The ADHD Mind
Your brain isn't broken. It's different.
100+ peer-reviewed sources. No toxic positivity. No oversimplification. The most comprehensive, research-backed guide to how ADHD brains actually work: the neuroscience, the lived experience, and the strengths nobody told you about.
7x
Eminent creative achievers are 7x more likely to have low latent inhibition, the same cognitive trait found in ADHD.
Carson, Peterson & Higgins • Harvard
99%
of ADHD adults experience Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria. Not a personality flaw, a neurological reality.
Dr. William Dodson • ADDitude
75%
of women with ADHD are diagnosed after age 30. The diagnostic system wasn't built for them.
Gender diagnosis gap research
What's Inside
Understand Your Brain
Neuroscience Deep Dive
Dopamine, Default Mode Network, latent inhibition: the 5 mechanisms that make ADHD a different architecture, not a deficit
The Evolutionary Perspective
Hunter-farmer hypothesis, the Ariaal foraging study, why ADHD genes persisted for 10,000+ years
Creativity Types
Bisociation, Janusian thinking, Dietrich's four quadrants, and why ADHD brains are insight machines
Comorbidities
AuDHD, ADHD+anxiety, ADHD+depression, twice-exceptional giftedness. The full picture
Live With ADHD
The Emotional Dimension
RSD, shame cycles, imposter syndrome, frustration tolerance: the part nobody warns you about
Gender & Diagnosis
Why women are diagnosed decades late, hormonal interactions, the masking-until-collapse pattern
Time & Energy
Time blindness, the Wall of Awful, task initiation, why the last 20% never gets done
Medication & Creativity
The tradeoff nobody talks about: the inverted-U dopamine curve and what it means for your creative brain
Create & Work
The Learning Revolution
Why traditional education fails ADHD brains, and what actually works
Future Predictions
Neuroadaptive AI, the director model, digital therapeutics: what's coming by 2030
The Creative Programmer
ADHD and software development: 27 research chapters on why different brains write different code
Social & Team Dynamics
How ADHD affects collaboration, the strength-based management model, accommodation frameworks
"ADHD brains are not distracted. They are perceiving more. The same reduced latent inhibition that makes focus difficult makes creative insight more probable."
Based on Carson, Peterson & Higgins (Harvard) • Latent inhibition research
What Makes This Different
100+ Sources
Every claim is traced to peer-reviewed research, major corporate studies, or documented community evidence. No vibes.
No Superpower Talk
ADHD is not a superpower. It's a different cognitive architecture with real strengths AND real costs. We cover both honestly.
The Full Picture
Not just symptoms and coping tips. We cover the neuroscience, the evolution, the emotional reality, the creativity, and yes, the real costs.
Start with the neuroscience
Understand the five mechanisms that make your brain work differently: dopamine, the Default Mode Network, latent inhibition, hypofrontality, and creative incubation.
Read the NeuroscienceOne insight about your brain per week