Tworaits (Traits 2, the sequel to Traits)

The fact that AuDHD is a thing, that two (seemingly) opposite things can exist in the same person seems to me to support:

• my line of thinking in Traits about (the arbitray nature of) Categories and Layers
• how paradoxes are usually conceptual only (in reality, opposites exist together all the time).

Some thoughts…

• Fighting and resisting the two opposite pulls / poles, trying to satisfy both or land in the middle is exhausting. And being exhausted makes my skin thinner. And my energy levels low; see potato.
• I often feel like I need some noise and/or people around to help me concentrate. But my sweet spoot of noise/quiet seems to be small, so I often get distracted or overstimulated by it.
• My analytical side makes me quiet aware of my unskilful, problematic, behaviours, usually to an unhealthy point.
• I have a tendency to binary thinking, or to swing between opposites. (This is partly why I’m so obsessed with spectrums and nuance. I know, I can see, that binaries are not how the world is, how it works, despite my tendencies.)
  • I tend to hyperfocus, but also hyper-attention
  • I easily deep dive into a special interest and find it calming and soothing, but I also have a tendency get bored of them quite quickly
  • I have a similar story with routine. I work best with “a wide path”: guidelines, but not rules. Clear, concise, tight guidelines, but with room to move.
    • Related, something like: it’s essential that I do the planning, but I might not follow the plan.
  • Something I’ve been noticing at work especially: I have quite high attention to detail, I’m good at spotting things, especially little differences. But I am also prone to mistakes, often in bits that seem less important (and therefore less interesting) to me.
  • I am really analytical and calculating. But I also made big sideways, unexpected, improvised connections and leaps that people often find… peculiar.
  • I can be really quite stubborn and stick to my guns, but I can also give up easily. This tends to result in my coming back and beating myself up for giving up. I am aware of the contradiction.

Some steps towards something…

• This push/pull between the poles is a kind of energy, tension, itself.
• What if, instead of resisting or judging the push/pull, I treated it more like being on a swing in a playground? Kick your legs and follow the direction you’re going, then change and go the other way.
• What if I let go of should be, who I could be, and just rest in who I am?

Bit of a short list

• Emotional regulation issues: Struggles with managing and expressing emotions appropriately. Sensory sensitivities: Over- or under-sensitivity to sensory stimuli, such as loud noises, textures, or bright lights.
• Social challenges: Trouble understanding social cues, forming relationships, and maintaining social interactions.
• Compensation for Autism: extensive planning, develop strict routines, or avoid certain sensory triggers. Compensation for ADHD: use of external aids like alarms, reminders, and strict schedules.
  • compensating for both … leading to quicker burnout and a lower threshold for stress.
• Autism: sensory processing issues, overstimulation. ADHD: distraction, harder to filter out irrelevant stimuli.
• Self-Esteem: highly aware of their difficulties, which can negatively impact self-esteem. … can lead to feelings of inadequacy and low self-worth.
• Energy Management: recognizing the importance of conserving mental energy is crucial. This means setting boundaries, prioritizing tasks, and creating a balance between activity and rest. Developing self-compassion is also essential.
• (Why can’t it be both?!)
  • Hyperfocus, but also hyper-attention
  • Finds special interests soothing, but has a need to alternate between interests
  • Routines offer comfort and guidance, but with a need to change tasks at any point
  • Attention to detail, yet also prone to mistakes
  • Analytical, precise & lateral thinker, associative thoughts, idea generator
• contradictions
  • You find engaging in a special interest to be soothing (autistic trait), but you also need to jump between multiple interests to keep you engaged (ADHD trait)
  • You are meticulous with your plans (autistic trait), but sometimes you overwhelm yourself by making an impulsive decision (ADHD trait)
  • When you infodump, you have a habit of speaking “too fast” (ADHD trait), but when someone asks you an unrelated question, your responses may be delayed, or you may be unable to speak (autistic trait)

What Is AuDHD?

A common comorbidity or a separate diagnosis?

• Research suggests that there may be brain dynamics unique to AuDHD.
• As research has progressed, the picture appears more muddied. (!)
• Today the two are often diagnosed together. Research indicates that as many as 50-70% of autistics may also meet the criteria for ADHD (Hours et al., 2022).

AUdHD: Navigating Life with Autism and ADHD

• Individuals with AUdHD often face more hurdles in compensating for their neurodivergent traits because both conditions influence executive functioning, emotional regulation, social skills, and sensory processing in distinct yet interconnected ways.
• Some of these shared traits include:
  • Executive dysfunction: Difficulty with planning, organizing, and completing tasks on time.
  • Emotional regulation issues: Struggles with managing and expressing emotions appropriately.
  • Sensory sensitivities: Over- or under-sensitivity to sensory stimuli, such as loud noises, textures, or bright lights.
  • Social challenges: Trouble understanding social cues, forming relationships, and maintaining social interactions.
• while ADHD is often characterized by impulsivity and hyperactivity, autism is associated with a strong need for routine and predictability. The co-occurrence of these traits in AUdHD individuals can create an internal tug-of-war, leading to more intense internal conflicts and challenges.

Compensatory Strategies and Cognitive Load

• Individuals with AUdHD often need to develop more compensatory strategies to manage their daily lives. Compensating for both autism and ADHD can be exhausting because both conditions create different sets of challenges that must be navigated simultaneously.
• Compensation for Autism: To cope with the social and sensory demands of daily life, autistic people may engage in extensive planning, develop strict routines, or avoid certain sensory triggers. This requires significant cognitive energy to maintain, even if these strategies appear to make life more manageable.
• Compensation for ADHD: ADHD often impacts focus, time management, and emotional regulation, requiring the use of external aids like alarms, reminders, and strict schedules. Staying on task and remaining organized takes extra effort, which can be draining in itself.
• For individuals with AUdHD, compensating for both at the same time increases the cognitive load and reduces available mental energy. For example, they might need to stay hyper-aware of social rules due to autism while also fighting constant distractions caused by ADHD. As a result, daily tasks can take much more effort, leading to quicker burnout and a lower threshold for stress.

Reduced Energy and Burnout

• Executive Dysfunction is Amplified: Both autism and ADHD affect executive functioning, but in different ways. Autistic individuals may struggle with flexibility and changes in routine, while ADHD causes difficulties with focus, organization, and prioritization. Combined, these impairments create a constant challenge in managing daily life, leaving less mental energy for other activities.
• Sensory Overload and Distraction: Sensory processing issues are common in autism, where overstimulation can lead to shutdowns or meltdowns. ADHD adds a layer of distraction to this, making it harder to filter out irrelevant stimuli. This constant battle between sensory overload (autism) and a lack of focus (ADHD) can leave individuals feeling mentally drained.
• Emotional Regulation: ADHD often causes emotional impulsivity, making it harder to control responses to situations. Autistic individuals, on the other hand, may have difficulty processing and understanding emotions. Together, these traits lead to emotional exhaustion, as individuals with AUdHD may experience heightened reactions to daily stressors.
• Compensation Fatigue: Over time, the need to constantly manage both conditions can lead to burnout, a state of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion. This is particularly common in AUdHD individuals because they are often forced to work harder to keep up with societal expectations, leaving them with little energy for self-care or relaxation.

Quality of Life and Daily Challenges

• Self-Esteem: AuDHD individuals are often highly aware of their difficulties, which can negatively impact their self-esteem. Constantly comparing themselves to neurotypical peers, or even to autistic or ADHD peers who may only have one condition, can lead to feelings of inadequacy and low self-worth.
• Emotional Overload and Burnout: The emotional toll of managing both conditions can be significant. Burnout is common in individuals with AUdHD, as the constant need to balance both ADHD and autism-related challenges leads to physical and emotional exhaustion.

The Importance of Tailored Support

• Energy Management: Recognizing the importance of conserving mental energy is crucial. This means setting boundaries, prioritizing tasks, and creating a balance between activity and rest. Developing self-compassion is also essential, as individuals with AUdHD may need more time to complete tasks than others.
• Executive Functioning Aids: External support systems such as reminders, calendars, visual schedules, and alarms can assist with time management and task organization, helping to alleviate some of the cognitive burden.
• Emotional Regulation Strategies: Mindfulness, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), or dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) can provide tools for managing impulsivity and emotional dysregulation, which are common in ADHD. Tailoring these therapies for both autism and ADHD is important to address the dual impact.

An introduction to AuDHD

How do autism, ADHD, & AuDHD compare?

• Hyperfocus, but also hyper-attention
• Finds special interests soothing, but has a need to alternate between interests
• Routines offer comfort and guidance, but with a need to change tasks at any point
• Attention to detail, yet also prone to mistakes
• Analytical, precise & lateral thinker, associative thoughts, idea generator

(Non-applicable and singular rows removed)

Contradictions in autism + ADHD

Here are some of the contradictions you may experience as an AuDHD:

• You find engaging in a special interest to be soothing (autistic trait), but you also need to jump between multiple interests to keep you engaged (ADHD trait)
• You are meticulous with your plans (autistic trait), but sometimes you overwhelm yourself by making an impulsive decision (ADHD trait)
• When you infodump, you have a habit of speaking “too fast” (ADHD trait), but when someone asks you an unrelated question, your responses may be delayed, or you may be unable to speak (autistic trait)

Added 2025-01-16, last updated 2025-01-18.