat of a super power rather than a detriment? A girl can dream.

We cannot begin to break down the stigma around mental health unless people speak out about their experiences.

In the ADHD brain, one of the conditions which falls within the neurodivergent category, getting tasks done is linked with an emotional reward, and to get things done, we have to trick our brains into believing there is a reward. Yes, it’s as hard as it sounds.

For those working with and managing individuals with ADHD, help us trick our brains into finding that emotional reward. We can be incredible assets to organisations, but understand that our brains just function differently.

Additionally, with ADHD, for me, and many like me, trying to sleep is a battle each night. ADHD adults take an extra 16 days of absence a year, according to a report by the Australian ADHD Professionals Association.

There are ways I’m learning to cope. Therapy has been a large part of this journey. The diagnosis alone has meant I’m able to more clinically look at my undesired behaviours and frame them within the context of my ADHD, which has allowed me to begin to implement mechanisms to circumvent the incessant nightmare that wracks my brain. It’s also allowed me to be kinder to myself.

I have a long way to go, and so does society in understanding what ADHD and depression are and what they are not.

Another favourite phrase is “You can’t be depressed, you’re so bubbly”. Explaining the dichotomy between having a happy-go-lucky exterior and an anxious, raging interior that often contemplates self-harm is typically a non-starter.

But we cannot begin to break down the stigma around these conditions unless people speak out about their experiences.

I am fortunate that I have the courage, a platform, and a supportive boss that I’m able to speak openly and candidly about these topics, and I hope that this piece will help crack the barrier to greater understanding about mental health in the workplace.

Lauren Holtmeier, Chief Reporter at Arabian Business.