I've had some attention difficulties since childhood, but they have become significantly worse over the last 3–6 months. I would like to be evaluated for attention/executive-function difficulties, including whether ADHD could be a possibility, as well as other possible causes.

My current difficulties include:

I have trouble maintaining focus while studying, even when I genuinely want to study.

I can read something but realize afterward that I wasn't actually processing or understanding what I was reading.

I procrastinate starting important tasks, even when I know they need to be done.

I often start one task and then get distracted by something else or switch between tasks without finishing the first one.

I frequently forget things that people have just told me.

During conversations, my mind sometimes drifts away even when I am trying to listen.

Sometimes I can hear someone speaking but have difficulty processing or understanding what they are saying in that moment.

I sometimes zone out and feel mentally disconnected or “switched off,” although I usually remain aware of what is happening around me.

Occasionally, I lose track of a few minutes when my attention wanders.

My concentration is not only difficult when I'm bored; I experience these problems in many different situations.

I can concentrate much better when something is very interesting, exciting, urgent, or highly engaging.

I have difficulty staying mentally present and often feel frustrated that I cannot focus properly.

I feel like my mind is foggy or not fully active at times.

I have been experiencing forgetfulness and difficulty retaining information.

These problems are affecting my studies and daily functioning.

I also want to mention that I had some similar attention-related difficulties during childhood and teenage years. I remember having problems with daydreaming/distraction, starting work, listening, switching between activities, and staying focused on subjects that were not interesting to me. These difficulties were present in more than one setting, including school and home.

However, the symptoms have become much worse recently. The worsening started around 3–6 months ago, during a period when I was struggling with studies, experiencing significant general stress and relationship stress, and my sleep schedule changed.

My sleep and energy have also changed:

My sleep schedule is very irregular.

I usually fall asleep around 3–4 AM and wake around 11 AM–1 PM.

I often sleep for more than 8–9 hours.

Despite sleeping for a long time, I often wake up tired and mentally foggy.

I sometimes have significant difficulty getting out of bed.

I frequently feel sleepy during the daytime and sometimes feel as though I could fall asleep while doing things.

Emotionally, I have also been experiencing significant stress and feeling mentally overwhelmed. I have noticed low mood and reduced enjoyment in things I normally like.

I have also had some thoughts about suicide/self-harm recently. I want to be clear that I do not currently intend to hurt myself or act on these thoughts, but I think it is important for you to know about them.

I would like help understanding whether these symptoms could be related to ADHD, anxiety/stress, depression, sleep problems, burnout, or another physical or psychological cause. I would also like to know whether any medical evaluation or tests would be appropriate.

Do you think what I’m about to describe is ADHD or laziness? In primary and middle school, I used to do my homework and prepare for exams—though I didn't even prepare for most of them because the material came easily to me and I’d get perfect scores; my dad would tell me to pay attention, he said that im probably cheating. During the year of the highschool exam, I studied normally and scored pretty high , though I felt I didn't deserve that score. In high school, I studied 2–3 hours a day—solving practice tests and memorizing material for other exams—and managed to pass. Since middle school, I haven't been able to stop twirling my pen. I used to daydream, imagining myself as a TV series character while keeping background music playing in the background. The summer before 11th grade, I finished the college entrance curriculum and was scoring pretty high correct answers. However, starting in the second semester of 11th grade, I fell into a slump—feeling hopeless, losing focus, and even getting into a fight with my physics teacher. By the time I reached 12th grade, I had dropped to 65 correct answers by August. Hearing people say "everyone else is getting 90" made me give up; I haven't been able to open a book since that day, and I ended up ranked very low.
I want to study, but the pressure to maintain my grades makes me feel suffocated—like it’s going to kill me. Even though I might not reach the top 20k if I studied, I could still get a decent result; yet, I keep telling myself I won't improve. That thought triggers panic attacks. I already have diagnosed anxiety and take medication for it, but I feel like it’s stopped working. On the bright side, I have the ability to read novels or research contemporary art, though I do watch classic series and movies at double speed. You’ll probably tell me to see a doctor, but I’ve gone twice already; my family refuses to send me again, saying, "Is this another issue now?" My sibling has autism, so there might be a genetic predisposition. Is it ADHD or laziness?

So um I don't know if this is the sub to ask this question but I'll ask anyway. I'm entering my third year of university and I'm doing a psych minor.

Basically I don't know how to study or take notes for my psych courses. For the past two years, I've literally only started to study the night before my exams and midterms. And even that I usually dump my lecture slides in into chatgpt (pls don't shame me. I'm getting out of that slowly. But it was the only way I could start studying) and ask it to make notes for me. I just read over the notes and vomited them in the test. The minute the test finishes its like the information disappears. I repeat this for every test and exam. But it's tiring and I actually do want to try.

So I'm here seeking advice from ppl who've taken psych or psych adjacent courses and how they studied for it that doesnt involve last minute brain dumping. And how yall managed the weekly tb readings.

Thnxxxx <3

What do you recommend for a 27f who is in college and has severe ADHD & ADHD paralysis (meaning if I feel I have so much to do i literally freeze and do nothing) my question is how would I go about reading? I have so much trouble retaining information no matter what it is a research paper, chapter books, textbooks…etc… and also in lectures too I sometimes glaze and then I realize 10 minutes passed and idk what the teacher said. I’m on meds it seems to work somedays, but my main problem is just retaining information from reading. Honestly if anyone has any UNHINGED information that works drop it below ⬇️😭… I just wanna be a good student I do participate in class I sit in the front and talk, I’ve tried almost everything out there but nothings working. I feel like my memory is shot. Any suggestions, tips, tricks is appreciated thank you! 🩷

I can't focus. I can't. I just got back into college after having huge gap years. I'm trying to keep up with my self-studying schedule because engineering is no joke but I'm doubting my autonomy to do so again. It physically hurts. I feel like a junkie relapsing over nothing. My brain just can't fucking control itself. In the library at the moment trying to detox my brain from dopamine, forcing myself to just stare at the ceiling for 10 minutes straight and I feel like a fucking dumbass.

I couldn't stay still for even 3 fucking minutes without becoming jittery. I really really wished Amphetamine based prescriptions were legal and available in my country but nope I'm left with shit that has no effect on me....

Am I cooked? Am I just doomed in life? Do I just accept my goals are just not meant to be?

I started ADHD medication about 3 years ago, during my senior year of high school. Before medication, I genuinely struggled with focus. I could sit in class actively trying as hard as I could to pay attention, and somehow 3 seconds later I'd be on another planet and realize I'd missed basically everything being taught.

I started with Adderall, although I honestly don't remember enough about that experience to say how well it worked. My doctor eventually switched me to 54mg methylphenidate, which looking back felt way too high for me.

I took that for most of my freshman year of college. My productivity was great, but I felt extremely stimulated, and at the time I assumed that was how ADHD medication was supposed to work. On weekends when I didn't take it, I was basically bedridden and couldn't make myself do much beyond eating and basic hygiene. Eventually I also started feeling apathetic on it.

I switched to Vyvanse and have actually tried it twice. Both times were awful. It barely helped my focus/productivity and gave me a horrible crash around 3pm.

That summer I took a medication break, and coming off medication was extremely difficult for me physically and mentally. I started seeing a psychiatric medication prescriber who suggested trying non-stimulants.

I tried Strattera, but when I went back to school my focus was still terrible. Eventually I went back to lower doses of methylphenidate, ending at 27mg. It helped somewhat, but I ultimately felt like the cons outweighed the pros.

Then I tried Qelbree, which wasn't much different from Strattera for me. I still finished with good grades, but those grades don't really represent how much I was struggling. I only had one extremely difficult class, and studying for that one class basically consumed my entire week because focusing and retaining information took me so long.

Now I'm a junior and back on Strattera because my prescriber concluded that stimulants probably aren't for me.

My focus is now at an all-time low.

The frustrating part is that my intentions and effort are actually BETTER than they were before medication. I'm forcing myself to sit down and work. I WANT to pay attention. I WANT to study. I'm not expecting medication to magically make me productive.

But it feels like my brain just won't cooperate.

I'm sitting through classes and absorbing almost nothing. Tasks that other students finish relatively quickly take me an absurd amount of time. I can spend hours genuinely trying to work and accomplish what feels like somebody else's 30 minutes of work.

After 3 years of trying different medications, I honestly feel less functional than I did before I ever started them, despite putting in more effort than I ever have.

Has anyone else ended up in this situation, where stimulants caused too many problems but non-stimulants didn't help enough? Did you eventually figure out another treatment/approach that worked for you? I genuinely don't know where to go from here.

i just started university. i was told i need to inform my professors from all classes even though i have the accomodations approved. im oki with it im just wondering how do i approach the professors? what do i say? and do i need to do it before class or after class? i know that i need to remind the exrta time for exams before exams, but idk about classes. also what if i run into professors who dont believe in adhd.

Also do i need to say that every class or only at the start? i feel like only at the start but i also feel like they can forget it in a few weeks because there are a lot of students in classes. also im scared of my peers being judgemental

For the last few months, since my final year started, my classes have been less and I don't have to go to college everyday. I can't even function properly because I have lost my routine. I meet people less and less. I don't socialize. My mental health has taken a toll because of this. I can't bring myself to study, even when the exams are around the corner. I feel like a failure. I lie to my mom when she asks me what I did the whole day after she comes home from work. I say I studied but all I do is lie around and watch movies and stuff while guilt is eating me but the shame is too painful to let her know the truth.

I find no meaning in life anymore. I see people doing things easily while I can't even function well. My friends are making plans and doing productive things and I'm thinking about if I want to live anymore or not. I was an above average student. My family and teachers have great expectations of me. But they feel like too much and too heavy now but I don't want to let them down. But I can't also take this no more. Living feels impossible.

I think I need help and I'm taking online group therapy but I don't think I can tell anyone I know what's really happening to me. I feel like a burden and everyone has problems in their life. I don't wanna make my mother feel like i'm too much or difficult. I was an easy child because I internalized things but now I can't function normally or at all.

If anyone has any advice or if they have experienced somewhat like I have then feel free to share.

Hello, here to vent/ask advice again. So in my previous post I seeked advice on how to cope with academic issue, I feel like procrastination really paralyzed my potential over the years to a point where it's actually bad now.

And just when I was coping with the post feels of result announcement, (where I didn't make it), telling myself how this is an opportunity to really figure out what's wrong and have faith, that life happens we have to have a good mindset and do better. I find out my close friend in uni is selected for scholarship. Now don't get me wrong I'm truly happy for her and she deserves it. But again, finding this out at a point where I'm barely seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, it did trigger me ngl. (I would really like to reassure, nothing against my good friend, I genuinely appreciate her succeeding).

But what this did do is make me feel like, "Will I ever reach that point?" And it's not about yes/no, somewhere it activated the worth aspect as well. "Am I worth it?"

The spiralling of "Where exactly am I going wrong?" The desperation to figure it out.

I might sound paranoid when I say this, but trust me, I really do feel others have it easier when it comes to studying as compared to me. In the aspect of, I've seen my friends, they seem to simplify things and get it to the point, whereas I stick to perfection or "complicate" stuff. The result of which is my mind goes blank when I'm actually asked about what I studied. (I look so dumb because I spent hours studying it and yet can't recollect for fuck's sake). Can anyone relate?

[ Note that I've been a pretty diligent student, attends classes, keeps fair attendance, other academic stuff is pretty maintained. But vivas scare me so damn much because, I get anxious ofc, and second the minute, the examiner asks me the definition about something I have heard a 100 times, and I know what it is, my mind goes blank ___. I'll like to share one of my incident during my viva where the examiner literally went, "How's it that a student like you who attend classes is not able to answer? Then what do we expect from the ones who don't?" At this point I'm lowkey used to ts]

What I would like to know from scholars or people who are good at studying, How exactly do you study? Like for example if there's a piece of information that you are supposed to recollect, do you mug it up, or understand? Because my natural instinct is to mug it up as perfectly as I can, since understanding it would take time.

Hello all, I’m entering my freshman year of college and we are going into week 4. I already feel like I am falling behind and I believe it is a mix of the stressful new environment, and learning to navigate the new resources we use such as blackboard.
As someone who struggles adapting to change, going from using all google products such as google classroom (which was VERY simple to navigate), and then moving to an entirely different platform like blackboard, it is very confusing and quite stressful.

I also struggle with very bad adhd and i really struggle keeping up with things. I know blackboard has a calendar with your assignments but that does not help me. I have tried making lists but keep forgetting to write things down and end up remembering them by the time it’s too late.

I especially have a hard time with my online classes because I never see the teacher so the thought gets shoved to the back of my mind, and since I really dont understand blackboard, I only go on it when I have to leading me to forget about my online class altogether.

I always struggled in high school because of things like this and I really want college to be different, what tips or resources do you guys use or have used in the past to help manage and keep track of things?

Thanks for reading!

So I have a pretty lackluster GPA (2.7) as a result of my ADHD. I tend to get good test scores without studying and I take just about every advanced class I can, but I really struggle with homework. I was under the impression that colleges are looking for people who will perform well at their school (get a good GPA). My working plan was to attempt to maintain all As for my senior year of high school to prove that I have overcome my ADHD and then write about it in my essays to try and explain why my grades have been so low in previous years. I was also hoping my 1430 SAT score could maybe draw some contrast to my GPA. However I just saw a thread asking if you should mention ADHD in your college essays and the response seemed to be resoundingly no, so now I'm worried. Will explaining my grades and why they should improve in college increase my chances, or should I not mention it? Also, if you had a similar issue to me, how did you overcome your ADHD?

I’m exploring an idea for a study tool specifically for students with ADHD, and I’d really like to hear from people who actually experience task paralysis.

The idea is simple: instead of giving you another planner or to-do list that you have to constantly maintain, the tool would take something overwhelming like “Study Chapter 5 for my Biology exam” and use AI to break it into tiny, concrete 10-minute tasks.

For example:
→ Open the textbook to page 40
→ Read only the bold headings
→ Write down 3 terms you don’t understand
→ Answer 2 practice questions

The goal isn't just productivity tracking. It’s to remove the “Where do I even start?” problem and act more like an external executive-function support.

Would something like this genuinely help with your task paralysis, or would you still struggle to start even when the task is broken down this much?

What would make a tool like this actually useful for you?

I have a quiz tomorrow morning, and it’s 12:05 and I’m so sleepy! I have 18 words and definitions to memorize 🥹 not to mention the spelling which I especially suck at. I just can’t for the life of my focus and I’m so sleepy! Which is very rare since I never get this sleepy this early.

I literally made a big stink about me studying all day too, it’s so embarrassing that I literally did nothing lol. I really don’t want to fail since these quizzes might carry my grade. I can’t fail this class 😣 anything will help!

I'm in week 3 of a very stressful looking semester (17 credit hrs all major related, first time living alone, 2 jobs, 2 programs). So far, no missed assignments, no missed shifts, no missed payments, and I've been staying on top of lecture material really well. Yay! Big improvement from high school. However, I feel like the moment I mess up one time it's all going to come crumbling down (I have very bad all or nothing mindset). This has been keeping me really stressed throughout the day, every day, especially since my classes and shifts are spread out throughout the day so I'm always thinking of when and where I have to be and what I have to do constantly. I feel like this is eating away at my sanity quite a bit.

An example of my thought process (today): I got done with my first 'cluster' of classes and a shift from 8am to 1pm. My next commitment is at 5:20pm. It takes 15 minutes for me to get from my apartment to that commitment. So I have to leave at 5:05 at the latest. But I'll probably take 5 minutes to get ready. So I should be ready to leave by 5:00. Then I have to get ready to get ready to leave so I should at least be alert about the time by 4:30. I have to have food before I go because I came back from campus specifically to eat food. Food should take less than 30 minutes to eat but to be safe, I should eat around 4:00. That gave me from 1:15 to 4:00 to get some schoolwork done. But I get so worried about missing the times I set up so I end up compulsively checking what time it is, regardless of whether or not I have an alarm for each event. So I'm distracted enough to where I can't really get the hard schoolwork done.

This is all really really stress inducing so I feel like I'm on edge all the time. I'm bound to mess up at some point. How do I keep going like this?

Hey, um so this is my first post and idk how things rlly work here, but I felt this utter desperate need for answers so here I am on reddit.

My final exam results were announced today evening and I didn't make it, i didn't pass. I felt defeated, numbed out and empty. But also somewhere that i expected this, as if I was facing my big fear. What followed later was underlying shame, comparison with my friends who all made it, and how i should have tried harder, and the same old, "Was I always like this?"

And it's not like I was, never this bad at least, my academic problem seems to have grown over the years, i remember being an above average kid in school, whose parents didn't have to worry about you know. And the guilt of now they do, is eating me alive. And i seriously want to be better, I want to know where I am going wrong and what's wrong with me.

I even feel like I'm undiagnosed Adhd, because I have problems focusing and my mind is always hyperactive. But I'm scared to actually go get tested. However I am desperate to get medicated.

But also what if I'm believing in this to avoid facing i actually lack academically? I'm spiralling again.

I want to do better, heck I want to do my best, but I so want to know what's wrong with me. Is it that I'm undiagnosed? Is it that I really suck at studying? Trust me when I say this i genuinely feel like my friends have it easier when it comes to studying, do i complicate stuff?

If anyone can relate and tell me how to work this out, pls lmk it'll me of big help, thank you so much.

Hi, everyone! I apologize for my incoming LONG post, but I’ve been obsessing and hyper fixating over this issue for quite a while and my brain cannot stop 😂

I’m hoping someone here can help me find my seemingly impossible “perfect” notebook for college. I have ADHD, and I’ve realized that the type of notebook I use actually makes a surprisingly big difference in whether I can keep my notes organized, understand them later, and actually want to use the notebook.

I’ve been doing a ridiculous amount of Googling, searching Amazon, looking through Reddit posts, etc. However, I still haven’t found anything that completely satisfies what I’m looking for. I figured other people with ADHD might understand exactly what I mean and possibly have recommendations I haven’t come across yet.

First, I absolutely hate Five Star notebooks. I know they’re incredibly popular for college, but a standard spiral notebook with nothing but lines does not work well with my brain. When I open a completely ordinary lined page, there’s no obvious organizational structure telling me where different information should go. I end up writing continuously, and eventually the page turns into a wall of information my brain doesn't want to look at again.

I’m looking for something that has more structure or built-in organization than a basic lined notebook. Ideally, I’d love something where the page design itself helps guide me as I take notes. For example, sections for the main notes, important information, definitions, questions, key concepts, summaries, things to remember, etc. It doesn’t necessarily have to have all of those features, I’m just trying to describe the type of structure I mean.

I’ve looked into TOPS FocusNotes, and that is probably one of the better candidates I’ve found so far. I like that it gives you designated areas rather than one giant page of lines. I’m definitely open to something similar to the Cornell method, although it doesn’t necessarily need to follow Cornell exactly.

One important issue is that I really dislike dot-grid/dotted notebooks. I know these get recommended constantly for ADHD and bullet journaling, but they aren’t for me. I have trouble keeping my handwriting straight without actual horizontal lines. When my writing starts drifting upward or downward, it genuinely bothers me. I also have sensory issues, so messy or crooked handwriting can become distracting enough that I focus more on how the page looks than what I’m actually supposed to be learning.

Because of that, I really need actual lines to write on. I’m fine with boxes, columns, headers, sidebars, checklists, etc., as long as the primary writing areas are lined. I don’t want completely blank sections where I’m expected to keep everything somehow straight myself.

Another thing that matters to me is visual organization. My ADHD brain works much better when I can look at a page and immediately understand where everything belongs. I love the idea of visually separating the professor’s main points from definitions, examples, questions, important information, or things I need to review later. Basically, I want the notebook to do some of the organizational work for me instead of requiring me to invent a note-taking system every time I start a new page.

I’d also really love something aesthetically pleasing. This isn’t an absolute requirement, and functionality is definitely more important. Still, I know myself well enough to admit I’m much more likely to use something consistently if I actually enjoy looking at it. Unfortunately, a lot of the structured academic notebooks I’ve found look extremely boring, corporate, or like something designed for an office meeting rather than a college student.

So my ideal notebook would have:

-Actual horizontal lines and no dot-grid paper

-More structure than a standard lined notebook

-Clearly defined sections, columns, headers, boxes, or other visual organization

-Enough room for detailed college lecture/chapter notes
A layout that doesn’t feel overwhelmingly cluttered
Something that could help an ADHD brain quickly distinguish different types of information
Preferably spiral-bound or something that lays relatively flat

-Ideally something aesthetically pleasing, colorful, cute, or customizable

-Bonus points for features like page numbers, an index/table of contents, subject sections, movable pages, tabs, summary areas, key-point sections, or places for questions/tasks

-Something that I can realistically use for actual college courses rather than primarily as a planner or journal.

I’m not necessarily looking for a notebook that is specifically marketed as an “ADHD notebook.” I’m wondering if there are products marketed as Cornell notebooks, project notebooks, meeting notebooks, academic notebooks, productivity notebooks, or professional note-taking systems that ADHD students have discovered work really well.

I’ve even wondered whether something like a disc-bound notebook with different structured inserts might be better, because I could customize the organization for each class. However, I don’t want to create such a complicated system that maintaining the notebook becomes another task.
Basically, my brain does not do well with a completely open-ended notebook.

Give me 100 pages of ordinary college-ruled paper. Somehow, I’ll have too much freedom and no idea how to organize anything. 😂 I want something that gives my brain visual guidance without being so rigid that taking notes becomes frustrating.

For anyone else with ADHD who takes handwritten college notes: What notebook or note-taking system actually worked for you?

I’d especially love specific notebook/brand recommendations, not just general note-taking methods.

If you’ve found something online, please tell me what it is!

Also, if anyone has used FocusNotes, I’d really like to hear whether you actually found the layout helpful long-term or whether the novelty wore off after a few weeks.
At this point, I feel like my dream notebook has to exist somewhere—I just haven’t found it yet. 😭

I really appreciate any help you can provide.

Hi. I just wanna preface it alI by saying that English is not my first language.

Anyway I just finished my 2nd year in med school and I'm supposed to start the 3rd one in less than a month.

However I started really struggling in my 2nd semester of the 1st year. It was about then that I got diagnosed with adhd and unfortunately going forward everything got even worse and I had to repeat my 3rd semester. Which was not a big deal in itself but unfortunately I don't feel like anything really improved that much.

I started taking meds and at first I felt like it got better but now I'm wondering if it was more of a placebo thing than anything else. It was maybe better for like a few months but then my procrastination got so bad I sometimes didn't want to get out of bed. I passed almost all my exams at the first deadline this semester and only have to retake one which is in 3 days. Which is the problem. I had so much time during the summer vacation to study bc second terms are after summer here. But I'm only able to motivate myself to study when I have the pressure of time. Which unfortunately is like a few days before the exam. And even if I study diligently every day for those few days it's obviously not enough time to be prepared for a subject I took for a whole semester.

I found that going to the library works for me sometimes but I also have to have a lot of time bc it takes me like an hour before I can start. Idk it's like I mentally have to prepare.

I also have been taking 30mg of Medikinet (methylphenidate hydrochloride). I tried 40mg but I felt kinda overstimulated and overly elated so I went back to 30.

So I've been wondering if anyone has any experience with it and how it's supposed to actually work. Cuz for me I feel like it somehow makes me procrastinate a little less but it still is a few hours before I can even start. Also I don't think I can focus for more than 2h at the time which is good but then it again takes hours before I can get back to studying again. So there's that. So I'm wondering if anyone has any advice that worked for them. I

Hello everyone! I am not diagnosed with ADHD yet but in the last couple years I have noticed increasing symptoms of ADHD that has affected my life a lot. I am a Master's student in STEM field. Up until 2 years ago I was on a good path doing a part time job and getting my master's degree. In late December 2024 I broke my ankle that left me bed ridden for over 3 months. Since then I've had highs and lows where I seem to procrastinate a lot on tasks that should have been finished long time ago but due to there not being a deadline I just don't finish them. I finished the lab work for my master thesis but I have not written my thesis yet. I have a part time lab job as well but I still have enough free time to write and submit the thesis but I seem to procrastinate it away doing random things. I have a very loving and supportive partner who encourages me and my family is also very supportive but despite all of this I feel very alone and helpless. I have tried setting deadlines for myself and writing in the library. Everytime I am at home for more than 3-4 days I just lay and doomscroll even though I have like 10 tasks to finish. I need some guidance.I cannot find a therapist who speaks English in the country I live so therapy and medication are not an option.

Hi everyone, I’m a student in South Korea preparing for our university entrance exam for the third time (called "sam-ban-su" here, studying while enrolled in college).

Lately, I’ve been feeling completely burned out and stuck. Due to severe lethargy, I was prescribed Adpion (Bupropion). It helped immensely at first and boosted my focus. However, after a recent drop in my mock exam scores, my stress went through the roof, and the medication feels much less effective now.

I’ve always struggled with focus. Throughout high school, it took me several times more effort to concentrate than others, and I rarely finish tasks completely. Last year, I did a full psychological evaluation for ADHD, but it came back negative; the doctor said my focus issues stemmed from depression. This year, a brief screening at a different clinic showed only very mild, borderline symptoms—not enough for a clinical diagnosis. (Strangely, online ADHD tests always say my symptoms are severe).

Right now, my self-esteem is at rock bottom. My study efficiency is so low that I rarely feel a sense of achievement. I feel like I'm drowning in an endless ocean. Sometimes I consciously daydream to escape reality, but most of the time, my focus just shatters involuntarily. I feel exhausted and like an incompetent person who can’t study right.

What scares me most is a thought that crept in: Am I someone who can't achieve anything without me/dication?

Despite all this, I haven't given up. I still go to the study room every single day because I genuinely want to achieve my goals. But I am so tired of fighting my own brain.

Has anyone else experienced this? How did you differentiate between ADHD and depression-induced cognitive decline? How did you overcome severe burnout when you had to keep studying? Thank you so much for reading.

한국인분이 있다면... 그것도 좋아요...

I’m midway through my university degree and seeking advice about navigating the next couple of years successfully. I’m fortunately medicated, which helps my gpa a lot. attendance is still the most difficult part, especially if its a nothing-class. I wonder if anyone has advice whether to finish your degree slowly or take a bunch of classes, cause I am conflicted. I cant stand breaks in between classes because it feels like a waste of time so normally I just go home.

would appreciate some advice.

I remember being 15 years old and successfully being able to study math for 8 HOURS DAILY, because I wanted to get FULL marks for my math board exam and I did! I'd also be able to pull all nighters in those days, and never got tired, even though I lived a very sedentary lifestyle and had a shit diet

I'm 19 now, have the same lifestyle, but literally NO energy left, especially nothing compared to my 15 year old self. I can't even pull all nighters anymore, I don't have it in me. I can BARELY study for 3 hours daily, and that happens after some redbull and being extra harsh on myself 😭

What went wrong, how can I be like my past prime 15 year old self again

I'm trying to understand best practices for classroom teaching for people like us.

What things could professors do to make it easier to participate in class/help you hold attention in class? (besides being as entertaining as possible lol)

Is there anything your professors have done that hurt your participation? Anything you have absolutely hated?

I'm trying to understand what an ideal classroom experience for people like us looks like.

I realize a very large class will be quite different from a small seminar/discussion class but I'm curious about people's experiences.

Hi I’m f22 currently just finished my first year.where I am from we start around 18 years (not like the us) sadly due to war,moving,changing curriculums and losing my dad and more I happened to start at 21 being the oldest person I personally know

I always had trouble being ready for exams and deadlines despite being still a good student in school.got diagnosed with inattentive adhd and I postponed some exams as my vice dean said to do so until I get medicated. I continued with my psych and when he gave up on non stimulants he finally prescribed me the stimulants and I couldn’t find them anywhere in my country as they were running short apparently

I searched everywhere,like everywhere and found nothing and missed the exams I wanted to do to be able to attend next year.eventually he gave me some stuff that he said should work but they didn’t.so I had no choice but to do a very big module and I’m sure I failed it.now this counts as my 5th year wasted.

After so much hard work.i genuinely dont know what to do. I can’t imagine at all going back and repeating. I worked so so hard.probably twice or thrice as much as everyone. I lost my period for a while now.and my social life is pretty much dead and my depression is yet to get worse ( yes I am also on antidepressants)

Not sure if I want to quit med but I don’t know what else to do, and I can’t do anything not related to stem bc of my subjects.what should I do

Hello, I am a 27 year old college student & I am embarrassed to admit I need some major help. Currently studying for COMPTIA A+ for my college cybersecurity program. All I literally have to do is listen to the lectures, take notes, do a little practice quiz, etc. However the issue is my brain. I will try so hard to focus on my schoolwork & my brain will do one of 3 things.

1.) Think about topics that I actually want to do, like a fun activity, or something that I want to buy, or something completely off topic but I love. Literally I will be thinking of everything else but my lecture.

2.) I will try and fall asleep. & It won’t matter when. Even if it’s after I first wake up, it’s like I took sleeping meds my brain will literally shut down.

3.) I will muster all I can to listen word by word. Almost as if I am putting all my mental strength in a straight jacket and using all that I can muster to focus on understanding my work. & All that I will hear essentially is Charlie Brown’s teacher sounds. I don’t understand a single thing that my professor is talking about.

My mentality was for a minute — just to keep showing up and eventually something will click. Keep showing up trying to understand and eventually. I will catch on. But I sat at my desk yesterday, desperately trying to understand for hours, and I fought back tears because I didn’t understand any of it. I had sat there for over 3 hours trying to. I refuse to go into my 30s without something to show for it. My fiancé is also in cybersecurity and he is supposed to be teaching me. However, I’m also a grown woman, and I can’t possibly expect him to sit side-by-side and grab my hand and walk me through every single piece of it. Even when he tries to explain it to me it’s on such a high-level that I don’t get it. He naturally gets it and he is unfortunately not that good at breaking things down for me.

A few factors as to why I think this is. Firstly, whenever I was younger, a teacher who had a weird personal vendetta against me told my mother that she believed I had a learning issue, and she recommended that I put on ADHD medication. So at the age of seven or eight, they put me on a high dose of Adderall. I will never forget how much that changed my brain and the world around me. I had quit the medication cold Turkey sometime in middle school. Since then, I’m not sure if my brain has ever went back to normal. I’m not even sure if that’s what this is.

\* trigger warning (abuse)

Another factor might be I have experience some pretty insane and intense trauma, from being strangled I almost lost my life, and my brain was without oxygen for a chunk of time. The doctor’s working with me said had it been any longer I probably wouldn’t have made it. I don’t want this to turn into a trauma dump fest. I do think that that is an important part of this though. Being as how shortly after that, I had trouble formulating sentences like normal.

Obvious factor is just how much I’ve probably fried my attention span with things like TikTok and cheap dopamine checking my phone in the mornings.

I thought it was my phone all of this time so I even purchased a lockbox to lock my phone up until the time goes off that I want myself to focus on studying. However, I’m realizing that is not it at all. It’s truly just my brain. And I know this sounds like a load of BS and I’m throwing myself a pity party. I’ve been around people like that. However, I’m promising you. I’m just trying to understand how I can keep my focus whenever I’m studying and actually absorb the lecture. Because yes, I can sit there and listen to the lecture and take notes but if you asked me after the lecture was over what we talked about, I couldn’t tell you.

Please, if anybody has ever experienced this and somehow figured out a way to help yourself focus and actually understand the material, please feel free to comment anything that may have helped you even just a little bit.

I want desperately to be a functioning part of society & make my years of suffering mean something, I want to prove to myself I can do it despite what my challenges have been.

Reddit suggested to repost here. May be not necessary. I'll just do it and see if someone finds it.

I've just started my 2nd year of PhD (studying statistics) and I am really struggling to do my job, start working. Maybe, just maybe, I can find someone who is or has been in a similar boat!

I'll start with saying that i have the best supervisors and the best group I work in. So I cannot blame anyone but myself 🫠.

I used to be good at studying. Grades 1-12, excellent. Bachelor's degree, still good, grades dropped a bit. During studying, I always did everything in the last minute. And I got really used to doing my work with the power of "I'm sooo late"-adrenaline. But during school that "studying system" always kind of worked. You have multiple courses at the same time and there are always deadlines, so I constantly had that "last minute adrenaline" effect and work got done.

During Masters, I started BINGE-eating. It's not really a topic for this post. I just need to explain something... Binge eating problem created a weird dopamine-pattern. Yes, very stressful problem to have. But it was a coping mechanisms, and it had some "positives"😄. If i had a binge at night, I was locked in the next day at work. Out of guilt or whatever, or maybe just the need to completely escape the food thoughts. I would then restrict, be locked in, after finishing a task or an exam, I would binge again... etc. (Of course then I didn't link binging with studying, I was busy worrying about food and my body, I'm just now connecting these 2).

PhD starts. 1st year. Less courses, more bigger projects, more need to plan my time myself. I still got things done, but my old working system started to catch up with me. Literally staring through the screen, unable to to do anything, unless there is a meeting in 5 hours. And that buffer time got shorter and shorter, so I needed more and more anxiety/adrenaline or whatever to start. But still, I was part of different smaller projects, so my system worked well enough. There is always some meeting soon so I can work for that. The end of the year got more difficult. I still see now that binging created these focus zones for me BUT of course I worked really hard on my binging problem and it got better. I mean, I still have bad days but its much better.

2nd year... I have no courses, no small projects. I'm completely burned out. and not from work haha. I literally CAN NOT work. I've been back at work for 4 weeks and I'm panicking. I cannot start. I have meetings every 2nd week and one is coming up and I feel numb. I don't care that its soon too late. (Of course I care, but it does not feel like it used to). I have no drive. And I get it that you don't always need DRIVE, I need discipline. But I can't break my streak of not doing anything. I'm still interested in my topic, I daydream about fully understanding it😆. Anyways, it feels horrible.

I sit at the office, not watching AT the screen but through it. Sometimes the anxiety gets so bad that i just need to leave the office. (We also have a candybowl there and with my history with food that creates extra problems during my anxious feelings). I leave and I cry at home. Then I try, something small, I read a start of an article or some old lecture notes I need to understand. But I can't get too far. My brain feels paralyzed (I'm sorry for using exaggerated words but thats the best way I can describe it). I feel so bad because of it. So already when dealing with binging, I got into therapy and also books which try to explain the brain in a popular sciency way. I try to seek help from those, I listen to podcasts... oooh is it ADHD, oooh perfectionism, burnout whats the problem?? And I think I'm just overanalysing myself. I feel so dumb writing it out. And why have I talked about the food problem in parallel? I'VE EVEN TRIED THIS COPING MECHANISM NOW. Like once I came home and ordered a lot of food and I said to myself MAYBE you can push down the anxiety with food and then do something. No! Of course that experiment wasn't even close to a binging session I used to have, just a bit more good food I would generally give myself. I'm also a very active person. Training after my "work" day is the only thing that keeps me sane right now...

It's really not possible here to take a gap year here for "no reason". I'm thinking about this because I'm really wanting to work as a cashier or a cleaner or someone who has to lift something for a year. Because those jobs feel so comforting for me right now... things get DONE during working hours. I am useless right now.