Typing Those With Neuro Differences: ADHD

Here is my second installment in the series “Typing Those With Neuro Differences.” If you read the first (Typing Those With Neuro Differences: ASD), feel free to skip down to the ADHD section since the introduction and precursor information is going to be exactly the same. Anyways, let’s get right into it.

Introduction

There are a lot of factors that go into typing people. People are oftentimes not very straightforward. Some can be, sure, but sometimes there are extraneous factors that make things a bit more complicated. It can be easy to observe a person on the surface level, and just assign them their personality type. The problem with doing that is that certain things can skew how a type manifests… but it’s not actually changing their type.

Anxiety is a simple example of this. Every type can have anxiety, extraverts included. When an extravert has anxiety, they won’t look like a classic extravert. When you talk to them, they’ll describe themselves as an introvert. Ryan and I have dealt with many extraverts who have sounded classically introverted. However, when we paid attention to their cognitive function priorities, we learned that the person was, in fact, leading with an extraverted function.

Obviously, a neuro difference is an extraneous factor, but it’s decidedly more complex. I’m going to share a couple of general principles with you when approaching a situation like this, and then speak more specifically on the subject at hand: ADHD.

DISCLAIMER:

Before I begin, I’m going to start off by saying that I’m no medical professional. I’ve done some basic research, and am going to describe how Ryan and I would approach typing someone with a neuro difference. If I get any technical details wrong or say something incorrectly, just let me know and I’ll correct it.

Two Principles

1. The first thing you must always keep in mind is to look for good cognitive function evidence. What I mean by that is evidence that is not anecdotal. You need to find out someone’s core reasoning and line it up with the corresponding cognitive function…which means you have to talk to the person or get them talking. Ignore stereotypes. Ryan wrote an article recently on the 4 Tiers of Typing Evidence, and that article explains what I mean. Someone with something like ADHD probably won’t be a typical example of their type, so anecdotal evidence may be of little to no value to you.
2. You must take into account the symptoms of the neuro difference in question and devalue those traits when using them as evidence. Of course, in order to do this, you first have to understand the symptoms. Once you’ve learned what the symptoms are, you have to set them aside in your mind, because they cannot be the primary evidence that you use to support your type conclusion. In fact, you may not be able to use some of that evidence at all. I’ll delve more into this in the individual sections coming up.

ADHD

ADHD is fairly common and well-known; but just in case, ADHD is attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. I jumped onto Mayo Clinic to look at a list of symptoms for ADHD. Here’s what it said:

• Impulsiveness
• Disorganization and problems prioritizing
• Poor time management skills
• Problems focusing on a task
• Trouble multitasking
• Excessive activity or restlessness
• Poor planning
• Low frustration tolerance
• Frequent mood swings
• Problems following through and completing tasks
• Hot temper
• Trouble coping with stress

As a personality enthusiast, if someone were to look at that list separate from knowing what it was for, they would of course assume that they were looking at a perceiver… right? Perceivers tend to do things last minute, and thus exhibit poor time management skills. They tend to be more disorganized, less inclined to planning, impulsive, easily distracted, prone to not finishing what they started, and etc. I could go on, but you get the point. The majority of this list of symptoms looks like a stereotypical perceiver.

I’ve had people suggest to me that I have ADHD. I even kind of believed it at one point too. At the time, one of the sites I was reading was pretty relatable. In fact, back when I thought I might be an INTP, I saw someone draw an association between INTPs and ADHD, which became another potential data point in typing myself an INTP. Obviously, looking back now, I’m rolling my eyes at my former self. ADHD is not inherent in any particular type, not even the Ne users, who have gotten the brunt of this stereotype. When it comes right down to it, perceivers, like me, can buckle down and focus when they really want to, when they are sincerely interested in whatever task they are approaching. It irks me at my core when someone uses their perceiver personality as an excuse to be lazy or unmotivated. Someone with ADHD will legitimately struggle to concentrate even when they want to. I have often wondered if there are a lot of people out there who are misdiagnosed as ADHD simply because their personality predisposes them to be a certain way, and they personally lack self-discipline. But anyways, I’m starting to drift off point. So, how do you type someone with ADHD if they’re automatically going to look like a perceiver? Well, first off…

1. Someone with ADHD will not always look like a perceiver

I knew an INTJ who stated at one point that he had ADD, which based on my research now is the inattentive form of ADHD. Those of us listening to him were actually pretty surprised, because based on observing him, you wouldn’t have guessed it. From the outside, he was an obvious IXTJ. No question about it. Knowing that just reinforces in my mind that ADHD is not making all the types look the same; it’s just adding some variance. Of course, by relaying this to you, I’m not implying that an IXTJ with ADHD will never appear to display classic ADHD symptoms. I’m just explaining one of my relevant experiences. I’m pretty sure he was on medication for his ADHD as well.

2. Many of the ADHD symptoms are anecdotal perceiver traits

In other words, to be a perceiver, some of those things listed are not required. They’re just tendencies. The tendencies on that list alone does not provide good cognitive function evidence. Meaning, the sum of a legitimate high Ne user isn’t being a scattered mess… That’s anecdotal at best. (Remember: 4 Tiers of Typing Evidence) Being a perceiver is not about distractability or failure to follow tasks through to completion. A perceiver without ADHD can focus when they need to or want to. They can be disciplined. When typing someone with ADHD, you’re going to have to take into account the classic symptoms of ADHD, devalue them as evidence, and look for the evidence that defines a cognitive function at its core. Remember, anecdotal evidence is like icing on the cake – it’s not actually necessary, but it helps boost your case.

3. Real Ne is about seeing possibilities and connections in the external world

Ne users see possibilities and connections in the external world. Everything that looks random to an outsider is concretely connected and traceable in that Ne user’s mind. Ne users can struggle to follow tasks through to completion, but it’s due to getting bored of project once it’s passed the idea phase (because they get their main enjoyment from the concepts and ideas, from the theoretical). However, an ENFP who has developed their tertiary Te will desire to put their ideas into reality. Many Ne users I know rotate between projects, working little by little on each one, as a way to maintain interest and productivity. When it comes to Ne use, you’re looking for someone who is fascinated by ideas regardless of practicality, someone who likes to speculate for the sake of it. You’re looking for someone who’s good at coming up with a multitude of ideas, whose ideas tend to possess a degree of specificity due to Si adding in details.

4. Real Se is focused on physical experiences and bringing ideas into the concrete world.

That’s why they’re known as artisans – they tend to want to physically create (which of course can come in many form. For instance, a website or a script, while digital, counts as a potential Se creation. The point is that their fulfillment comes from the action phase – the part where the idea becomes reality.) An Se user can be restless, constantly jumping from activity to activity, but that is not always the case. Like I said above about the Ne users, Se users can be driven and disciplined. People frequently type driven STPs as NTJs. I’ve seen it several times. When it comes to Se users, you’re more looking for a desire for physical experiences, a focus on the now, a disinterest in impractical or non-actionable ideas, being comfortable with figuring things out as they happen versus desiring to plan ahead, and etc.

5. The key is to note what the person values

Each cognitive functions values specific things. An ISTJ with attention span issues is still going to value Si-Te-Fi-Ne things. They don’t magically turn into a perceiver, although perhaps they may appear more scattered or distractible than the average ISTJ. An ISXJ with ADHD will still be storing away past outcomes and focused on details. Is it possible that they’ll struggle more to be disciplined, orderly, and etc? Sure. But you’ll likely still see a strong to desire to be so. You’ll still see them wanting to rely on their concrete experiences, rather than the impulse of the moment.

So, the question is going to be, what does the person value? Ideas? Insight? Structure? Planning? Experiences? Wisdom? Logic? Empathy? Relationships? Spontaneity? Action?

In conclusion…

As Ryan and I have harped on many times, the 16 types are based on the cognitive functions which define one’s cognition. When typing someone, you always need to focus on their reasoning, or the “why” rather than the “what”, and this is especially true for someone with a neuro difference, since they are more likely to display traits not typical for their personality type.

I hope you found this article useful. Feel free to share any relevant experiences you may have in the comments below!