ADHD and Autism share early social difficulties and is nonspecific. One thing that differentiates the two is different profiles of impairment in executive function.
Autism has deficits in verbal working memory, while ADHD has deficits in motor inhibition.
The base rates of ADHD are also much higher than that of autism, so factor that into your calculations.
Autism has deficits in verbal working memory, while ADHD has deficits in motor inhibition.
Heh. Motor inhibition is the one ADHD symptom I’ve never had any issues with. I do have working memory issues but my understanding was that that was part of ADHD as well. ADHD meds didn’t do much for me, though. I use caffeine.
The main thing that makes me think Aspergers or Autism don’t fit is that while I often get anxious before entering a social situation (such that I don’t do so as much as I should) once I’m there I generally enjoy myself and have plenty of social success (meeting people, holding court, getting people to laugh etc.) assuming the crowd is intelligent enough that I have something to talk about. The obsession with a single subject thing definitely doesn’t fit me but that seems to be common here anyway. I also don’t have any trouble being overly literal or getting jokes late. The weirdest question on the test for me was whether I would rather go to a museum or a theatre, both sound great to me!
Maybe it is just because I don’t fit well but to me these diagnoses really don’t resemble natural kinds.
Motor inhibition is the one ADHD symptom I’ve never had any issues with
My diagnosis is ADHD-PI, I would guess you are similar. I just have really bad akrasia—people seem to assume that it is not nearly as bad as it actually is because I give off the impression that I get things done because it seems like I have accomplished things, but public school taught me how to master the art of getting things done while putting forth no effort whatsoever.
To me ADHD is just this convenient label that allows me to be prescribed rather serious medication, if I want it. It would be more meaningful to talk about how my akrasia is worse than the median person’s akrasia than to say that I have ADHD and the median person doesn’t.
Do you think there is fundamentally something different between what Less Wrong calls ADHD and akrasia? I wonder if I could defend the hypothesis that ADHD=akrasia in post form.
Often does not give close attention to details or makes careless mistakes in schoolwork, work, or other activities.
Often has trouble keeping attention on tasks or play activities.
Often does not seem to listen when spoken to directly.
Often does not follow instructions and fails to finish schoolwork, chores, or duties in the workplace (not due to oppositional behavior or failure to understand instructions).
Often has trouble organizing activities.
Often avoids, dislikes, or doesn’t want to do things that take a lot of mental effort for a long period (such as schoolwork or homework).
Often loses things needed for tasks and activities (e.g. toys, school assignments, pencils, books, or tools).
Is often easily distracted.
Is often forgetful in daily activities.
Do these all fit under akrasia? I have pretty much all of these problems to various degrees.
The criteria are mostly there to let you diagnose the condition in children, and one thing that children in general are consistently expected to do is attend and perform tasks for school. However, characteristics like forgetfulness, short attention span, losing objects easily, or inability to follow long trains of thought as in a conversation can certainly exist in adults and cause various general-purpose functionality weaknesses.
ADHD and Autism share early social difficulties and is nonspecific. One thing that differentiates the two is different profiles of impairment in executive function.
Autism has deficits in verbal working memory, while ADHD has deficits in motor inhibition.
The base rates of ADHD are also much higher than that of autism, so factor that into your calculations.
Heh. Motor inhibition is the one ADHD symptom I’ve never had any issues with. I do have working memory issues but my understanding was that that was part of ADHD as well. ADHD meds didn’t do much for me, though. I use caffeine.
The main thing that makes me think Aspergers or Autism don’t fit is that while I often get anxious before entering a social situation (such that I don’t do so as much as I should) once I’m there I generally enjoy myself and have plenty of social success (meeting people, holding court, getting people to laugh etc.) assuming the crowd is intelligent enough that I have something to talk about. The obsession with a single subject thing definitely doesn’t fit me but that seems to be common here anyway. I also don’t have any trouble being overly literal or getting jokes late. The weirdest question on the test for me was whether I would rather go to a museum or a theatre, both sound great to me!
Maybe it is just because I don’t fit well but to me these diagnoses really don’t resemble natural kinds.
My diagnosis is ADHD-PI, I would guess you are similar. I just have really bad akrasia—people seem to assume that it is not nearly as bad as it actually is because I give off the impression that I get things done because it seems like I have accomplished things, but public school taught me how to master the art of getting things done while putting forth no effort whatsoever.
To me ADHD is just this convenient label that allows me to be prescribed rather serious medication, if I want it. It would be more meaningful to talk about how my akrasia is worse than the median person’s akrasia than to say that I have ADHD and the median person doesn’t.
Do you think there is fundamentally something different between what Less Wrong calls ADHD and akrasia? I wonder if I could defend the hypothesis that ADHD=akrasia in post form.
Well here is the DSM-IV’s criteria:
Do these all fit under akrasia? I have pretty much all of these problems to various degrees.
Those criteria sound like not being compliant to the desires of people in authority.
The criteria are mostly there to let you diagnose the condition in children, and one thing that children in general are consistently expected to do is attend and perform tasks for school. However, characteristics like forgetfulness, short attention span, losing objects easily, or inability to follow long trains of thought as in a conversation can certainly exist in adults and cause various general-purpose functionality weaknesses.