My wife seems to often have what seem to be double standards. She will become angry with me for doing exactly the same thing that she does, and then I get angry because I feel like I I have been treated "unfairly." A recent example is this: My wife often does not respond to me when she is playing a game or reading something on her iPhone. I have told her how I feel when she does that, to no avail. So I have learned not to take it personally. The other night I was in bed playing a game on MY iPhone and she cuddled up to me. I continued playing the game. And at the time I was aware that I was doing (for the first time) exactly what she does to me all the time. She got furious! The next day, I pointed out to her that she got furious at me for doing something she frequently does with me. And I told her that it didn't feel "fair" to me that she would get mad at me for something she frequesntly does to ME, expecting me NOT to get mad when SHE does it. She would not agree that it was the same situation. Then, a couple of days later, I cuddled up to her in bed while she was reading something on her iPhone. I knew she would ignore me, and that was fine. I wasn't expecting anything from her. Still, after several minutes I said - I'd just like to point out to you that you are doing exactly the same thing that I did the other night when you got so angry with me." She immediately stopped reading and said "I was just stopping!" And again, she refused to acknowledge that they were the same situation at all. How do I get her to see that if she does something and expects ME not to get mad, that there is something unfair in HER getting mad at ME for the exact same thing?
same chronic behavior here
Submitted by Clarity on
When my ADD mans is watching tv, he "shushes" anyone who interrupts but when I'm watching tv, I'm expected to give him my undivided attention, it even seems he wants me to gaze adoringly into his eyes and forget anything else existed... While I'm watching tv, it's okay to talk loudly on the phone while pacing back and forth and back and forth directly in my view, any "shushing" on my part provokes angry scowls and waving me off with the hand... It's crazy but, he just doesn't get it. No one talks about the "golden rule" anymore but it certainly applies here!
Arwen recently posted about a situation with her husband acquiring a growing pile of items at his place at the table. He would move them into her place when he needed room. She responded with her own collection of items... She called it mirroring and I'm thinking she wouldn't mind if I left a link http://www.adhdmarriage.com/content/husband-has-rules-drive-me-nuts#comm.... I didn't want to add my experience there as my attempts at this strategy have been sadly, ineffective. As calm or matter of fact as I could be, my ADD man would angrily spout "Do you think you're going to teach me something?" and call me a vengeful, unforgiving or hateful person.
This is an area he seems unable to grasp even though he is on medication. It's disrespectful. Another example is when he is driving. He is one to get into the proper lane before turning at the last second cutting people off in two other lanes if needed. If a driver uses a turn signal and moves in front of him to merge, he thinks he just cut him off and becomes angry though just for a moment before quickly moving on to the next moment... Of course he won't let me drive because then he has to be the backseat driver I can't be... One day, he ran out after me in the driveway and tried to talk me out of driving my car for a two hour drive insisting that my milage was getting too high but, the next week he happily took my car on a four hour trip.
What's odd is that if we're at a family function, he is able to acknowledge a similar, let's call it an offense, in a jokingly or otherwise pleasing manner... I'm exhausted with these mind bending observations that only seem to frustrate and confuse me. If I point out what happened he gets angry and acts as if he was certainly in the right and I should defend him at any cost. If he perceives that I made a mistake he makes fun of me or berates me, he won't stand up for me. I find myself making these comparisons whenever they present themselves and get quite discouraged. It really feels as if I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't. As he will only take medication, I've hoped that this is something that he would learn in therapy or with coaching, if I could get him to go. Apparently, I'm not teaching him anything.
Oh, I Feel Your Pain
Submitted by Hoping4More on
Hi Clarity,
I definitely, like you, find myself making these comparisons frequently. She does something, and I shouldn't take it personally. I do it, and she gets angry. Or vice versa - I do something and she takes offense. She does it and I shouldn't feel offended. And when I try to point that out to her, she really seems to think there's something different bewteen what she has done and what I have done, though to me, they seem to be exactly the same thing. Grrrrrr. It really gets to me.
Like you, I wish my spouse would get some coaching. She has been on meds now for over a year, and there's definitely been some improvement. But she is really resisting doing anything else. She says it is because we can't afford it. To which I respond - "honey - this is your health. This is our relationship. This is your happiness. We can figure out how to afford it." And nothing. I have sent her links to some coaching websites. Still nothing.
I don't really want to push it, because she keeps telling me how overwhelmed she feels trying to "work on all these things." When she does, I try to figure out a way to gently suggest (yet again) coaching. And still . . . nothing.
I'm not sure how long I can go on waiting for HER to take some action.
We'll be OK for a week or two, and then BAM, somthing happens. Like this morning. We have an iPod dock that serves as our "alarm clock." I'm usually the first one up, but I always lay in bed about 15 minutes before getting out of bed. So this morning, my wife starts reading her email on her iPhone - something she frequently does before getting out of bed. No problem. But then, she clicks on this video link and I hear this obnoxious voice expressing an opinion on I don't know what. I ask her to turn it off. She turns it down. I say "Honey, please . . ." She turns it down a bit more. I say, in a pissy way, "Fine. I'll just get out of bed then." I'm already angry at this point. And then she says, also in a pissy way "It wasn't as loud as the music."
Grrrr - I was SO angry. I left the room saying "I can't believe I asked you to do something and you flat out just said NO."
When I came back upstairs, I was still angry, and said (actually, yelled) "Not only did you flat out refuse to do what I asked, making me feel like you could care less how I felt, you told me that it SHOULDN'T have bothered me because it wasn't as loud as the music. And that made me feel totally disrepected." I went on to say something like "You keep telling me that marriage is a partnership, but how is it a partnership when you don't even honor my requests?"
This is NOT an uncommon experience for me. And it definitely is a big hot botton for me. As I was getting out of the shower, she came in and said "I'm sorry!" not in an empathetic, caring way but in an "Oh crap, you are really angry and I don't want you to be angry at me and I already SAID I'm sorry, what else do you want from me" sort of way. But I was so angry I didn't want to hear it. So I said "Then you better write me an email telling me that and telling me why you are sorry." I also said - "I am really, really angry right now. I can't believe you just totally disregarded me."
As I think back - it's clear I am angry at more than this one time of her doing this sort of thing. I feel disregarded and disrepected so often. And I try not to take it personally, as suggested on this website. But damn it! I'm getting tired of it.
And now - let me apologize for just dumping and complaining. I am just so frustrated right now.
Update
Submitted by Hoping4More on
So I just got this email from my wife, just sent at 4:57:
_______________
I just saw I never sent this.
I heard you.
I understand how upset you were that I had said no to your request. I
am sorry. I didn't realize I was actually denying you. I can't
recall exactly what you asked, I thought it was something like "can
you turn that off" or "do you have to do that now" or something. It
was a short clip. I was playing it low.
I didn't think.
I have no excuse or explanation. Just an apology for my actions.
I can only offer this apology and assure you that I love you and did
not mean to deny you. I do care about you. I'm not really a shit, I
just was this morning.
My head is spinning and I can't really think clearly, so I'm afraid
this is the best I can do. I'm really afraid it isn't enough.
I love you
_____________
I have two reactions:
1. Damn, she really MUST have ADHD if she "forgot" to press send on her email, resulting in me not hearing from her all day, when she KNEW how pissed I was.
2. Damn, I guess this is my life. She does something that really upsets me, feels very bad about it, apologizes, but has no excuse and no plan or thought on how it won't happen again, I accept her apology (because after all, what choice do I have?), then a day or a two days or a week or two weeks from now she will do the same thing, and we will go through this all over again. I see the writing on the wall and I have to say I don't like what it says. Nor do I know what to do to change it.
This reminds me
Submitted by Clarity on
of when I was pregnant with our first child. We never lived together before we got married. I found out he likes to keep the radio alarm clock on as loud as possible to wake up. Of course, I wake up in a panic, my heart beating wildly. I needed a kinder, more gentle morning wake up call. He would even trick me and adjust the volume at night to where I liked it only to crank it up anyway and I'd wake up terrified. The only time he accommodated me was when I was pregnant. The sound came down and he still woke up. After the baby came, it was his way again. He always hits the snooze button so the sound goes off again when he's in the shower and then I have to jump and turn it off for good. He really doesn't think any thing of scaring me awake in the morning even though I don't need to get up for another hour or two. It's so inconsiderate! I finally moved upstairs.
one step at a time
Submitted by arwen on
Hoping, I know it's really hard for you in your situation to hear this, but these things take time. Your wife is making progress by apologizing. This is a big step forward - the biggest, the most critical, because if she doesn't hear you and understand that you are upset, none of the rest of the steps even have a chance to develop. Because of this, my advice to you would be to not press for more at this point -- let your wife have time to get develop the habit of hearing/seeing/understanding and apologizing, and cementing that behavior. When she's able to manage this with regularity and not excessive effort, I would then address the next step of prevention. (I see this as a three-step process: acknowledgement/apology, prevention, and restitution.)
You and your wife sound like you are making substantive progress, and it's natural to want it to move along faster. Hang in there!!!
"It matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be." Albus Dumbledore
couldn't manage without the counselor
Submitted by arwen on
Clarity, my husband listened a LOT less to me early on in his ADHD than he does now. The counselor has been a big factor in that change. My husband used to think that I was the only one who had a problem with him (so, therefore, the problem wasn't with him, it was with me). He couldn't see that the only reason that I *seemed* to be the only one who had a problem with him was because I was the only one who would *say* anything! Our kids were too scared to say anything a lot of the time, and other people were too polite. Occasionally a boss at the office would say something, but if they put it kindly, he ignored it, and if they didn't, well, they were just an evil boss. [Really, the ability of the ADHD brain to rationalize is sometimes completely staggering!]
But the counselor was an *authority* who was also kindly and sympathetic to my ADHD spouse, but firm, who mostly agreed with my observations and analyses, and my definitions of problems, but also gave my husband suggestions that my spouse found really helpful. The counselor's credibility and expertise and agreement with me validated what I was saying to my husband. Over time, my husband realized that I wasn't being so unreasonable as he'd thought. Only then did he become open to any "teaching" on my part.
"It matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be." Albus Dumbledore
Ability to rationalize anything...
Submitted by YYZ on
Hey... I resemble that remark :-) I have always joked, but knew it was true, that I could rationalize anything that I was interested in. I was diagnosed a year ago at the age of 43 and this has been a really strange year. Roller coaster is the best way to put it. The meds certainly help, but having to re-learn how to process all things is a bit overwhelming. Please tell me this gets better over time. I have been to the brink of divorce and it still seems 1 forward 1 back at times. I hope that I have not damaged my marriage beyond repair, and I know my actions, ADHD or not, are still mine, but I am disappointed that my wife still does not fully think of ADHD as a disability, so much as an excuse. Not to mention I have found the perfect pill to "Fix Me" and she still has to deal with all the damages unassisted. I know during my discovery phase that I probably beat her down with constant hyper-focus on the ADHD stuff, just before I started my Adderall regiment, but I wish she believed the condition was real. I know it takes time and I accept my part, but I am not going to take all the blame either. I asked for forgiveness and she accepted, but having the issue thrown back in my face, when it is conveinent is not fair either.
Hmmm
Submitted by Aspen on
Ok, I agree that her apology sounds heartfelt and that because you love her your option is pretty well accept it. Yes, you will generally have things happen again after conversing about it--First and foremost because it is the nature of ADD, but secondly it is the nature of ALL humans who are kind of set in their behaviors. This ocean liner doesn't stop on a dime and certainly doesn't turn around on one, and it's true of us all.
One thing about her email made me feel really good.......well two things actually. 1. That she wrote one in the first place and 2. That she said something to the effect of "I am not really a shit. I just was one this morning." This sounds to me like she is not minimizing her behavior like she did by making statements like "the music was louder" (which btw how infuriating are those statements! Just send my temper into the stratosphere)
One thing about her email might be worth a further conversation (or not depending on how YOU feel about it) You may decide to call it over and let it go & that is an incredible gift that I am not telling you to withhold, but I am saying there is a statement that bothered me. It was where she said something like "I did not mean to deny you" Cause first of all WTH?? Of course she meant to deny you...you said turn that off and she said no. She denied you about as clearly as she could have. I think she is doing something that my ADD husband sometimes does which is misspeaking now to reflect how she meant to feel in the moment. This morning when she denied your request, she wasn't thinking it was a denial because she wasn't putting it that clearly or concisely in her head. If she was thinking "I am denying someone I love somethng so simple that it could cause an offense that I find this clip more important than her", she wouldn't have done it. She probably means she didn't see it in those terms at the time that she gave you that response. And I get that...I do that too and probably so do you, but she was so defensive that while you were expressing your feelings (granted not really productively but still expressing them :) ) that she even at that time couldn't really see her part in causing the problem. She just got snotty right back.
I see that as a red flag. I see that as something she needs some help to work on because she isn't seeing it in the first place, and then she can't see it in the second place unless it is put to her in a very specific way because she has a defensive chip the size of Rhode Island on her shoulder. That isn't the best way to be a romantic partner.
I might even use a point like this followed by mentioning her concern that she is afraid that what she is able to do thus far will not be enough. I believe her when she says she is doing all she can at the moment because she doesn't know a better way to do it, or a way to feel more supported as she is doing it, or a way to get other ideas from someone else while she does it. THIS is what I would use to convince her to try coaching.....there is an online coaching club that we used when my husband's insurance wasn't covering his coaching that was literally $77 a month and there were 4 times a week when a coach could be called for one hour. Only a portion of that time was spent talking but my husband felt he got as much out of the listening portion! Seriously if money is an issue, I highly recommend this type of service....she could get help literally 16+ times a month if needed for the one fee. Probably she'd find one or two of the times were all that worked for her (that is what my hubby did) but it was very productive and honestly because he talked with her more than his insurance provided coach (which is between once every 2 and 3 weeks) I sometimes wonder if he got more done with the online club!
Anyway I am happy that you got your apology especially since she sounds like she "got" the problem. Hope the rest of the evening goes well for you!
I Didn't Mean to . . .
Submitted by Hoping4More on
Thanks, Awren, for helping me see why I have such a hard time accepting statements like "I didn't mean to deny you." I have decided that I am going to tell her in no uncertain terms that I think if she does not get coaching this relatinship is likely to end up being damaged beyond repari. That I know it's not her fault that she has ADHD, but that it IS her fault if she doesn't do somethng about it.
Do you know the link for the on-line coaching site?
She is just getting home. More later . . .
The coaching site we used
Submitted by Aspen on
was through addclasses dot com and they also offer a lot of free podcasts. The coaching club is a link somewhere that you have to log into. I think it was a 14 day free trial and during that time he called several coaches and tried out the *fit*. Once the trial expired, they charge you immediately for the coming month.
It was really worth the money for us and we would still be using it except that his insurance started paying for his coach again. He started out really excited about it and after about 2-3 months, he was starting to get lazy about calling (especially as things came up on his regular call nights), but we'd had a serious discussion about the sacrifices we were making to give him this opportunity and that he needed to be taking it more seriously & he was stepping up when we got word on insurance. I'm sure there is a little bit of it being a *new and shiny* thing that was helping, but it was WONDERFUL to have a neutral 3rd party to help him stay in line and esp to lasso him when he was going off the rails--was a relief to not to be me! :) Seriously, I do think the main benefit of coaching is the relief that it gives the non ADD mate to stop being the ADD wrestler. Someone else gets to be the bad guy and you just get the results!!
It might not be a bad thing to present at least TRYING it as a gift she could give to you to take some of the stress out of your relationship because someone else can help her keep her ADD under control and then you two can just focus on working together on your relationship. It really is a gift in a marriage in my opinion!!
Yeah, Well
Submitted by Hoping4More on
She thinks she's already addressing her ADHD because she got a diagnosis, is taking meds, has read about ADHD, and sees her psychiatrist about once a month, or less. We are communicating via email tonight, because neither of us trusts ourselves to be able to communicate face to face without getting too emotional and angry. And here is her response to my telling her I think she really needs to address her ADHD if she wants to help the relationship.
______________
I don't think everything is about ADHD. Do you know how it feels to have a wife who thinks you need to change in order for the relationship to work? Who thinks everything bad in the relationship is caused by a characteristic you have and despite how hard you work, she is convinced you aren't taking it seriously and working at all?
Gee I wonder why my self esteem is in the can. I guess I'm unlovable. Did you marry me because you thought I'd be able to change who I am?
________________
Sigh . . . .
dumb question
Submitted by arwen on
Why not try negotiating an agreement with your wife to ban games on the iPod after 9PM? (or whenever might make sense for you) Sometimes it's easier to remove the context of the problem than it is to resolve the conflict.
Don't get me wrong -- double standards are a common problem for ADHDers and often a difficult one to deal with. And it does appear your wife has a problem in this area. Your effort to mirror her behavior, and also to connect it to her subsequent behavior sounds like it was reasonably handled and appropriate, in my opinion. If this were happening in my relationship, I'd be wanting to know just how my spouse thought the situations were not the same, and why my spouse thought those differences relate to her and your expectations of the other's behavior. But I would not have that discussion at the time such an event was happening -- I'd save it for a formal meeting, to avoid as much as possible the emotional reactions of the event itself.
I should also say that I think this is an area where I think a counselor can be a big help, and if you can get your wife to see a counselor with you, I'd suggest dealing with this topic at a fairly early point.
Good luck!
"It matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be." Albus Dumbledore
Here is where I am not understanding the problem....
Submitted by Aspen on
her self esteem is in the can because you want to change her. She calls ADD her *characteristic*, but my contention is that ADD is what covers up her natural characteristics. ADD is what keeps the person she really is inside from coming out.
I don't understand this great *protection* of the ADD part of a person. That is the part that is blocking an wonderful person from realizing their true potential in a lot of ways.
I'd love some help from an ADD person on this subject. I have no issue with loving things about yourself that you feel are ADD *gifts*-- thinking outside the box, creativitiy, whatever--and there is definitely an argument for some of these qualities being something we can all aspire to exploring more in ourselves. But there is the same value in exploring the qualities you are not demonstrating so readily. The vast majority of positive qualities exhibited by ADD people are also exhibited by non ADD people...you are not generous because you are ADD, you are generous because you are a loving, generous person, and you are not going to lose that if you control your ADD symptoms.
The distractibility and inability to prioritize are negatives that REALLY absolutely need to be addressed and controlled before there can be real positive improvement in YOUR life and in the life of any relationships you are in. That is NOT who you are....who you are has to fight to get out around this challenge.
Why protect yourself from *changing* when the things that need changing are hurting yourself and everyone around you and is not the core of yourself anyway. It is a disorder in the core of yourself that is blocking your true self from coming out!
I understand both sides of this
Submitted by Sueann on
My husband (ADD) will admit that he doesn't like the things he does. He sort of admitted that the ADD made him do things he doesn't want to do (like do things that get him fired). He does not like that about himself. For a long time he prayed that he would not do those things but it never worked.
But he asked me to change. I was not supposed to be angry about all the things he did. I shouldn't be angry about having to work two jobs and he didn't work or do the housework. I found his demand that I take anti-depressants so I wouldn't be so angry to be ridiculous, and called it effrontery. I felt he didn't love ME, but only my ability to support him while he did not work. I felt he had a lot of nerve.
But when I tried to dial the anger down, things got better between us. The antidepressants made things worse for me (and so I stopped taking them) but I learned not to yell at him. I still feel like I gave up part of my being but it helped. He kept saying "you are not your anger" but I really felt and still do, that I am my anger and I miss that part of myself. But maybe other people like me better and I think he's happier with me.
I do agree that ADD can cover up the person's real characteristics. My husband is kind and generous because he was raised that way. But the ADD keeps him from seeing things from the other person's point of view. He also can't be generous because his lack of career success has left him with nothing to give.
ADHD Gifts
Submitted by Nettie on
"The vast majority of positive qualities exhibited by ADD people are also exhibited by non ADD people...you are not generous because you are ADD, you are generous because you are a loving, generous person, and you are not going to lose that if you control your ADD symptoms."
Wrong! I'd like to prepare a more measured response, and maybe I shall, but I'm also going to exhibit a positive ADHD trait - indestructability!
Yes, there are non-ADHD creatives, but not in the majority; I guarantee it without any statistical backup at all. Maybe I need to call a person who has the superfocus superpower to conjure those stats - she's probably got ADHD, though. And, maybe I need to find a Photoshop genie awake at 3 a.m. to visually display those stats by morning - call another addie. Maybe I need to find someone with such a passion for communicating with people that they will generously (and against their agent's advice) give a free presentation even though we called at the last minute.
Now, yes, those people's ADHD doesn't make them generous (that's an evolved survival skill/learned value), but they can execute those skills because of having the traits and years of wrangling that wild passion and creativity. It's in the drive and in the execution.
ADHD isn't a handicap, it's identified by a set of behavioral tendencies and chemical patterns (some of which non-spectrum people do share); however, that depletion of neurotransmitters/craving for adrenaline does drive us to become extraordinarily skilled and make things happen.
We also contribute to many a baristas economic well being.
Nettie, I respectfully disagree...
Submitted by Aspen on
mostly because I don't think you read what I said closely. I mentioned specifically that creativity and thinking outside the box ARE more majorly ADD traits and are also valuable for everyone (meaning ADD or non) to cultivate as much as possible.
Personally I have way better focusing abilities than my ADD husband to generate stats, most Photoshop genies I personally know are not ADD at all, and both ADD and non ADD people have a passion for communicating & will go above and beyond the call of duty to help others.
THAT WAS MY POINT. ADD has pluses and ADD has minuses. It seems like ADD people want to call every plus in the life or personality a WONDER of ADD and therefore it needs to be celebrated and not controlled. For almost every positive ADD trait you can list for me today, I can list off the top o fmy head at least 10 non ADD people who have that trait. It isn't NECESSARILY a quality of having ADD. Sometimes it is just a quality of being a good/interesting/talented person.
There is a list of common negative ADD traits that someone could list, and I would likely NOT be able to share 10 non ADD people with the same trait. Those are the traits that need to be controlled. There is no great need to *protect* the ADD parts of yourself because the really positive things will still be there when your syptoms are under control. Your symptoms are not YOU.
And this statement is certainly true...
"that depletion of neurotransmitters/craving for adrenaline does drive us to become extraordinarily skilled and make things happen."
but not so much in those who are unmedicated or not seeking counselling or doing whatever to control their symptoms which was the point of my post.
You are excellent at seeing the ADD side of things and for that I applaud you and enjoy your postings. I think you could do better when the non ADD side of things is presented to try to see that side.
Non-ADHD Side
Submitted by Nettie on
"You are excellent at seeing the ADD side of things and for that I applaud you and enjoy your postings. I think you could do better when the non ADD side of things is presented to try to see that side."
I do try to present my experiences as a spouse of someone with ADHD, but I also have it, so it influences my comments. However, the major reason there may appear to be a slant in my comments is that this forum is often brutal toward people with ADHD, so I try to speak up from the ADHD "side" with hope that I may help non-ADHDers understand better how it is to have ADHD. It isn't easy standing against the wave of negativity, and sometimes I feel discouraged and don't want to return here.
"There is a list of common negative ADD traits that someone could list, and I would likely NOT be able to share 10 non ADD people with the same trait." List those negative traits, please, and let's see. Anyway, using a list of friends is anecdotal; I'm comparing your comment with a list of creatives from a book I read and a documentary, which is still very anecdotal, but more expansive.
"Your symptoms are not YOU." Again, ADHD is not a disease, so my traits are not symptoms in a typically medical sense, and yes, these traits/chemical patterns are part of my physiology, Me. What's your "YOU" mean anyway?
You haven't convinced me I am wrong, and it's not because I didn't read your post carefully.
I don't really see that we are that far apart
Submitted by Aspen on
I do understand sticking up for the ADD side and I understand why you feel it can be brutal to read the non-side. My own ADD husband has said that he doesn't like to read here a lot because it is a bit painful for him, but even he agrees it is often painful in a good way since it helps him appreciate that things he does, that don't seem that big to him, sometimes can affect others in a very big way...in a way that he neither realized nor intended. It helps him think consequences through better.
I am not trying to convince you that you are wrong, Nettie. I am not the one that typed "Wrong!" in my post directed toward you. I don't see this as a particular right or wrong issue. My contention, and I stand by it 100%, is that there are many, many negatives of ADD. If you disagree with that, well then I don't think we'll ever agree on anything :) I don't see very many of these negatives in people who are taking medication/attending counselling regularly/participating in coaching/etc. Those who are CONTROLLING their symptoms are much more able to be their *best* selves. Those who are not controlling their symptoms are not their best selves. Quite frequently they are not people that many other people would choose to be around.
Asking a person to control symptoms of a disorder that they have is not unreasonable and it is not asking them to *change* in the sense that the partner of the OP is claiming it is asking her to change....not in my opinion nor in the opinion of my ADD husband. You perhaps agree that the partner is being asked to change herself fundamentally.
When I refer to ADD not being YOU....I am referring to the fact that most people I know with ADD are not, at their core, thoughtless, selfish, rude, inattentive, disorganized, or incapable of keeping their word. However, when trying to function with ADD without the proper help every one of these characteristics may not only be apparant but may eventually be what those who love them and are living with them are mainly seeing in their day to day behavior. Many many people with ADD say that this behavior is not THEM...it is not what they want to be doing or how they want to come across, but without help they can't seem to understand what they are doing much less stop what they are doing.
My question which I don't feel like has been addressed is why would anyone with ADD feel they are being asked to change themselves when they are being asked to control their symptoms. From what I have read from you, you are a big believer in controlling your symptoms. You take meds, you use tips and tricks to minimize the effects of your ADD, so I don't really understand why you are arguing about it. But to each his own.
Incorrect
Submitted by Nettie on
I do not take medication, nor have I received any "treatment" for ADHD, only an "official" diagnosis of traits I had already identified. When I reference my counselor in these posts, I am referring to a support system I've recently put in place to train me to be an effective support for my family member who has Asperger's; however, the techniques, such as stress management, help in many situations.
And, no, it's not brutal to read the non-ADHD side (Again, I am the spouse of an ADHDer and experience that side also!). It is the inundation of negativity and misunderstanding that is brutal.
Simple Answer
Submitted by Nettie on
Simple answer (to first post in thread!): It's not fun admitting one is wrong, and people don't like doing it. My guess is most people already know they erred, but don't voice it. That's not an ADHD thing.
And, btw, who keeps teaching people to expect life is fair? It's an aspiration of evolved people, but we aren't all yet evolved equivalently.
My husband is the same, but
Submitted by Coan on
My husband is the same, but he can be reasoned with, but always after the event. He doesn't like me doing what he does. Also, my husband has a poor memory to boot, so often will argue about stuff from a merely defensive standpoint, not an evidence-based one. Life is a rollercoaster with him! Right now it's getting tiring!