My ADHD and me: Identifying with and distancing from ADHD

In this article, I illustrate how individuals diagnosed with ADHD relate to, engage with, and interpret both ADHD and explanations of the diagnosis. Based on my research on adults’ experiences of ADHD, I describe how my informants 1) identify with ADHD as a specific way of being human as well as 2) distance themselves from ADHD by separating themselves from and disclaiming behavior connected to ADHD. Notions of ADHD as a brain disorder, I argue, form the basis of both ways of relating to ADHD. Lastly, I discuss how neurobiological explanations of ADHD produce specific choices about and hopes for treatment. The analysis is based on interviews with 13 adults diagnosed with ADHD in adulthood; on observations made at conferences and seminars about ADHD for professionals, patients and relatives; and lastly on observations from online blogs and forums about ADHD as part of a two-year anthropological fieldwork conducted in Denmark.