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Comment by throwasquirrel | Hacker News Reader

> If you believe you have ADHD, and your therapist believes you have ADHD, BUT your life isn't negatively impacted by it, why start treatment now?

If your life isn't negatively impacted by it then you might be hyperactive or have trouble paying attention, but you don't have ADHD, by definition. It only becomes a disorder when it's causing a significant ongoing negative impact on your life.

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I don't think you are correct. Just because the name has disorder in it does not mean you have to have a significant negative impact on your life.

It is a mental disorder. My brain functions differently than a normal functioning brain without ADHD. I have built my life in a way so that does not negatively impact my life significantly.

That's the crux of it right there. I've had a wonderful, wonderful life, a rewarding career, a 30 year marriage and raised intelligent, well-grounded kids. Not just by _my_ definition, but by those around me whom I respect.

On the one hand, it doesn't sound like any possible ADHD tendencies you might have are causing you much grief. Also remember that ADHD is hugely situational - I've had a pretty great career and up until a year or two ago I wouldn't have ever suspected I fit the bill. It was only during a perfect storm of overlapping stressors that I really felt like I was struggling.

On the other hand, just because you can survive doesn't mean life has to be this hard. And looking back I now realise that much of my life I was doing just that. I was surviving, when I could have been doing so much better.

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