ADHD Awareness Month 2018 - Shine a light on ADHD

This film was made possible with the help of European Union’s FP7 and Horizon 2020 research and innovation programmes under grant agreements no 643051 (MiND), no 602805 (Aggressotype), no 667302 (CoCA), no 728018 (Eat2beNICE). The video reflects only the author's view and the Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.

This short documentary shines a light on living with ADHD, from a personal and a scientific perspective. October is international ADHD Awareness month.

**This video contains subtitles in multiple languages. Underneath ‘settings’ (at the bottom right of the video) you can select a language of your preference.**

This film is created by Laura Ghirardi, Nicoletta Adamo and Arjan de Brouwer together with a team of young researchers of the MiND research project and 4QuarterFilms.

We also thank ms. Evie Travers, mr. Bryn Travers and mr. Aziz who were interviewed in this video.

For more information on our EU-funded research programs, visit:

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[AnymMusic]

it's not an issue of POOR concentration, it's an issue of mismanaging attention. how do even experts get this wrong? a lot of people ADHD, when they find something they truly truly enjoy, can be concentrated on that thing for hours on end. it's not an "attention deficit", it's an "attention imbalance". and no, there is no cure. you want people to just be the same boring box thinkers as everyone else? ADHD has its problems yes, but for crying out loud maybe SHINE A LIGHT on the positives as well

[franciscojosesalcedosotoca]

"I feel like a universe stuffed within a shoebox..." Salud, hermano.

[YakitoriQueen]

I cried twice during this video. I'm not yet diagnosed with adhd, but i'm in the middle of it and my psychiatrist said there's a chance, and i keep relating to most of the things i see about adhd online. It's really hard for me to do homework or any boring task, like showering or going to bed, even sometimes things i enjoy like playing videogames are difficult for me to initiate. My mom says i'm lazy and using adhd as an excuse. I know i'm not lazy but it still hurts me. I'm so impatient to get officially diagnosed so that i can be taken seriously and maybe even be medicated.

[AP]

Life is hard with ADD. It can affect every part of your life, private and job life. There is depression aswell quite often and other problems like anxiety and lonliness. I wish these people all the best and a good way to stand this difficult system and society.

[vinhlnusha]

I just cried instantaneously watching the first minutes of this video. It gets so lonely when nobody understands you because you hardly understand yourself. All this selfpressure and anxiety is so overwhelming that I started to conclude not being suitable to live a life worth living

[jasonmultin]

If a person has a physical problem with an organ, then people are often very sympathetic towards them. For example, if you have bad eyes, which causes blindness, bad ears, which causes deafness, or bad lungs, which cause asthma, people will not blame you for it. They will say that you didn't choose to have a bad organ. However, your brain is also an organ and it controls your ability to think, your personality, and your feelings. So if you have a hard time thinking or there is something wrong with your personality, then obviously there is something wrong with your brain. So if a person has a problem with their brain they deserve the same sympathy as a problem with any other organ like your eyes, ears, or lungs, but people don't see it that way.

I think the reason for the lack of sympathy is because people think that if a problem is mental, then a person should be able to control it since we have free will. However, if you think about it, we don't have as much control over our thoughts as we think. For example, could you make yourself enjoy the smell of raw sewage or the feeling of stubbing your toe? If there is a food that you dislike, you could still make yourself eat it, but could you make yourself like it? If you find someone unattractive, could you just decide to be attracted to that person? If you are gay, could you just decide to be attracted to the opposite sex and if you straight could you just decide to be attracted to the same sex? If you are depressed, could you just decide to be happy? If you are nervous before taking a test, could just decide to not be nervous? If someone tells you not to think about elephants, wouldn't you think about elephants for at least a split second? If you have a learning problem could you just decide to increase your intelligence a thousand fold, so that your are the smartest person who ever existed?

It is true that we make decisions. For example, I decide to eat an apply because I like apples and hate pears. However, we decide to do something based on what we want and like and since we don't really control what we like, then we are not as in control of our decisions as we think we are. So, if a person has a mental problem, please don't think that it is something they choose to have.

[noodlessurprise]

Thank you to whoever made this. Right now my life needed this ....

[faridyoussoufi]

For a simple mind like mine, this documentary sheds a light on my ignorance.

[LiovaElise]

I once read "adhd is like your brain is carrying all this stuff but it has no pockets"

[norcrisechavarria]

It is a great way to spread more information about ADHD. I could disagree also with just a description of not being able to pay attention, but along the video there is plenty of focus on many of the other dysfunctional issues that ADHD affects. It is a great way to start forums for discussion about what defines better a disorder like ADHD,
ADHD awareness is always welcome, and ADHD Europe made an amazing job.
Thanks for this.

[thijmendebrouwer]

That was a very interesting video, and it definitely made me understand more about ADHD.

[bastianduring]

Wow what a good Film. I cryed Cause of my Owm ADHD.

[yvonnehoward]

Thank you for whoever made this video my son is 17 adhd and odd I’m struggling with him almost all his life we have done it all family therapy medicine he try some but always stopped them . Now he’s not getting any medication or support as they say he doesn’t want help we can’t help him. I would not even bother to ask him to watch this video. Any advice will be much appreciated.

[jcmangan]

I feel like a universe stuffed within a shoebox. Best definition so far. The best one word definition so far is Hochgeschwindigkeitslangsamkeit, which means Highspeedslowness.

[CoriJane]

I am glad to know that I am not alone with this and I am glad that my bf sent this to me and told me to read the comments :)

[Lo-nkjl]

I have inattentive ADHD and I didn’t get diagnosed till I was 12 or 13 years old. If I stayed where I was living I don’t think I would’ve been diagnosedat all.

[martinweihrauch]

If you landed here in the comment section while the video is playing, because you had trouble listening to the entire bit, you probably have ADHD :)))

[katq]

@ADHD in Adults Is there any chance to get Polish subtitles, please? That would make a big difference for Polish-speaking ADHD community.

[PriscillaGuida]

How can I contribute to the translation in Portuguese? I have ADHD and I am Brazilian.

[yusurf.]

I don't know if it's ADHD or not, I talked to my father who is a doctor about some symptoms I started to have in the early two years, I can't read anything like a book or even a paper of literature..
I can't tidy my room and thinking about chores just overwhelms me, even if I try to do some housework it takes really long. People always tell me I'm so slow..
On the emotional side I'm much more socially isolated, I used to feel like I can't relate to people since childhood but now I always feel like I want to be left alone, also I'm irritable sometimes..
I really can't figure this out, everyone tells me you seem fine and my father refused to take me to a psychiatrist, he talked to one and he gave me brain supplements and a herbal stress relief..
I'm 19..I have a one month exchange program next week and I'm afraid I'll screw it up